Justin Crandall: First Week at Invodo

This is my first week as VP of Sales at Invodo and I couldn’t be more energized by the opportunity in front of me. A recent article in Internet Retailer stated 33.2% of retailers intend to add video in 2010, just ahead of customer reviews. Having seen those customer reviews deliver SEO-driven traffic increases, higher conversion and lower return rates during my time at Bazaarvoice, I’m thrilled to join another company delivering those same results.

When I joined Bazaarvoice in 2006 very few retailers and no manufacturers had reviews on their site, and when I moved to London in 2007 to launch the UK operations I found a very similar situation among UK retailers and manufacturers. Over the past 3 years reviews became a consumer expectation and a must-have feature for any quality site. In 2010, video finds itself at a similar inflection point with still nascent adoption despite multiple studies showing video delivers 53x higher Google rankings, 30%+ conversion lifts and reduced return rates. So why doesn’t every site have product videos already?

Before Invodo, ecommerce executives had to buy expensive video software and then hire producers, editors and talent to produce video in-house, or they had to outsource production to high-priced agencies more suited to creating commercials than authentic product videos. Invodo is the first ecommerce video company delivering a full-service approach from script writing, to production and editing, to an ecommerce video player designed for higher visibility and conversion tracking needed by retailers. With more than 23,000 videos produced to-date, Invodo understands what does and does not work in ecommerce, and we put that knowledge to work for our 100+ clients every day.

With the growing adoption of video and Invodo’s unique full service approach, I’m extremely excited to once again join an Austin-based SaaS startup set to change the face of ecommerce. I can’t wait to see where this next ride ends up!

(And Invodo is hiring salespeople, so if you know any great ones who might be interested in riding with me and the team at Invodo please let me know.)