5 Tips to Make People Buy After They Watch Your Video

A friend of mine told me recently that he watched a video about a cool car tuning gadget that he wanted to buy. The video did not have any clear information on how to buy the product and he ended up never making a purchase. The key element that was missing in this video was a call-to-action. As a result, the company lost a client who was ready to spend $1,000.

A good call-to-action helps to avoid such situations and prompts the desired behavior from your viewers.

Here are 5 tips to make your video call-to-action effective:

1. Make your call-to-action dead obvious and easy to remember

Many of your prospects could just be passive viewers. You might be surprised but sometimes things have to be blatantly obvious to be noticed. Always add a simple call-to-action at the end of each video. Good examples are: "Learn More at www.[yourcompany].com", "Sign up for a free trial at www.[yourcompany].com/trial" or "Get a free sample by calling 1-800-555-5555." You can also put the direct link to the sign-up form in the description of the video. When you are creating a link make sure that it is easy to remember (i.e., www.[yourcompany].com/offer)

2. Your video should be short

At Pixability, we recommend that your marketing videos don't exceed 2 or 3 minutes. People absorb information much better if you feed it to them in small doses. Also, if your video is too long and the call-to-action is at the end, some people may never reach this point. Moreover, some people will never watch marketing videos longer than a few seconds. One way to address this challenge is to have your company’s website address displayed throughout the video. This way your prospects will know how to reach you.

3. Be consistent with the behavior you want to target

When you are creating a call-to-action, decide what you want your prospects to do. Don’t have a call-to-action that says “Learn more” and then direct people to a shopping cart. People will get frustrated. You have to meet your audience’s expectations.

4. Be focused and create a sense of urgency

Being specific helps to interact more effectively with your prospects. Use “Learn More” as a call-to-action if you want to educate people, use “Get Product Info” if you want to tell them about your offerings in detail.  When you include dates in your call-to-action, it prompts people to commit and act immediately. For example, “Receive 10 % off if you act by July 1st” and “Sign up by Dec. 1 to receive a free gift”.

5. Your video should have a clear purpose

Your video needs to answer the questions that your audience is thinking about when they start watching it. For example, if the title of your video is "How to Clean Your Car in Just 5 Minutes", don't talk about your company's cleaning product for the first minute and a half before you get to the tips. The best way not confuse viewers is to communicate your content as clearly as possible through the video title and keywords you are using to “tag” it.

As you see, creating effective calls-to-action isn't hard. What has been your experience? Share your best practices with us.

Posted by Yelena Kadeykina
Friday, 25 June 2010