Benefits of Using Interactive Video When Marketing Your Business
The best products or services donât always assure continued success in business. Companies have to continually find ways to sell enough volume or quantity of their products or services to sustain their profitable operations.
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Thatâs why 92% of marketers are using videos to reach their target customers from 78% in 2015. Videos have shown great results in providing information about their products or services and in converting traffic and leads into customers.
Videos are now the consumersâ favorite type of content. Yes, videos in general provide great results, but interactive videos can achieve much more.
What is an interactive video? This article is about this new form of video and its benefits to businesses.
What is an interactive video?
Interactive videos are videos which encourage viewer interaction using a wide range of features on the screen to direct the flow of the video.
In traditional or linear videos, the viewers can just play, rewind, pause, fast-forward and watch.
On the other hand, interactive videos prompt the viewers for their preferred interaction. In a way, they are like video games where the viewerâs interaction affects how the video will continue.
However, depending on the software and content creator, an interactive video can be created in other formats that are different from a video game.
Types of interactive video formats
There are different types of interactive videos. Viewers interact with interactive videos by clicking on a number of features depending on its type of format. The features in the most common formats include the following:
1. Hotspot or clickable areas
Hotspots are areas in the video that a viewer can click to perform a specified action. For example, when a viewer clicks on a hotspot, the video may display a map, a document with detailed information about the product or open another video. So, you get additional information without leaving the interactive video.
When you close the document file or the other video, the interactive video will resume playing.
2. 360 degree view
This type of interactive video allows the viewers to see the other sides of the content shown in the video â up, down, left or right sides from their vantage point and from any angle. This type is popular among marketers in the tourism industry,
3. Branches
Branches offer different paths from where the viewers can choose to control and customize how the interactive video will proceed.
4. Data inputs
In this format, form fields pop up on the video. The viewer can enter on the form fields the information you ask for. For example, you may ask for the viewersâ response to a survey or their names and contact information to be able to download an e book for free or to register to your webinar. In time you will have a collection of valuable information about your viewers that you can use for future marketing campaigns.
5. Quizzes
This feature allows video creators to embed content-related questions, answers, calculations or assessment choices. The quizzes will give the viewers a more fun, engaging and memorable experience.
The viewers will give their full attention to the video so that they wonât miss the answer or result that they know will be revealed at the latter part video. They are eager to know if they made the right choices at the earlier part of the video.
Quizzes are often shareable. Participants are encouraged to share their results to their friends and challenge them to do better.
How interactive videos are used in marketing
There are a lot of ways businesses can use interactive videos. However, it is in marketing where interactive videos are widely used. .
An increasing number of companies are now using interactive videos as the tool to improve sales by effectively reaching out to potential customers. Here are the ways that marketers are using interactive videos to share information about their products and services, convert leads and close deals with the target audience.
1. Explainer videos
Explainer videos are short videos that explain a summary of the key points of a product or service. Generally, an explainer video is between 1 to 2 minutes only. This is a convenient way to create awareness about a product or service for busy people.
2. Testimonials in product reviews
Written reviews help build trust and credibility for a product or service but interactive videos allow the viewers a better way to assess what the reviewer is sharing about the product or service.
The page on product reviews can include a gallery of testimonial videos that viewers can scroll and view at their own pace.
3. Product or service demos
A demo video has been widely used to show a product or service and highlight its key benefits and features. It shows what a product or service can do.
Viewers who donât fully understand or lack information about the features and benefits of a product or service are not likely to become buyers.
However, the viewers or target customers have different information needs. Some potential buyers just need the features because they already know the expected benefits. They wonât be interested in a long video explaining what they consider unnecessary information. Other potential buyers need to know the detailed information because they are not familiar with the product. They need more details to decide whether to buy the product or not.
The solution is to create an interactive product or service demo video which allows the viewer to choose the information that they need or interest them the most. The viewer can choose the level of information they want to see to decide whether to buy your product and service or not.
4. Customer outreach
An interactive video about any new or updated products or services is a great way to reach out to existing and potential customers.
An interactive video can convey the same content as cold calling and other traditional sales tactics, without wasting your sales teamâs valuable time. It is also a less invasive outreach than a call because the potential customer can choose when to view the video.
5. Videographics or interactive infographics
A videographic or interactive infographic is a great tool to help companies to present important information about a product or service that will help potential customers to decide whether to buy or not.
Like an infographic, it lays out facts, figures and concepts but has features that the viewer can control and interact with. For example, the viewer can click on those features to see a set of statistics, view comparison videos and charts or they can tweak the data input to get more relevant results.
Why should businesses use interactive video?
Interactive video is now a popular marketing tool because with the right content, it can help identify what your target customers really need and desire.
The interaction with the video creates a memorable experience for the viewer that usually leads to positive results for the advertiser.
Following are the main reasons many companies are adding interactive video to their must have digital media tool
1. Consumersâ Choice
Marketing experts know that the best strategies include media that consumers want to interact with â and the current favorite is interactive video. More consumers prefer interactive video over other types of video because it gives them the ability to decide what information they want to view, and when they want to view it.
The forecast is that the average consumer will be watching 100 minutes of video daily in 2021. It is a 19% increase from the 84 minutes average viewing time in 2019.
More marketers are also planning to use interactive videos because according to Rapt media, viewers are 3 times more engaged with an interactive than a static video.
2. Data Tracking
An interactive video enables marketers to track clicks and other interactions within the video, collect data through form fields, analyze the various branching paths taken and much more.
Each interaction tells something about the viewerâs preferences and intentions. Companies can learn from the data collected and use them to improve their marketing strategies. The tracking report is available after the video ends.
Previously, marketers could only track the videoâs impact through number of views, surveys or focus groups.
3. Higher user engagement
An interactive video has various features that transform passive viewing into active viewing. Active viewers are focused on the video. They are paying attention and engaged.
On the other hand, passive viewers are those who may not have their full attention on the video. They could be doing other things while watching.
According to a DemandGen report, interactive content user engagement is twice that of a static content.
4. Higher conversion rates
Converting viewers into paying customers is the ultimate goal of interactive video advertising.
More marketers are turning to interactive videos now because while banner ads and ads placed on Google and YouTube sites are converting at less than 1%, interactive video ads are converting at more than 11%.
Interactive videos are also reported to have increased landing page conversion rates by up to 80%.
5. Memorable to viewers
Interactive video is a great tool for learning about a companyâs new products and services because it is engaging and demands the viewerâs attention. Actively involving the viewer in a video helps increase the chances theyâll remember the content and is one of the reasons why interactive videos are 32% more memorable than linear or static video ads
Interactive videos are also more enjoyable than linear videos. The viewers are not bored. Boredom could result to less attention to the video. According to a study, students who doodled during classes ârecalled 29 percent more information than the non-doodlersâ. Doodling reduces boredom and prevents the brain from going into the âdaydreamingâ or âidling mode.â
6. Better SEO
According to Cisco, âover 80% of all traffic will consist of video by 2021.â Search engines consider interactive videos as high-quality content. Just make sure they have optimized titles and meta descriptions.
Videos also increase the click-through rates of websites and landing pages, which is an important factor in SEO ranking. Experts advise that videos on the landing page should not be set to automatically play. Let the landing page visitors decide when they want to see the video.
7. More social media mentions shares
Sharing videos significantly increase brand visibility. Social networks encourage video sharing because it is now the consumersâ favorite type of content. So, Facebook has its Facebook Watch Party and other video sharing apps, Twitter has Periscope and Instagram has Instagram stories and 60-Second Videos.
Yet what are the chances that people will share your video? If you have an enjoyable video, 83% of consumers would most likely share it with their friends.
Social media users like sharing emotional and entertaining videos.
8. Better Return on Investment (ROI)
Marketing statistics show that 88% of video marketers are satisfied with the ROI of their video marketing efforts. A better ROI is expected because interactive videos provide multiple, significant benefits to businesses.
In addition, 77% of marketers also point out that an interactive videoâs content has “reusable” value from multiple interactions and returning customer visits.
The interactive videoâs ability to increase the viewerâs engagement, track valuable customer insights and increase conversion rates can improve a companyâs marketing strategy ten times.
9. Compatible with Multiple Devices
One of the advantages of interactive videos is their compatibility with various software programs and devices. So, thereâs no need for marketers to create different versions of their content. They need only one version for multiple operating systems and devices.
Itâs a must now for any marketing content to be mobile-friendly as more people, especially the younger ones, value the ability to access information online anytime and anywhere that there is internet connection.
Conclusion
More marketers are now using interactive videos to take advantage of the amazing benefits they can get. It is not only effective in converting traffic and leads to sales but is also a gold mine of information that marketers need to reach their marketing goals.
To maximize results by utilizing interactive videos for your company, get the help of the experts in creating interactive videos today! Contact All Things Digital!
