I’ve read several posts and articles lately about the impact of user-generated video content (UGC video for short). It can seem like a powerful tool, helping knock down two important barriers to launching a video program. First, it helps get around the challenge of producing by pushing the burden to your customers. Second, there’s an argument that consumers are more easily influenced by UGC video, because it comes from someone like them.
There’s some truth to the first argument if coverage is a bigger concern than ROI. The second argument has been soundly proven wrong by research conducted by the e-tailing group and released earlier this year. Retail Customer Experience summarized the findings here or download the full report, sponsored by Invodo, at this link.
And now Comscore has released a report that compares the impact of UGC video with professionally produced video. Like the e-tailing group research, it shows that professionally produced video has a higher impact on consumers than UGC video. (30% higher impact, in fact, based on a 24.7% lift for professionally produced video vs an 18.7% lift for UGC video). Here’s what adds credibility to the findings: the research is sponsored by EXPO, a platform for UGC video. That makes the findings a bit like Coke winning the Pepsi challenge. We can be pretty sure that this research isn’t biased.
The report also finds a higher impact when consumers view both professionally produced video and UGC video together. That leads Jack Loechner to make a case in MediaPost that a retailer or brand should deploy both to realize the full impact. As a guy who’s on the ground helping retailers and brands launch video programs, though, I have to disagree with his conclusion for two reasons.
First, only a minority of consumers will choose to view both videos. That means that the “synergy” the report suggests will, in reality, be realized only on a small percentage of transactions. The second consideration is the bigger one. Where you are in your video program? If you’ve covered all your key products with video, the recommendation to further increase lift by adding UGC video makes sense. If – like many retailers and brands – you still haven’t covered all your key products, the math based on Comscore’s numbers would say that there’s higher return in broadening that product coverage first.
Kudos to EXPO for sponsoring the research and adding to everyone’s knowledge about how video impacts business. User-generated video has a place in the market now, and that place may well grow as the market evolves and matures. For now, when I look at the data combined with an understanding of where retailers and brands are in adoption of video, I think businesses should start where they see the highest ROI. UGC is a consideration for the not too distant future – but it’s not where most retailers and brands should be focusing their video efforts.
Online retail started with product descriptions long before consumer ratings and reviews were added. And in the same way, professionally produced product videos will become table stakes long before UGC video attains similar status.
See it differently? Let me know in the comments.
Customer Service in the Cloud recently released a list of top companies using video for customer service. As they note in the article, video for customer service can reduce call volumes, decreasing costs while increasing customer satisfaction. It’s a win for the business as they save on call center costs, and a win for the customer as they avoid waiting on terminal hold.
We’d like to congratulate our client Verizon Wireless for making that list in the #4 spot, along with other marquee names such as Lands End and Starwood. Read the full article here, or see first-hand what they’re talking about by checking out the Verizon Wireless video gallery.
A few short weeks ago we released Delivering Superior Shopping Experiences via Video, in conjunction with research firm the e-tailing group. We were excited to release it because it’s the first research of it’s kind; direct insights into how consumers interact with video in the shopping experience.
It generated quite a bit of coverage, which fell into two broad groups. The first group focused on the behavioral element, noting that the research demonstrates how videos boost consumers’ confidence in their purchase. Several years worth of quantitative data has shown that video at the point of purchase increases conversion and decreases returns. This survey data gives us the reason behind that conversion lift: consumers feel more confident in their purchases because they have had a clearer look at the product. Publications that covered that angle include:
The second group noted that the research has profound cross-channel implications, as the survey found that video was a preferred form of content for smartphone and tablet users. This is timely; as both the MediaPost and E-Commerce Times articles note, there are now as many smartphones in the marketplace as feature phones (or what I call “dumbphones”, i.e. non-smart phones). That means we’re entering a world where the majority of consumers have a video shopping tool at their fingertips – if businesses are willing supply the content. Those publications included:
OK, clearly I find the research interesting and so do the publications above. How about you? If you haven’t read it, download it here and let me know what you think in the comments.
After opening with a $152MM weekend ten days ago, “The Hunger Games” remains the top box-office draw in the US. It’s now up to $250MM, and there’s speculation that strong word-of-mouth from those who’ve seen the film could drive it to dominate the box office for a third weekend. Clearly the movie, based on Suzanne Collins’ teen novel about Katniss Everdeen, has both buzz and staying power.
The story’s intended to teach life lessons, but it It also has lessons for retailers, brands and other companies creating video for business. (When you enjoy your work as much as we do at Invodo, nearly everything relates to it). Here are five lessons I took away:
1. Question the accepted ways of doing things. In Panem, the dystopian setting for the story, the twelve Districts surrounding the Capitol once rebelled. As punishment, two teenage representatives from each District must compete in the annual Hunger Games, a televised battle to the death with only one winner.
It’s implied that this functions as some sort of social control by giving the populace just the right mix of hope and fear. This is a great setup for the story but doesn’t, when you think about it, make a lot of sense. (Unless you think that “Jersey Shore” and “Ice Road Truckers” are similar conspiracies to keep us in line). In order to enjoy the movie, you just have to accept it and move on with the story. Maybe it’ll make more sense when I finally read the book.
However, when you’re launching a video program, you’ll want to question things that don’t make sense. You’ll hear arguments that your videos have to be short, thirty seconds or less in some cases. And someone will probably make a claim that user-generated videos are inherently more credible. Question those assumptions, because they may not hold. In fact, recent research shows that consumers are willing to watch two minutes or longer for video that genuinely helps them with a purchase decision, and they find professionally generated content more trustworthy.
2. Show your audience what matters to them. Once the combatants (“tributes”) are selected and trained, they must demonstrate their skills to potential sponsors. This, Katniss’ mentor explains, is crucial. Sponsors provide supplies that can make the difference between life and death, so “make sure they remember you.” Katniss, an accomplished archer, takes his advice to heart and startles a bored crowd by putting an arrow through the apple in the mouth of the main course on the buffet table. It scares the heck out of them – and they remember her.
Like the sponsors in the movie, your potential customers are dealing with a great deal of noise and distraction. If you want their attention, you have to earn it by clearly showing something that matters to them. If they’re shopping for a product, cut to the chase and show them the features that matter. If it’s archery they’re after, take aim and let fly like Katniss did. Either way you’ll cut through the noise and get their attention.
3. Focus on what matters in the long term. Another bit of mentoring Katniss acts on is the advice to avoid getting drawn into the immediate battle for weapons and food when the tributes are first released in front of a “cornucopia” brimming with supplies. Instead, she focuses on what’s needed for survival – finding strategic high ground away from the others as well as a supply of water. By doing this she avoids the initial pitched battle over resources and is better positioned for long-term survival.
It can seem like there’s a cornucopia of shiny objects to distract you when you’re launching a video program. The prospect of going viral is only one of many shiny objects that will tempt you. If water is what really matters for survival, producing and deploying effective content across your site and product catalog is what really matters for a video program. Analytics are important, but look for ways to ensure that analytics and customer feedback are a seamless part of the production process. A fully integrated workflow that brings it all together provides a real advantage over a competitor more focused on the shiny objects.
4. Think and act strategically. Katniss may seem like an underdog, but she is a strategist throughout – whether evening the odds by purposely destroying a stockpile of weapons and food, or using a personal situation (I won’t give everything away) to manipulate the Gamemaster into changing the rules. Strategy can trump superior firepower and perhaps even allow a cunning combatant to take on the established power structure.
Strategy is a plan designed to achieve a vision. So your video strategy starts with the vision, and the vision leads to one or more goals. Perhaps it’s increased conversion, perhaps it’s SEO benefit, perhaps it’s customer experience. Once you’ve defined those goals, define the metrics that matter. It’s worth remembering that many video platforms excel at measuring what matters to publishers, yet can’t measure the single most important metric for a retailer or brand – conversion lift. By knowing what your objective is and what metrics tell you if you’re achieving it, you can ensure that your video program is deployed strategically rather than as a vanity or me-too project.
5. You can’t do it all yourself. Even in a winner-take-all game, Katniss bonds with a younger combatant named Rue and works with her to defeat an alliance of stronger enemies. And she ultimately pairs up with Peeta, also from District 12, to win the game by redefining the rules and facing down the Gamemaster.
A successful video program isn’t launched by one person. It delivers results to a team of stakeholders and it’s smart to involve them early to gain buy-in. Identifying stakeholders (ecommerce, brand, creative, merchandising) and bringing them to your side is crucial. Just as important is the selection of a video partner. Select a partner who is expert in the type of production you need, can deliver metrics to prove it, and is able to scale beyond the capabilities of an in-house program.
And as you go forward with your video program, may the odds be ever in your favor!
We knew when we engaged the e-tailing group to complete a study of over 1,000 consumers on how they use video in a business context that it would yield valuable insight. What we were unprepared for was just how groundbreaking this research would be. Frankly, we haven’t seen “voice of the consumer” data like this before. And we’ve been working hard with the e-tailing group’s President, Lauren Freedman, to package this information up in a way that’ll be helpful to all retailers and brands.
Excited yet? We are. Because today, we announce the official release of these findings in the whitepaper, Delivering Superior Shopping Experiences Via Video: Consumer Insights and Retail Execution. In this report, Freedman summarizes the results and draws game-changing insights from her research.
We had great attendance on yesterday’s “Captivating Consumers through Cross-Channel Video” webinar.
Lauren Freedman of the e-tailing group debuted results from a survey into how over 1,000 consumers use video during the shopping process. Judging by the questions attendees asked, interest was high and so was the level of sophistication of the attendees.
We couldn’t get to all the questions during the session, so I’m answering a few more here.
Q: Is buying video production services ROI-positive for an etailer?
A: Yes.
(pause)
OK, sounds like you want more detail. Our clients consistently report realizing ROI based on the business goals they set.
ROI is based on deciding which needle you want to move and why, and on how much you spend to move that needle. For Bizchair.com, increasing sales with video was a key goal. They found that the 13% of their site visitors who viewed video accounted for 33% of their sales. Stacks and Stacks reported increased sales with video as well. Living Direct had increased engagement as a key goal, and realized that with a 9% increase in time on page. And, as we learned in the webinar, consumers consistently say that quality matters. That’s why our clients choose to invest in well-produced, but cost-effective,video production.
Q: What has been the reaction from online retailers to the idea of category videos versus product-specific videos?
A: There’s certainly value in both. It’s attractive to leverage your video investment across a category at times. That said, I think the place to start is with your business goals. Analyze your site traffic and customer base, then do the math to determine where you can have the most impact. Product-specific videos are attractive in that they should pay off in clearly incremental sales, based on conversion tracking and A/B testing. That makes the business case easy to build. However, if you’re converting well on the product page but not doing as well in moving consumers down the funnel, you might want to start at the category level.
And – final note – a video gallery can be a great way to leverage your investment in product-specific videos. One video, two use cases, two locations. And if you do it right, you can index for category-level search terms in the gallery while indexing for product-specific search terms on the product page. That brings the right searchers to the right pages, making the most of your video SEO.
Q: Do you have data showing consumer preference between third party production versus company generated video content?
A: Yes. Stacks and Stacks found that Invodo-produced, retailer-branded video content drove higher conversion than manufacturer-supplied content. We also see that in data from Video Ratings and Comments, where consumers rate Invodo-produced, company-branded video as more helpful than video produced by other sources. And, as we discussed on the Webinar, companies that have traditionally used highly informal videos are recognizing the benefits of emphasizing good quality sound and lighting.
Q: What do you think about YouTube as a search engine as opposed to just a video hosting platform?
A: YouTube’s the second largest search engine – bigger than Yahoo! or Bing. It’s a great place to be found. Your video strategy should include leveraging your video assets across channels, including YouTube. I recommend using socially optimized edits for YouTube and Facebook. Reason: on a product page, your goal is to drive conversion – to get the consumer to click the “add to cart” button. But in social distribution, your goal is to bring that consumer to your site. That may require a shorter edit and an explicit call to action, such as “learn more at www.invodo.com.“
Q: What’s a good source of video statistics and information?
A: As Lauren said on the Webinar, she searched quite a bit and didn’t find anything close to a definitive resource. We publish a lot of information here on the Invodo blog and in our newsletter (kindly subscribe, if you haven’t, and thank you!). I frequently see journalists and bloggers linking to our video statistics page. We keep it updated with both Invodo and third-party information.
Did I miss a question? If so, email me at russ
invodo
com
and I’ll be happy to respond.
The video-enabled consumer has spoken. Find out what they said!
Over 1,000 shoppers were surveyed to find out how they use video in shopping and what elements matter to them. We invite you to join the e-tailing group President, Lauren Freedman, and Invodo Director of Marketing, Russ Somers, who will share these research insights and the implications for online and multichannel merchants. Register today>>
Learn:
- Where, why, and how consumers watch video
- Where video performs best
- What consumers will watch – and what they won’t
- How consumers use video to make purchase decisions
Consumers expect video to be a part of their shopping experience. But how do you know what type of video will engage and convert them? Find out why video quality matters, what today’s consumer will watch, how to extend your video investment across channels to leverage the power of social networks and mobile devices, and more.
Leave with insight into consumer behavior and best practices to engage and inspire your shoppers.
In Part 1 of this video strategy series, I discussed how to get started on narrowing down your choices for types and placements of videos. Remember, when you’re doing a test or pilot program with a finite number of videos, the first tip is to choose one product category. Focusing on a single category increases the likelihood that that site visitors will have the opportunity to view a video, yielding better and broader data for future decision making. In Part 2, I’ll offer some specific advice around choosing the products to shoot videos for.
1) Product complexity
If a product is complex and has many functions and features for the buyer to consider, it is ideal for video. Invodo conducted a test program with a leading office supply retailer. In the test, videos were produced for complex products such as office furniture and technology as well as for common office supplies such as sticky notes and file folders. The test revealed that online shoppers viewed the videos for the complex products at a significantly higher rate. Conversions followed views with those products seeing a higher lift in conversion percentage. Logic would dictate that if the product is familiar and easy to buy, it probably doesn’t need a video.
Another customer, BizChair.com, wanted to give their online shoppers an experience that is as close to a physical interaction with their products as possible. The result? Customers who view video have average cart values that are more than $50 higher than shoppers who don’t watch video.
2) Popularity
One of the keys to getting impact out of your video investment is to increase the likelihood that the videos will be viewed. Internet Retailer reported that online shoppers who viewed videos were 85% more likely to buy. It stands to reason that you would want to do everything you could to get videos in front of your shoppers. One way to do that is to place videos on pages that already get high traffic – your most popular, high-volume sellers.
Also, consider which products will be heavily promoted through marketing and advertising campaigns. An ad, email campaign or home page rotator can drive interest and increased traffic to specific pages. Make it pay off by adding video to those pages.
3) Price and Profit margin
As product price increases, the amount of research done by the consumer also increases. Here you can offer a helping hand early in the research process by providing rich content that educates and engages.
To maximize the ROI of your video plan, include videos for high-margin products. Since video has been shown to increase conversion rates, start with products that already yield the most revenue.
4) Placement
Consider how shoppers will interact with your website and sprinkle videos throughout their natural visit pattern. For instance, many customers will shop an item using the site search feature on your website. Typically this will launch a category page relative to the search term.
Most of the time, these pages consist of thumbnail images with a product name and price. It can be very difficult for shoppers to compare one product to another with such limited information. Enhance shopping at this level by including a visible play call to action on products that have video. Clicking the play button can launch a player overlayed on the category page that will run the video and return to the category page when it is finished. Using this feature, shoppers can comparison shop several products at the category level without ever having to navigate to the product pages. It’s a great way to increase views and to provide your customers with powerful, decision influencing content early in the consideration phase.
Other areas to consider for video placement are landing and promotional pages which will benefit from increased traffic due to advertising. Finally, don’t forget the homepage. Video included in an image rotator for highlighted products will drive increased clicks and set the tone for the shopper that this is a site where video is an important part of the content strategy. The Home Depot is using this strategy on their homepage for products they are featuring during Black Friday. They employed a similar strategy last year and set company records for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Following these tips for product selection can help maximize what you learn and the results you derive from an initial video test program. They also work as you begin to scale the program across your entire website. For more strategy tips, sign up for our monthly eNewsletter. Each edition features video news, industry trends and tips to keep you in the know on everything eCommerce video.
With the holidays fast approaching, consumers will shop online like never before. What will they be looking for? Shop.org and BIG Insight surveyed shoppers, asking, “When choosing to make holiday purchases from a given online retailer, what is most important to you?”
Clear product information was one of the top five answers. And, as Shop.org’s Fiona Swerdlow points out, shoppers want videos that clearly describe the products on their wish lists.
Invodo’s mission is to improve the online shopping experience for shoppers everywhere. Clients like Autozone, Bizchair.com, Golfsmith, Lenovo, L’Occitane, Office Depot, Really Good Stuff, The Sports Authority, and more are catching the video wave. This research from Shop.org and BIG Insight shows that our mission is well aligned with what consumers want. Read Fiona’s take on the survey results here.
Tango Health needed to speak simply to consumers about a complex issue.
Scott Van Horn, Client Services Director at Tango Health, sheds some light on how video has helped the company over the hurdle of explaining dense, jargon-filled insurance regulations in a captivating way. “The challenge came in conveying our professionalism and expertise without being boring or overlooked,” Van Horn says.
Video became the clear option for tackling this obstacle. According to Van Horn, “We felt that video was absolutely necessary for conveying our message. Video brings to life a subject that may seem like a drag otherwise.”
The Video Strategy
The Tango Health team knew that many potential customers wouldn’t want to read through the text on how HSAs work or look over a list of bullet points on how Tango Health can make HSAs easy. Van Horn says that, “With video, we’ve reached a whole new audience and have found a more customer-friendly way of explaining Tango’s mission and how HSAs actually work.”
So, Tango Health decided to start with three videos that would educate potential customers on their service offering. Each video is prominently placed on an appropriate page. Two of their videos use a single advisor to explain the company’s service offerings. With the HSA 101 video, Tango Health took a less traditional route and dusts the myths off HSAs in a quirky and easy-to-watch format. Clients have expressed how the off-the-wall video gets their message out in a totally new, but relevant way. 
The Results – 4.2 out of 5 stars
After implementing three targeted videos, Tango Health’s team was interested to see their site visitors’ reactions. The answer was overwhelmingly positive. The three videos on the Tango Health website earned an average of 4.2 out of 5 stars according to Invodo’s InPlayer Ratings and Comments feature.
Comments alluded to the helpfulness of the educational videos. One commenter noted that they didn’t know what an HSA was, but after watching the video, understood the benefits of having one.
According to Van Horn, after launching the videos, the Tango Health team has received a plethora of unsolicited, positive reactions. He’s been pleasantly surprised at the number of people who watch the videos.
Video Sells Services
Video proves to be a powerful tool for service providers looking for the extra edge when explaining their offerings. Van Horn knows they’ve challenged others in the healthcare industry to reevaluate the way information is disseminated online. He says, “We took a risk, and it has definitely set a new bar for HSA education in our industry.”
To receive the Tango Health Case Study, send an email to newsinvodocom
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