Increase conversion with a video call to action

This article shares some ideas on how you can Increase conversion with a video call to action using interactive CTAs. B2B technology videos are mostly created for the purpose of putting ideas into prospects’ heads (aka “messaging”), hoping they’ll pursue one or more of these ideas to the next step. Typical next steps are

email us
call us
chat with us online
download a white paper
download a free trial
subscribe to our ______.
request a live demo
sign up for a webinar
sign up for get a free evaluation

These have all been mentioned in videos we’ve created — typically at the end. We used to embed hyperlinks associated with the CTA in the videos themselves, but that was before the ascent of the Flash-incompatible iOS mobile platform. These days few of our clients bother with Flash — and preferred video formats like mp4 and QuickTime don’t allow you to embed hyperlinks.

So we’ve had to count on the web page that contains the video to supply hyperlinks by which the viewer can answer the CTA or get other relevant content. It works, but making the viewer look away from the action to locate the Call To Action makes it a little less urgent, and less likely that action will be taken.

Overlays to the rescue

How much less less likely that can be, we learned at a breakfast presentation here in New York hosted by the CEO of Viewbix Jon Stefansky. Viewbix has a solution for overlaying interactive links on videos. In one customer case Stefansky recounted, a customer had managed to put up videos that attracted 2,000,000 views, resulting in exactly six (6!) contacts. They now get a response rate on the order of 20%. We had already decided to try Viewbix out on our own promo video — this and other evidence Stefansky brought up hurried things along.

You used to have to wait to the end of a video for the call to action, and then look around for a url to click on . Now, as you can see, There are plenty of actions they can take — all right in front of their eyes. So, any time someone decides to leap into our sales funnel while watching this video, they don’t have to wonder how or where to do it.

We’re just getting started. I’ll report our results here from time to time.

We’re not early adopters. Some 75,000 companies are using the Viewbix solution. It seems especially well-suited to companies that use YouTube and Vimeo to stream their videos, though other options are available. The Viewbix player links can go to contact forms, web pages, mailing lists managed through MailChimp, Constant Contact, etc., your YouTube channel and lots more. Viewbix calls their links “Apps” because they’ve done the work of constructing the forms and integration with the service provider. For example, all you need to use the MailChimp app is an API key, which MailChimp makes readily available as part of their service.

The Viewbix player can be styled to match your brand. The interactive buttons are not intrusive. Setup and use seem to be quite straightforward. Also, the analytics seem easier to use than Google Analytics, though I’m no expert. You can use it for free – the “pro” version comes at a low monthly cost. I recommend taking a look.