This is a guest post by Hope Horner, Founder & CEO at LemonLight

Everyone’s talking about video, and rightly so! Video is one of the most engaging types of content and has been shown to increase not just website vanity metrics, like view count and time spent on page, but sales-driven metrics like conversion rates, as well.

As a matter of fact, 71% of marketers say their videos have higher conversion rates than their other marketing content.

But why? You may stop scrolling to watch a video ad or two as you browse the web, but you don’t typically buy a product immediately afterward, do you?

That’s because videos can have any number of goals – spreading brand awareness, engaging prospective customers, delighting past customers, and more. And each of these individual goals come with their own unique conversion metrics.

So before we get into how video can help increase ad conversion rates, let’s properly define what counts as a conversion.

How do you define a conversion?

What defines an ad conversion for you depends on a number of different factors: the audience you’re targeting, the stage of the buyer’s journey they’re on, your distribution method, and more. Your ultimate conversion is likely a sale, but to get to that sale, there’s a series of other, smaller conversions your users likely have to accomplish. For instance, becoming a subscriber of your blog is one type of conversion. Registering for an event is another. Clicking a link in an email can be another, and so on.

That’s why it’s critical to define your ad’s goal and how you’ll measure it before looking at your conversion rate. With a bigger-picture view, your conversion rate will actually end up telling you a lot more than you expect.

Once you properly define how you’ll measure a conversion, you can use video throughout your marketing initiatives to drive up the conversion rates of all your ad campaigns.

Here are 7 ways video can increase your ad conversion rates:

1. Use video on your landing pages.

If you run a static ad, whether it’s a text or display ad, make sure it leads to a landing page with video. Including video on these pages can increase conversion rates by as much as 80%.

Be sure to A/B test your video’s placement. If your product or service is complicated, placing the video above the fold might lead to better results, but sometimes, providing extra information only helps when the user is interested enough to scroll your page in order to learn more.

2. Use a lead capture form in your video.

If you want the video itself to help you capture leads, test inserting a lead capture form in your video, either before your video content begins, or in the middle before you divulge any important information. Research shows a lead form used in the first 10-20% of your video is the most effective, so test this strategy and see what works best for you.

3. Use videos testimonials as social proof.

Video testimonials are especially high converting thanks to the social proof they provide. They’re typically seen as more trustworthy than anything you could say yourself, so take full advantage of positive user reviews to boost your ad campaign’s effectiveness. These are especially useful on social media, where people are already interacting with content highly targeted to their interests.

4. Make your ads interactive with video.

Videos are already highly engaging – add an interactive element to help stop users in their tracks. Videos with hotspots that link to product pages, choose-your-own-adventure style videos, and more, this interactivity leads to higher engagement times, which helps with brand recall and consideration.

5. Personalize your video.

Look into video personalization tools that can add personal touches to each of your videos en masse, like adding a user’s name or location. Personalized videos have been shown to drastically increase conversion rates, so do it if you can. Send these videos out via email or use them to retarget visitors.

Or, you can also take the easy way out and use faux personalization. Have your main actor ask questions directly to the camera, as if talking to the viewer.

Geo-target your video ads with location callouts. You can even target visitors who visited certain product pages and create a video letting them know about the benefits of the product they haven’t bought yet. Get creative.

6. Use a CTA in your video.

Just like you’d use a bright and attention-grabbing CTA in a display ad, use one in your video to encourage specific user action. Use both verbal and visual CTAs and keep them short and clear. Remember: if someone has invested time in watching your video, they’re interested in what you’re offering and are more likely to convert.

7. Highlight the most useful information for your audience.

What’s most useful for your target audience to know? How your product works? Specifications and features? Ease of use? These are all details that are communicated more effectively through visual means. Convince your audience that your product is easy to use or answer their most frequently asked questions for a chance to win them over.

So what are you waiting for? If your ad campaigns are struggling to convert users the right way, see how video can help. Of course, you need to first create the perfect video that captures your brand story and helps funnel viewers down the marketing funnel. Hire a video production company that can help create that video for you, and see the difference it can make for your conversion rates.

About the Author

Hope Horner

Founder, CEO at Lemonlight

Hope Horner is a three-time entrepreneur that has been featured in Inc.’s Top 25 Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2017, Entrepreneur’s 11 Marketing Experts that Could Change Your Business, and Pepperdine’s 40 Under 40. Horner is a regular contributor at Entrepreneur, Forbes, Inc., and multiple other publications where she shares startup insights and scalable solutions. She is currently working on her third startup, Lemonlight, an LA-based business that produces and distributes branded video content at scale.