Enhance Visitor Follow Through with Online Video

Creating landing and squeeze pages is a common Web strategy used to prompt site visitors to perform a specific action such as sign up for a newsletter or purchase a product. These pages don’t automatically lead to conversions though. The pages must first be discovered by the user, and the pages must be loaded with compelling text. Once the visitor lands on the page, the content must convince the visitor to act. While text can certainly do that, you have another tool available: online video.

You can use online video in several ways. For starters, use online video to help the visitor find the desired page. For example, if you want users to download a trial version of a new program you’ve developed, use online videos on-site as well as off to drive traffic to your free download page. Online video is a terrific medium for demonstrating the features of the program, showing the program in action, and showing how the program can make life easier for its users. Consider video testimonials, onscreen chats with the software developers, a virtual spokesmodel, or a polished production touting the features and benefits of the program.

These videos can be used on your site or off – or both – to drive traffic to your landing page. For example, you could use a virtual spokesperson to talk about the benefits of your new product and then point to the link that users need to click in order to learn more and download the free trial. You could also post videos on YouTube and other external sites.

Now that traffic is landing your landing page, you can put online video to work once again. After all, not all traffic will arrive based on those videos. As the old saying goes, a picture speaks loader than words. So, put moving pictures to work for you! Online videos allow your site’s visitors to get a taste of whatever it is you are selling. In addition, online videos make your site more personable. People like to buy from other people, and featuring people on your landing page’s videos illustrates that your company is powered by real people.

Because you will be featuring an online video on your landing page, make sure that the video features a clear call to action. This isn’t the place for video tutorials; it is the place for marketing video. What do you want viewers to do once they’ve watched the online video? Download a trial version of your software? Fill out a survey? Sign up for a newsletter? Buy your product? No matter what you want the user to do, you must prompt the viewer to do it! This could be as simple as saying, “Download a free trial version today” or “Take advantage of our $20 discount by ordering before midnight.”

Online video has become a powerful tool with many applications. Not only can it drive traffic to your landing pages, it can also enhance visitor follow through rates.

How have you used online video on your squeeze pages? Share your ideas, thoughts, and successes with us!

Using a Video Spokesperson to Deliver Compelling Calls to Action

Your website’s video spokesperson serves many purposes ranging from welcoming visitors to the website and explaining what your site is all about to talking visitors into performing some sort of action such as filling out a survey, signing up for a newsletter, or buying a product. Your video spokesperson builds trust by demonstrating knowledge about your company’s products and services and relating to visitors. In short, a video spokesperson represents your company in a far more compelling way than static text. When strategizing your use of virtual spokespeople, make sure to incorporate calls to action in your scripts.

Soft Selling: Your Virtual Spokesperson is the Perfect Choice 
Prefer to take a soft sales approach on your website? Soft sales techniques can be effective sales techniques. Incorporate “yes” questions into your speech to subtly get your visitors to agree with your pitch. For example, “Do you want to earn more money?” or “Are you looking for an effective way to discipline your children?” are questions that can prompt a positive response in the form of a nod or a verbal “yes.” After all, who doesn’t want to earn more money? Who wants to be an ineffective parent? Let your video spokesperson ask positive questions.

Calls to Action: Put Your Video Spokesperson to Good Use  
While guiding your site’s visitors into a positive frame of mind is good, relying on them to take action on their own is risky. It may not cross a visitor’s mind to sign up for your newsletter unless you prompt with a call to action. Having a friendly video spokesperson prompt your site’s visitors to perform some type of action helps raise awareness that an option exists and can lead to improved conversions.

For example, if you have a “sign up for our newsletter” graphic, link, or other element embedded into your site, it’s easy to assume that interested visitors will do just that. However, what if the visitors never see the link? Web usability and eye tracking studies show that online users tend to scan, with the upper left corner of Web pages receiving far more attention than other areas. It’s entirely possible that your graphics and links may not have been looked at!

Your virtual spokesperson can change that. Not only can a video spokesperson walk onto your screen and visually point to specific areas of the page, she can incorporate calls to action into her delivery. For example, imagine a virtual spokesperson walking onto a Web page that covers parenting issues and saying, “Want to learn more about becoming an effective parent? Sign up for our weekly newsletter by clicking this button.” Can you imagine the site visitor nodding in agreement when the question is asked? Can you imagine the video spokesperson pointing to the button? Can you imagine the visitor clicking the button? That’s the power of using a video spokesperson to create a compelling call to action.

How will you put your virtual spokesperson to good use? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.