Hint: People watch videos that are INTERESTING to them!
Which works best: long online video ads, or short online video?
Which works best: long copy or short copy?
Every time I have this friggin’ debate, it kills me. Because despite enormous tested proof to the contrary, there are still a boatload of marketers — probably more than not — that insist short video is the only way to go online…
We have shorter attention spans…
Nobody wants to watch all that…
They’ll just tune out or click away…
Those are all ASSUMPTIONS!
And you know what they say about assumptions…
But consumers only feed into these assumptions. Adroit Digital ran a recent consumer survey. They asked them two questions:
1. Do you skip online video ads?
2. What is the optimal length for a video ad?
Surprise, surprise!
Here’s what they found.
In regards to skipping ads… 56% of consumers said most of the time they skip the ad. 20% said most of the time they didn’t skip. And 24% of consumers were honest and said it depends on the ad.
In regards to video length… Well, this question was flawed from the get-go, because it only gave TINY video length options… But 46% said the video should be under 15 seconds, 35% said it should be 16-30 seconds… 13% 31 seconds to a minute… And 6% more than a minute…
Here’s the thing.
First, you can NEVER rely on consumer self-report data about general behavior to tell you what they’ll actually do when presented with a compelling ad that’s relevant to them.
Second, CONTEXT is everything. When I’m getting an irrelevant car ad popping up when I’m just surfing YouTube for music, of course I’m going to skip the ad the moment it lets me. When my frame of mind is that I want to watch or listen to the content of the video I just clicked on, any in-stream ad that interrupts that is going to be seen with excessive distaste and better be GREAT to capture my attention and keep me watching. Because that’s most people’s context for video ads on the internet — in-stream ads that interrupt what they’re doing — that’s what they’re reacting based on.
(Alternately, if you’re putting together a video sales letter full of interesting, compelling content — and they’re clicking to view that content in the first place, because your ad or email compelled them to do so — it would be IGNORANT to think they’d want it to be less than 15 seconds. But this is NEVER the context people are thinking of when responding to a survey like this.)
More science!
Ad platform TidalTV did a study based on actual viewer behavior… Measuring either “they clicked away” or “they clicked through.”
They compared 15 second and 30 second ads. And — surprise — found that untargeted ads at ANY length don’t get watched, and don’t get clicked!
HOWEVER… Targeted 30-second ads get LESS completions (meaning they watched to the end) but MORE clicks — TWICE AS MANY CLICKS.
And what should we measure to indicate the sales process is being continued? CLICKS! People take more action as a result of targeted, compelling LONGER videos!
So what about the really long video sales letters?
The ones that run 45 minutes… 60 minutes… Even 90 minutes or longer?
The ones that we ALL say “oh I’d never watch that whole thing!”
The ones that everyone seemingly has a distaste for?
In short, they sell!
Who watches those whole things?
The short answer: BUYERS.
In any marketing, you’re most often dealing with a small percentage of people who respond to any given promotion.
You don’t need to maximize the people who watch the video to the end. That’s not your goal. Your goal is to get the attention and interest of the maximum number of targeted buyers from your list. This may be as little as 1%. And what you goal needs to do is make sure it hooks and compels that 1% of people to watch long enough to make that purchasing decision.
And… Surprise, surprise…
The more you tell, the more you sell!
The better job you do of presenting your entire sales story, sales argument, proof points, benefits of your product and more… NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES… The better job you’re going to do of bringing home the sales!
Here’s a quick set of questions to ask yourself about your video sales letter or other video promotion to make sure it will sell…
– Does the copy read quick enough?
– Does it all feel new and never-before-seen?
– Is everything specific enough, with tangible detail and supporting proof where necessary?
– Am I doing everything I can do visually to demonstrate and to close the sale?
– Have I created a huge dramatization around before/after, with/without?
– Is the voice of the copy one of authority and status?
Notice, none of that asks length. It’s because in selling, length doesn’t matter. All this other stuff does. But length doesn’t. My most successful video sales letters are often an hour or longer.
Focus on what matters, and your videos — whether 90 seconds or 90 minutes — will do a better job of persuading and getting customers through the door.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
