Effective video marketing helps brands gain leads and connect with their audiences in ways unachievable by other types of content. That’s why it’s essential to identify what success looks like before you begin your video project.
Knowing the right metrics to look at to measure the effectiveness of your campaign can significantly improve your video marketing strategy. You’ll want to focus on several metrics simultaneously to get a comprehensive view of the video’s performance. If you only look at the view count as a measure of success, for example, your analysis will be limited. Many platforms count merely opening the video as a view. So, this metric can be a little misleading.
Thankfully, we can look at other metrics that reveal how viewers engage with your content and what this data means. You can then use these findings to make informed decisions and direct future campaigns towards greater results.
Let’s take a look at the four key video metrics that measure the success of your marketing efforts and can tell you the most about how audiences are interacting with your content.
Engagement Rate
The engagement rate demonstrates how long a viewer has remained watching your video. This metric represents the percentage of the video viewed by the visitor. You can also look at the average engagement rate to see how much of the video the total audience watched on average.
But why is this metric so useful? Knowing exactly when video engagement starts to drop off can help you experiment and improve the quality of your content and messaging. According to Curata, the three most effective types of video are customer testimonials, tutorials, and product demonstrations. Testing different types of videos and looking at the engagement rates can help you identify what works best for your brand.
Play Rate
The play rate reveals the percentage of page visitors who clicked play and began watching your video. This metric is a good indication of how enticing the content on the page is at persuading visitors to watch the video. It can also tell us how optimally placed the video is on the page and whether the video thumbnail is visually appealing and relevant to the audience.
There are several ways to improve a video’s play rate. Moving the position of the video higher up the page, for example, could trigger higher impressions and, as a result, an increase in plays. It’s also vital to ensure the content on your page clearly encourages the user to watch the video. Testing different thumbnails can also help you discover the most engaging visuals, improve video performance, and give you an insight into your audiences’ preferences.
Click-Through Rate This conversion metric refers to the number of people who clicked your video’s call-to-action (CTA), which usually appears at or near the end of a video. A high click-through rate (CTR) means your audience was not only intrigued to watch the whole video but also interested enough by your offer to continue their journey through the sales funnel.
There are several actions you can take to improve the CTR of a video. It is worth combining this metric with the average engagement rate to see where viewers are dropping off. If the number of viewers reaching the end of your video and not clicking the CTA is low, your offer may not be strong or compelling enough. Make sure the CTA is clear and tells the user exactly what action they need to take next.
If your video is narrative-based and quite long with a CTA near the end, you need to find a way of keeping viewers engaged until the end. If they’re not, it will negatively impact the video’s CTR and conversion rate as a result.
Conversion Rate The conversion rate of your video measures how many viewers complete an intended action, as set by you. Depending on your conversion goals, that action can be anything from filling out a contact form to making a purchase.
Video can be a great tool to help boost your conversion rate, whether that's getting more visitors to sign up to your newsletter or encouraging repeat customers to buy from you again. In fact, a study carried out by Vidyard revealed that 71% of marketers achieve higher conversions from their video content compared to other types of content.
Conclusion Whether you promote your video content across your social media channels or publish it on your website, video marketing is part of a powerful strategy to drive the growth of your business. So, now that you’re familiar with the key metrics to measure the success of your campaign, what’s next? Read these top tips on how to make your video project a success.