The truth about website videos: What your prospects really care about

Have you ever thought that your website could use some videos that showcase your offers or you/your company? 🤔 Especially if your competitors have high-quality videos on their websites, you may feel like you're missing out. But creating videos takes a lot of time. Not to mention the horror of putting your face in front of the camera, if you're a solopreneur. 😱🙈 Good news: Chances are, you do NOT need (more) videos on your site. Meaning, even if you'd find time, money, and courage to make them, they will NOT help you get more business through your website. Wow, finally something you don NOT have to do on your website, am I right? Let me tell you why it's the case by sharing a conversation with one of my current copywriting clients (all details have been anonymized or slightly altered to keep their privacy). *** Mark runs an established company he is very proud of. We are currently finalizing the copy for his new website that will finally do his company and offers justice. His son is a video creator who has been creating high-quality videos for the company. So, they can easily create more great videos for the site. The other day, Mark sent me this email (in a nutshell): Hi Gill, We're wondering, in your opinion as a copywriter and storyteller, are there areas of our company that you see need to be explored and highlighted more through video? Right now we have the [company branding video] that gives an overview of the company, and a [video presenting our online app]. We also have a video highlighting the [history of our services], and another video highlighting [stories from our clients]. Would love your insight into any areas of the company you see as needing video content created around aspects of the business that you feel would better educate or inform. Oh wow, a client who is willing to create more high-quality videos for their website without me even asking? That doesn't happen often. However, I told Mark not to bother. Here's why. Why your prospects don't care (that much) about your videos (and what they care about instead) I understand that you are very passionate about your company, and you have all the reasons to be proud. But your prospects don't care as much about your company as you think. They come to your website with a very specific need: to solve a problem either by hiring you or buying your product. The things they care about in the process are the following (in the order of importance): - Does this company offer what I need? - Does their offer satisfy my most important buying decision criteria? - Why should I buy from/hire them and not their competitor? - Can I trust that they'll do a great job/trust the quality of the product? - What would be the next step to buy/get in touch? The vast majority of your prospects does NOT care about anything else beyond that. What does it mean for your videos? The information you provide them about your company is only useful if it contributes to the points #3 and #4, i.e. explains why your offers are better than those of a competitor and/or increases trust. And even then they don't need to know all possible things about your company or watch several videos. They only need enough information (whether it's a text or a video) that shows them that you're trustworthy and explains why you're better than the competition. The only other case a video can increase your chance for an inquiry or a purchase is when it explains something faster than a piece of text would (as in "it's better one time to see than 100 times to hear"). And even then, many visitors won't watch that video From my experience of auditing many-many websites, whether it's a useful demo, a company overview, a sample lesson, or a client testimonial,... ....the majority of website visitors won't watch it, and even fewer will watch till the end, probably because extracting information from text is still faster. (Don't believe me? Check out your video stats in your Google Analytics.) To summarize: The videos that (if watched) are most likely to increase your chance for a sale are: - "Better one time to see than 100 times to here" videos: Videos that show something that can't be properly described with text (an interface of an app, how a product is used in real life, etc.) - Video client testimonials Everything else is "nice to have, but will probably not help much, if at all." What kind of videos do you already have on your site? (and why they may be enough) Let's look at the videos Mark already has on his website. Here's how the current videos contribute to his prospects knowing and trusting his company and offers better (in order of importance): You can use the same approach to analyze your videos. - A video presenting the online app delivers important information a piece of text can't (shows the interface) + has social proof in it (a person praising the tool) => delivers information important for a buying decision + increases trust - A video with testimonials from clients shows real people, just like their prospects, praising your maps => increases trust - A company branding video gives a quick overview of the company. It doesn't have any information that isn't also communicated via text, but because of a professional video quality it shows that it's a serious company => increases trust, but motivation to watch it won't be too high. - A video about the history of your services provides information that isn't crucial for making a buying decision. It's nice to have it, but a typical prospect won't be highly motivated to watch it. Bottom line: It's not about what you want or can do on your website. It's about what your prospects need to hear to convert. In Mike's case, I didn't recommend creating any additional videos, as I didn't see any decision criteria or objections that we haven't covered with the copy and existing videos already. Instead, I recommended the following: - First, focus on getting the pages we've been working on online as fast as possible to start getting new customers and test the concept of the new site. - After that, analyze how the prospects interact with the site by analyzing Google Analytics data as well as heatmaps and session replays (for ex., with a tool called Hotjar). Then we will have a much better understanding what's still missing on the site from the prospects' point of view. And I was glad to find out Mark and I were on the same page here👇 Gill, Thank you so much for taking the time to write up this email and reiterate again for me the importance of staying on track with what is most important. Your answer reminded me of the big picture of what we are shooting for, and that we need to look at it through the eyes of potential clients. P.S. Want to get more business through your site? I'll help you pinpoint the issues with copy and design that are stopping your prospects from reaching out in a [website review](=.gAvTLWPgnInYh4adqYUd1OBdIhUapZGweCecN1QVXGs). Or help you create new copy that does your offers justice and consult you on conversion-optimized design within a [copywriting project](=.qXLlq6OO4-nVIRIRTI9bmPwfpp5H_pLVc4oH3wVSR0U). This would be all from me for the week. Warm greetings from Germany, Gill [📙 My book](=.4492WyIhdZjRhyDGVc75k9gWNuq7ze71hFfxLlojCxc) | [🖥️ My course](=.ASmiNyo3zdRw7YlAOGjhYNmkDFRKjL1H_K2Jm6hI-Jg) P.P.S. This email may contain typos, and I'm fine with them because cloning humans is, unfortunately, still impossible. Spending more time proofreading my emails would mean I'll have to share fewer tips with you. And sharing more and better tips is more important to me than sharing tips that are grammatically perfect. I hope that's fine with you, too. [Gill Andrews] [gillandrews.com](=.H7d8EI0I5FFh4dgtWiS7i9_p3Qeybvvw-CKUIwVo7cI) [Share to Facebook](=.1mpHpFGHxDamqb25ed_Jam8h6CHeNQtFRN8HUQwAlXs) [Share to Facebook](=.U4q24UWxBcQ2e4ZafAo5_TDuCXbzeN4xPNyKsahQ_Ik) [Share to Twitter](=.ABwT2v9gcGfKIOAEuGdrXiGzegrwKs-13nJ_93AlYpM) [Share to Twitter](=.4c62H5GpbDButhwcV2O_4gzfobfmjRp10Sh_U9jR9Mo) [Forward email](=.6ewWC4-rS-QEDKGno3UJTL3Qb--BESdz8aJsk1Iod6w) [Forward email](=.tYmfTTISggiovDZ6Ay78-1PKrV4_qaH1Fmf6strSRZs) Gill Andrews You received this email because you signed up to my updates. Changed your mind? No problem. Unsubscribe using the link below. [Unsubscribe](=.w59lwd204TxyV8-h0zM4UIx9tMOjl31IWDRATFJYBu0)