Autoplay video/audio on landing page?

[dilnaj]

Do you like it when you visit a landing page and bam some video+audio starts playing right away? Have you tried it? Is it really effective?

[Dean Dune]

I personally hate it.

It's intrusive.

If I want to watch the vid, I'll click "play".

[Zachmo]

Me too. I want something that will give me options first whether I would want to watch the video or roam around the website. I hate it because I usually maximize my surfing time and open windows with different websites at a time and a playing video right away annoys me, I still need to find which website is doing this. It is always better to just place a play button.

[Ross James]

Originally Posted by dilnaj

Do you like it when you visit a landing page and bam some video+audio starts playing right away? Have you tried it? Is it really effective?

Do you like it?

I don't, personally.

[Pusateri]

Hate it. Instantly click away and I don't come back.

If you can't write a sentence that makes me WANT to watch or listen, you need to find another profession.

[MayfairNoble]

I instantly close 99% of such pages.

I'm going to give a brief example of why a customer might not like this.

Say your customer is listening to music and chilling out, surfing for your product niche.
When they open a page and your voice interrupts their relaxation, it grates.
I can assure you they won't appreciate it, this is one of hundreds of scenarios where autoplaying can throw the customer right out of a mood to buy your product.

If someone wants to watch your video/listen to your audio, they will.

Never force your customers to do anything!

[OnlineMasterMind]

Originally Posted by dilnaj

Is it really effective?

What do you think?

Have you done any research? Have you noticed that many of the most successful sites are doing it?

Have you ever considered that might hold a little more weight than asking random and anonymous people who in all likelihood are speaking from a point of theory and inexperience??

I mean c'mon... does anyone do any research anymore? Or should we all just sit around and talk about how annoying it is?

Hell yeah it's effective!

And the more annoying it is to unobservant consumers (i.e autoplay, no time display, no controls...etc...etc) usually the more effective it is for the MARKETERS.

[Daniel Scott]

In my experience... the best way to do it is to say "click play to blah blah...".

And other heavyweight copywriters and marketers I talk to have pretty much found the same thing.

But as always... it's easy to do a split test.

-Daniel

[deannatroupe]

I hate autoplay and will run away when I see such sites. I could have a sleeping baby. My baby is very sensitive to music and has been known to wake up from a dead sleep if something with music comes on the television. So my vote is no for autoplay video/audio.

[dilnaj]

Yeah guys, totally agree with all of you. As soon as I hear it and immediately go for the X on the window. But LOTS of people still do it and really I don't understand WHY?!

Just today I checked out this guy's WSO (won't say who) and clicked buy because I was interested, and bam - I get hit with a super loud video that starts automatically and has no options for pause, stop, volume, or anything. Come on, seriously?

[2stepup]

To chime In on the debate, I am not a fan of videos that have no pause buttons, which I have seen used and click away immediately, regardless of the information

[Josiah]

I hate them too... but that's not what makes me money...

I'm not bragging but I do over 1M USD on serveral of my own clickbank sites...

I've tested BOTH auto and non-auto play... and guess what...

Auto-play converts better in EVERY CASE.

So there you go, don't blindly assume just because YOU hate something
that it doesn't work...

That's the quickest way to throw away money.

Josiah

[Jon Steel]

Originally Posted by Josiah

I hate them too... but that's not what makes me money...

I'm not bragging but I do over 1M USD on serveral of my own clickbank sites...

I've tested BOTH auto and non-auto play... and guess what...

Auto-play converts better in EVERY CASE.

So there you go, don't blindly assume just because YOU hate something
that it doesn't work...

That's the quickest way to throw away money.

Josiah

I too have multiple sites that "autoplay" video salesletters ... and they put money in my pockets all day long -

js

[Marvin Johnston]

Originally Posted by Jon Steel

I too have multiple sites that "autoplay" video salesletters ... and they put money in my pockets all day long

I'm assuming that you have done some testing here ... what is the approximate difference in conversion between autoplay and not?

And has the bounce rate changed significantly between the two approaches?

Marvin

[BrianMcLeod]

Want to KNOW if people are watching your video - with or without autoplay?

Heatmaps, Visitor Movies, Web Analytics | Customer Experience Analytics by ClickTale

or

Realtime user studies and analytics tools for your website - Mouseflow

Record some sessions and sit back and SEE what users do on the page.

Or, just pontificate about how you prefer to be sold to. Your choice.

Nobody can tell you what to do here. You need DATA, not opinions.

For the record, my clicktale tests have shown me clearly that video which doesn't autoplay often DOESN'T play at all.

Disappointing? Absolutely. I really wanted the data to be the other way around.

It wasn't.

Onward...

Brian

[jdk1970]

I absolutely despise it! I've not worked with it from a commercial perspective, so I don't know if it's an effective technique.

[Stephen Dean]

This question seems to come up often. Dave Miz gave the best response in my opinion:

Should I auto play video on sales page?

Whenever the question is asked, it always plays out the same way. Several people chime in that they hate it and would never buy from a website that uses it. Then people who've tested it say auto-play has won every test they've tried.

Of course, test results from others only provides you with a better guess of what will work for you.

Cheers,
Stephen Dean

[Ross James]

What about this, how about setting the preview frame of your video to something that draws a lot of curiosity...so that people have to hit the play button in order to find out what happens next. If you don't want to autoplay, draw people in somehow, create curiosity...don't forget..test, test, test.

-Ross

[stealthpromo]

The answer really depends on how good your video is. A balding guy talking about a product should not autoplay.

BUT

Something made in after effect, with good music, graphics and storyline will immediately catch and hold the visitors attention.

[Marvin Johnston]

Everything I've read (never tested, never had a need to test ... yet) says that autoplay out pulls non-autoplay.

Okay, why?

Is it possible the copy to get someone to play the video is ... lacking? Would better copy result in more plays and better conversion?

There are more variables than just autoplay. Can a good video make up for poor copy?

And as long as the time has been taken to test, is the conversion better when the video is below the fold as opposed to out in plain "site"?

Marvin

[Globy]

I really hate this one.
Auto play? Why??

I would possibly hit the back button in a sec.
Not recommended!

[RefundHost]

yes you're right

[TheGetStartedExpert]

Originally Posted by OnlineMasterMind

What do you think?

Have you done any research? Have you noticed that many of the most successful sites are doing it?

Have you ever considered that might hold a little more weight than asking random and anonymous people who in all likelihood are speaking from a point of theory and inexperience??

I mean c'mon... does anyone do any research anymore? Or should we all just sit around and talk about how annoying it is?

Hell yeah it's effective!

And the more annoying it is to unobservant consumers (i.e autoplay, no time display, no controls...etc...etc) usually the more effective it is for the MARKETERS.

Well said. The mistake I made when I first started out doing internet marketing was doing what I felt was right rather than letting my target market dictate that to me. It may annoy the heck out of you, but if the market is responsive to it (i.e. putting money in your pocket) then leave it be. The only way to really know, as been stated already, is to split test.

[ChrisKahler]

One thing you've got to consider is where your prospects are when they visit the site. I can see how in both cases could do well. What if you're targeting a segment of visitors that are more likely to find your offer while in an office at work though? I would stay away from auto playing anything.

It's dependent on the person's desperation, where they are when they find your offer, and how quickly you can get their interest. If they are already curious to some extent when they find your page the autoplay is doing them a favor. If you have to initiate curiosity, you're simply flipping a coin. Testing is the only way to figure that out.

None of this is exact science, so no one here can say either will work best every time for every offer. There is always a random characteristic. Figuring out the prospect and the offer, and then simply lining things up according to what makes most sense of the scenario is what should be done. Then of course testing will follow cause that's the only way you can go to be 100% sure.

[Ken_Caudill]

I haven't seen anyone say anything positive about autoplay media anywhere. Like Mr. Dean pointed out, we continually hear from people who have tested it and swear it works.

The only places I've seen it are on hard-sell single page sites aimed at the desperate and not-very-bright.

[Glenn@AllGoodCopy]

I've tested auto-play videos and it's generally seen a 50% increase in conversion.

If you link through to a video that isn't auto-play, all you're doing is adding another 'click' that the customer has to go through before they get to the information they're looking for.

When you consider that most people will be landing on an auto-play video from an email or PPC advert, then they're expecting something immediately anyway.

If you read an email endorsement, decide to click through to the sales promotion and then there's another page that says 'to read this sales promotion, click below', would you - no.

All that said, I understand that a lot of people don't like the auto-play video format - or at least have reservations about it. Therefore, the way I see it - it just means you have to makes sure the lead (the first five - ten seconds of the video) is as strong as it can possibly be, just as you would a headline and lead of a regular written promotion.

If the idea is interesting and engaging, people won't care what media format it's in.