ROI: Web Video sells. Even if customers don’t watch it!

By: Corrie Davidson, 29 Jan 2010
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Video. You need it; customers want it; and boy is it useful.

Studies and statistics continue to show that using video on your website not only improves online visibility and adds to your company’s credibility, but it also engages customers in a way that increases conversions. In fact, recent case studies by Treepodia show that videos help sell products even when customers don’t watch them. Shoppers who viewed the videos were MORE likely to buy than those who did not view, but -based on multivariate testing- visitors who did NOT watch the videos converted at a significantly higher rate than those who saw the same product page without the option for video viewing. This gets back to the credibility benefit. Customers assume that if you believe in your product or service enough to show it in detail and explain it thoroughly, then you have nothing to hide and it must be “good”. (This is another reason why good website design is important. Having a beautiful and easy to use website makes it look like you invested in that asset and to do that you must be doing alright- you look more legitimate. Video is an added asset. Its comforting.)

When it comes to actually surfacing your video on your website, you can either link to the video hosted elsewhere (a dedicated video page, a 3rd party like, Youtube, etc) or you can actually embed the video on that product’s page so viewers simply hit “Play”. Mark Robertson, the Founder and Creator of REELSEOreferencesTreepodia in saying “If you add a simple link to video from any given product page, you can expect something between a 5%-15% video view rate, while a video player embedded on the same page will deliver a view rate ranging from 10%-35%.”

But don’t limit yourself to simply product videos! There are lots of benefits to having videos on and off-site about your company.

You may also be interested in reading: 3 Basic Steps for Using Video to Better Market Your Business Online

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4 Responses to “ROI: Web Video sells. Even if customers don’t watch it!”

  1. Hi there,

    Thank you very much for referring to us and quoting our study.
    Much appreciated…

    All the best,
    Mike Darnell
    @treepodia
    http://blog.treepodia.com

  2. cdavidson says:

    “Nearly all consumers (97 percent) now use online media when researching products or services in their local area, according to BIA/Kelsey’s User View Wave VII, an ongoing consumer tracking study conducted with research partner ConStat. Among consumers surveyed, 90 percent use search engines, 48 percent use Internet Yellow Pages, 24 percent use vertical sites, and 42 percent use comparison-shopping sites.”

    http://blog.jr.com/nearly-all-consumers-use-online-media-for-shopping-decisions/

  3. Jovan Linman says:

    Hey, just to let you know, my Safari browser can’t render your logo properly

  4. Corrie says:

    If you refresh your browser or clear your cache it should fix the problem. We recently changed that image on the site and I encountered the same issue the first time I viewed it after the change in Safari. But it fixes quite quickly :)
    Thanks for the heads up!!!