The brain processes images from photos and videos about 60,000 times faster than it processes text. With stats like that, it’s not surprising that brands want to leverage visual mediums as a powerful way to share their message. In fact, more than half of all marketing professionals state they see a stronger ROI with video advertising than with any other form of marketing campaign.

Implementing a successful video campaign, however, requires careful planning and allocation of resources. Aside from the creation of the content itself, your company must be prepared to engage your desired audience through proper timing via popular platforms. This isn’t always easily accomplished as you will undoubtedly be competing against a saturated marketplace of CPG brands, many of which are also jumping into the video campaign arena as well.

One way to stand out via video, which will drive brand awareness and conversions, is by partnering with shopping apps that offer a ready-made, enthusiastic audience. As with any other marketing strategy, however, before investing any advertising dollars, you will want to calculate, as closely as possible, your potential video advertising ROI. Let’s explore the elements that will affect your campaign’s ROI results.

Metrics to Measure Your Video Marketing ROI

Many marketing professionals interested in video marketing campaigns make the mistake of assuming that only viral videos are successful in building brand awareness and gaining market share from competitors. Fortunately, this is an inaccurate belief. Video accounts for 50% of all mobile traffic—and not all those videos are viral. Many are simply branded messages or information channels that can be used to increase brand awareness. To measure your ROI in video marketing, you’ll need to compare the following data:

• Video views per month: These are your overall views, including individuals who only stayed a few seconds and those who watched your videos all the way through.
• Time spent viewing videos: This can be an especially telling number as it shows how engaging your videos are. For example, if you produce and share a 5-minute video that receives a hundred thousand views, that might seem impressive. But if the average watch time is only a few seconds, that tells you something is wrong with your message and its engagement level.
• Video views that resulted in conversion: To calculate this, your team will need to review the customer journey from video view to purchase. If they watch the video, immediately visit your site, and then buy a product, it’s safe to say that the video resulted in a sales conversion. While this is usually the smallest number, it also represents the greatest impact to your bottom line.
• Video views that gained leads: Video may drive consumers to connect with your company in ways other than by making a purchase, such as by joining your mailing list or contacting you for more info. This can be a good measurement of how your video is increasing brand awareness.
• Total video campaign cost: This is your overall cost to create and share the video content.

Video is a powerful tool; it can offer a 90% higher click-through rate when used in email advertising than when used with a text-based message alone. The overall conversion rate is quite impressive, as shoppers who view video are 174% more likely to buy than those who don’t view it. But the key element to gaining a strong ROI with a video marketing strategy is about building a message that resonates—and sharing it with the right viewers.

Achieving Views for Your Video Marketing Campaign to Boost ROI

The first metric to consider when calculating if your video campaign was effective is video views. The next metric is time viewed. If your branded video is achieving views, but they only average a few seconds per session, you’re not engaging your users or are reaching the wrong target audience. To improve both views and time spent watching your video, consider the following:

• Your platform: Almost one-third of internet users are active on YouTube, which makes this an appealing option for sharing branded video campaigns. However, it is so all-encompassing and far-reaching that you also want to consider other mediums as well, such as your company’s social media platforms and website, among other avenues. In addition, you should look for an opportunity to showcase your video on mobile platforms, either via a third-party app or through mobile-enabled marketing.
• The value to viewer: This is where many companies miss the mark. Instead of simply advertising at an audience, you must offer value to the viewer. This could be in the form of informational or how-to videos that present your brand as an expert in its industry. Viewers don’t seek out videos because they want to be sold something. They seek them out because they want to learn something. Your video should serve that need.
• Proper timing: Choosing the right timing for a video advertisement is not a new concept. Think back to the toy commercials of the 80s and 90s that were advertised during Saturday morning cartoons. Brands like Hasbro and Lego knew that the ideal time to connect with their young audience was during that specific window of opportunity. By contrast, timing in the modern mobile marketing era isn’t just about a specific block of time as much as it is about connecting with consumers when they’re motivated to buy.
• Opportunity for purchase: Of course, the end of every video should include a call to action that encourages viewers to interact with your brand in the future, such as by joining your mailing list or following you on social media. This is the step that opens the door for the viewer to become a consumer of your goods or services.

Video can be a powerful medium for conversion but, as you can see, it takes a bit of know-how to get right. It’s not just a matter of creating an authentic and engaging short video but also finding the right audience for it. That can be quite difficult to achieve for individual brands, but this hurdle can be easily overcome by partnering with third-party solutions.

How Video Campaign Partners Can Help Increase ROI

The cost of having a professionally created video can run up to $6,000 per minute. If you’re spending that many of your advertising dollars on creating content, chances are you want it viewed—and by your target audience no less. The solution is to partner with a third-party that offers the opportunity to share video with a targeted and engaged audience in a preferred demographic on your brand’s behalf, reducing the cost of getting your video in front of viewers and ensuring that motivated users are behind the views.

Third-party smartphone apps, especially mobile shopping apps, provide an opportunity for increased exposure for your brand’s message. More importantly, they offer exposure at the most opportune time—when the consumer is ready and able to make a purchase. Video, combined with proximity marketing, is a powerful converter. Imagine the conversion potential if your target market viewed a video featuring your product right as they were looking to buy an item with your product’s features.

The ROI on video campaigns is unquestionably high, but only when that video has a compelling message that engages an appropriate target audience. Mobile video opportunities via shopping apps allow brands to get their message to individuals when they are in the consumer mindset, offering the opportunity to effortlessly reach your audience with your video campaign. If you want to maximize your video marketing ROI, choosing to partner with a high-performing third-party app is step one in reaching that goal.

Shopkick has a strong base of active users who are incentivized to engage with branded messages and videos. If your brand is interested in becoming one of our partners or would like more information on the impact our mobile shopping app can have on your video campaign’s ROI, contact our team today.

Image courtesy GaudiLab