Super Long Sales Videos

I have a hard time believing sales videos are really converting much better than traditional sales letters. Every time I see a sales video, I exit the site immediately.

I have no patience to sit through long videos. Maybe it's just me.

I think it depends on the video.

I've watched long sales videos simply because it kept me engaged the entire time.

I've stopped watching others because in the first few seconds I was bored.

I have a 30 minute sales video that sells a $97 offer. I have split tested an appearing order button vs a button that is just always their.

the appearing order button is converting cold ppc traffic at 5.95% and the button that is always there converts at 3.97% So I do understand that some people like to buy right away I make $100-$200 more by making people watch the entire video or get annoyed and leave which is fine with me.

I personally am a hurry up and let me buy type of person

There should always be a button to skip the video and go right to the point. 5 bullets on what this product is about and thats it.

I cannot stand long videos. I also hate videos on a sales page where you can't forward them!

I personally only shoot videos that are under 3 minutes. People just don't watch them all.

However, there are a lot of marketers that do have very long sales videos (remember Kajabi's launch, 60 mins sales videos!!!) so they do work.

Just because something works doesn't mean you have to do it that way. If you did a poll I would imagine the majority of people don't like longer videos and find it frustrating that you have to sit through it all without being able to forward, pause etc.

For example, I had a debate with a well known and very successful marketer who sends emails out on a daily basis. Now I know that works well, but I just can't do it. I consider it spamming and hate to receive emails every day.

It's about finding a balance that you're happy with and that gets results.

Lilach

Per my mentors, the regular text sales page is still the highest converting. As a matter of fact, they say that videos do not convert well at all and they do a LOT of testing before stating things like that.

Personally, I won't watch them at all. Take too much time.

If you don't want to take their word for it, test it yourself.

Set up a regular sales page and one with the video and see for yourself
which one converts better.

Chris,
Great post. I've closed out sites like this. 18 minute videos that just BLATHER on and on and on. Not even a "Skip and buy" link? Very stupid strategy in my opinion. It's been confusing me for a year or more.

The ones I like best are the sales video that has the written letter of exactly what they're saying below it. That way I can skim. No idea if this works better than the other though. I haven't split tested it. Currently I don't have any sales videos up.

Simply put, a long sales video allows YOU to control the sales process. Some people skip through sales letter or read them backwards and miss out on key information, which leads to more refunds and support tickets.

If the buy button appears after a long sales video, your customer will know everything you want them to know. They'll have a clear understanding about your product and what they can expect. They'll also have time invested in your product before actually buying your product.

This is just my two cents, but I believe super long sales videos have some benefits that should be thoroughly tested before quickly dismissed.

It really depends on the individual product. Testing is the only way. I have one client that tried video and it bombed. Another is getting 25% more sales on the same traffic with just video (no text). Test it, baby!

Great discussion so far, guys.

Here's my experience with sales videos so far, since I left the details out of my original post. I've sent about 1,450 unique visitors to a few different products as an affiliate. They were all high gravity products with supposedly great conversion rates and, of course, a long ass video.

According to Clickbank, not ONE of those 1,450 visitors made it to the order form.

Now this wasn't the highest quality traffic, I'll admit, but it certainly wasn't the worst. Not buying I can deal with, but not even getting to the order form? I know I didn't make it to the order form because I just got sick of watching.

Nicholasb - I find it fascinating that you're getting such good results. Maybe you just have a better video?

Raydal - I'm sure being a marketer plays into it. When a car salesman buys a car, he doesn't want to sit through the whole song and dance that the dealerships make you go through.

Hi,


To my experience GOOD sales videos are converting much better than traditional sales letters, and it's definitely depends on the video content, BUT split testing a few sales pages, I noticed that having the sales written content just below the video converted better on a $47 monthly membership site using PPC and affiliate traffic than having only the sales video.


On sales video only page (not in the IM niche), I do not have the controls on the video but I'm setting the button to appear after 10 minutes max.


Anyway I think it's all about your sales pitch and i'm not really pushing to buy on my sales videos but that's only my way of selling.


Cheers,
Ziki

Something to think about...

What niche are you in?

IMers are used to spending money online. We want to know right away how this thing is going to help our business, right?

Well what if your target market is 45 year old women who have no CLUE why they're gaining weight?

No matter how much they count calories, eat "healthy" foods, or whatever else- the weight doesn't go away.

In their case, they might just be looking for more information on how they can be helped.

They aren't going to skim through the sales letter just because an IMer would. They won't want to get to the end of the video if it's engaging.

There's a reason why The Diet Solution is one of the best weight loss products on Clickbank, and what do they do? A long sales video and a buy button that appears at the end of the video.

Again- test your market. IMers are a completely different breed than almost every other niche.

In "traditional" selling - whether it is furniture, cars or a can of soup, you STOP selling when the person is READY to buy. I used to sell furniture (big ticket item) and it required my live and in person "video" - I just did it without all the equipment

but, I had a full presentation that could take up to 30 minutes and from time to time someone would be SOLD in 10 minutes. I would have LOST the sale if I didn't start the purchasing process and kept presenting. That would have made the customer mad.

Here is my suggestion (and by the way I hate hate hate long videos WITHOUT some controls)

1. Do a long video IF it is necessary. Some people need that time, info, etc to come to a buying decision
2. At the beginning of the video, provide some type of game plan. Let them know what you are going to talk about - the agenda and the talking points.
3. For those (like me), have controls - not just for the people who want to skip ahead, but for the people who need to take a break to take a phone call, get a drink, etc. Having to start ALL over again is a selling process KILLER
4. Have the price/buy button show up after a few minutes. Since you can't (live and in person) get the buying cues that you would naturally pick up if you were interacting with them.

Long duration video will not work, most people don't have that patience to watch long video specially if it contains sales or promotion purposes. One minute video is the ideal time for sales video.

There's what SHOULD work, and what DOES work.

Sometimes those 2 categories are mutually exclusive!

-- TW

I hate long sales videos, and I always close down the page, as soon as I see what's on it.

My experience is that those videos are filled with "um" and "er", and either it's somebody explaining how to do something in a program or web page, making lots of mistakes, using the wrong menus, etc., or it's a webinar with two people talking (and talking and talking), without saying very much. I bet that if those videos were edited (which would be a real pleasure), their duration would go from 40 minutes to 7.

longer sales copies consistently outsell a shorter copies, wonder if it's the same for videos

That's great that some here are testing sales videos for their traffic but those results don't mean much to someone else with different traffic.

There are so many factors that go into it like; how engaging the presenter is, the graphics, background music, controls, seller's credibility and of course the actual content of the sales video.

It's something I'd be willing to test myself but I'd have to have someone else do the video. There's no way I could talk that long in a video without going nuts!

I find them very annoying.

It has been proven that people like to "skim" sales letters anyway, so to me it would have to decrease your conversion rates, because I know personally I won't sit through a video like that.

If I am really interested in a product, I want to be able to just read those parts that interest me and will benefit me, instead of having to endure all of the bullet points and nonsense history of the product creator that we all know is a bunch of nonsense anyway.

Personally, I will never do a long video sales letter. And I will probably show my face in them too. Imagine that.

I do not want to watch videos that are over 5 minutes long - get to the point or do a webinar - I have done laundry, cooked dinner, spent time on this forum with the video muted until it gets to the pitch. I may buy, and I may not, but I do not want to listen for longer than 5 minutes (maybe 10 if it is really engaging)