Here, in his second installment of a two-part series, Max blesses you with seven essential elements to consider if you are to unleash the full power of video as a highly effective Direct Response creative. Do not miss!
The latest .rising leaders post comes from Max Pepe, Head of Clickwork7, a global performance marketing company which specialise in lead generation, customer acquisition and mobile app promotion for clients such as Amazon and Wowcher.
Here, in his second installment of a two-part series, Max blesses you with seven essential elements to consider if you are to unleash the full power of video as a highly effective Direct Response creative. Don’t forget to get involved in the discussion by commenting below or tweeting @dotrising. If you missed part one, catch up here.
According to Forbes, 65% of executives have visited a vendor’s site after watching a video, and 39% have called a vendor after watching a video. In the consumer space, 70% of beauty purchasers watch how-tos and product visualisation videos to influence how they buy. But if you want a 
measurable response from your video, you need a clear call-to-action within the creative itself.
Your video must encourage response, and make it as easy as possible. But rid yourself of the negative stigma associated to naff DR call-to-actions (CTAs). A new age of sophisticated, charming, classy and clever CTAs can be leveraged with online video. There are numerous platforms available that allow you to create interactive native CTAs (such as RaptMedia and Wistia), that enhance the user experience, actively encourage the viewer to engage with the video and can support multiple CTAs. Your video suddenly becomes an interactive micro-site within itself, stimulating emotion and encouraging response.
Forrester research looked at an example from Maybelline, an early adopter of interactive video technology, who launched makeup videos for their ‘Big Eyes Beauty Adventure’. These interactive videos were embedded with multiple product and commerce CTAs, and received an average of over 2 clicks per video. More impressively, the click-through rate to purchase was 5% — considerably higher than the non-interactive counterpart.
SiriusDecisions believe that the adoption of Marketing Automation Software (MAS) will increase by 50% this year (2015). B2B and B2C marketers are now leveraging the incredible power of MAS (such as HubSpot and Eloqua) to gather granular data/metrics and turn it in to valuable holistic insight. The MAS automates and delivers subsequent programmatic strategies that can yield previously unfathomable ROI at scale.
Just think of what this means for video as a DR creative. When integrated into an MAS, the depth of data, analytics and customer information 
available will enable marketers to be even more accurate and precise with their messaging, CTAs and targeting. Marketers are finally able to distinguish between mass market viewers and target audience. Media buying becomes highly refined. The vintage that is A/B split testing is laughed at, and instead the introduction of automated ‘infinite variable testing’ ensures the right video creative is matched with the right CTAs and Landing Pages, all algorithmically suited to the specific viewer who happens to be watching.
The CTA doesn’t necessarily have to encourage immediate purchase of course, capturing lead information from within the video player is another valuable MAS strategy. This contact information can then be passed seamlessly into the MAS so marketers can store the email addresses (or alternatively prudent contact details) of video viewers in real time, and devise a retargeting/CRM strategy that will subsequently drive sales. Integrating video into the MAS mix will have a gargantuan impact for video as DR creative.
Distributing your video content across a vast landscape of digital inventory may not suit your particular strategy or budget. But that certainly doesn’t mean that video should be ruled out.
Sixty-four per cent of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it’, says comScore. Marketing Tech Blog found that adding video to a landing page resulted in a 130.5% increase in leads, and Wistia found that landing pages with videos were clicked 38% of the time, compared to 12% for pages without video.
Videos should be embedded in to your Landing Pages as a predominant focal point. They allow you to say so much, in such a short space of time, 
and save the need for wordy complex convoluted landing pages that are just as likely to distract or frustrate the end user, as they are to generate a direct response.
Dr James McQuivey of Forrester Research determined that “one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words”. Of course this isn’t supposed to be taken literally (taking it on face value would mean this entire article could be communicated 15 times in only 1 second). Dr McQuivey is referring not only to the literal message, but also the emotional connection video can muster in a viewer – and that is a powerful asset for an effective DR creative.
We should all now have mobile optimised websites, landing pages, and sales (or lead capture) funnels. The very same discipline applies for video – make sure it’s mobile optimised. The entire sales (or lead) path, from video view to payment (or video view to form fill), must be completely mobile optimised.
Optimising your video for mobile goes beyond just the LP and sales funnel however. Consider the content of the video itself. Ensure your message is communicated just as elegantly on a small (smartphone) screen as it is on a desktop monitor. Ensure your CTAs are clear and easy to ‘tap’ on mobile or tablet. If your video is reliant on text or headlines throughout, be certain the font size and design is perfectly legible across all mobile devices.
69% of smartphone users say video is the perfect solution for online window shopping as it offers a quick way to grasp an overview of a 
product. Mobile and tablet usage make up 40% of global watch time on YouTube, and over 50% of all web traffic is now mobile. If your video and its subsequent funnel are not fully mobile optimised, the power of video as a DR creative is drastically reduced.
In a recent study it was found that 59% of viewers will watch a video to completion if it is less than one minute long, and 90% of all online videos under one minute get watched at least 3/4 of the way through. This provides marketers with valuable insight and information as to how we utilise video as DR – to increase chances of a direct response, videos should be under one minute in length, and have at least one call to action within the first 3/4 of the video.
Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, and there are many variables to consider; optimum video length certainly depends on the focus of your content, and desired CTA. However when it comes to direct response, it’s always best to keep your message as succinct as possible.
Email itself is a highly effective DR channel, and shows no sign of letting up – continually providing marketers with exceptional ROI. However, inboxes are literally bursting at the seams with marketing messages, exclusive offers, and captivating subject lines – all fighting for attention and begging to be opened. It’s more important than ever for emails to stand out and seduce the recipient.
How? It’s all about video! It has been found that merely using the word “video” in a subject line has been shown to increase open rates by 19%, and boost click-through rates by 65%.
Marketers are advised to team up with their ESP and Deliverability Managers to harness email’s full potential when it comes to video, as there are a few minor complexities. For example, not all email clients support in-email video viewing (Outlook and Hotmail do, Gmail and Yahoo don’t). Nonetheless, this should in no way deter its use. As long as you mention the word video in the subject line you are likely to increase opens (which is half the battle) – then, if the client doesn’t support in-email viewing, a clever creative will encourage the play button to be hit, which 
should then take the viewer directly to a landing page within which the video is embedded (and this may be one of the few cases where it’s acceptable to auto-play the video).
Forrester research disclosed that when a video is included within an email itself, click-through rates are increased by 200% – 300%. It’s fair to say that video and email are a direct response match made in heaven.
As pioneering digital marketers we have an absolute responsibility to leverage the power of video as a direct response creative format in our super-multi-channel consumer society. We need to thrust ourselves and our initiatives forward, and dramatically yet positively change perceptions of the role video has to play in holistic digital marketing strategies.
All necessary technology exists, and the cost of production needn’t be cinematic. The data is there in front of us, and proof of concept has been justified through sound research and bone-fide case studies. Therefore the final element needs to come from within ourselves; bold, creative, and innovative video content. Feel free to blur the lines between entertainment, information, and gamification. We have our audience’s attention, so let’s engage, amaze, and entice in a genuinely compelling manner.
The future of direct response is video. Jump in!
Facebook’s new method of hosting and playing video is very effective – when browsing your news thread, videos posted now most often automatically play and offer the same experience across devices. there is more chance of capturing someones attention if they are distracted by the content playing – at least you pause to watch a few seconds before dismissing without even pressing play. Also, using a #DTAG100 on your digital signage enables a viewer to tap on the the module to ‘take the video away’ for continuous viewing (this could also allow the advertiser to pick up the email address of the viewer), and it works through BLE too. #takeawayadvertising
Great article and one with some very interesting stats for our business and discussions. We’ve had a very exciting response to our market leading interactive video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsjPCWQOw_o), which helps event planners find the right information about their events venues, whilst allowing hotels & venues to engage more effectively with their customers. The rapid rise in video and digital also means corporate clients are adopting interactive technology to film events and extend brand messages beyond the physical event, creativity longevity and value to all stakeholders including commercial sponsors. As the technology is still relatively new to our market, it’s great to have some reliable data and resource to point to, which also has global reach. Thank you.