Several years ago, Dr. Brent Coker from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Business and Economics said:
“As aesthetically orientated humans, we’re psychologically hardwired to trust beautiful people, and the same goes for websites. Our offline behaviour and inclinations translate to our online existence. As the internet has become prettier, we are venturing out, and becoming less loyal.”
With websites becoming increasingly attractive and including more trimmings, this creates a greater feeling of trustworthiness and professionalism in online consumers.”
Dr. Coker’s sentiments poignantly address why it’s crucial that your digital presentation is stunning — not only to attract customers but also to retain them and gain their loyalty.
Here are a few ways to make sure that you present your brand in the most attractive way:
1. Have the mobile audience in mind when thinking about user experience.
If businesses don’t invest in their mobile audience, they risk providing a poor user experience, a poor presentation of their brand and ultimately poor conversions.
Don’t believe me? Here are some staggering statistics that reveal how your business may slip into an abyss if you don’t go mobile.
According to analytics-research company comScore, 4 out of 5 consumers shop on smartphones and 78 percent of mobile searches end in a purchase.
In June of 2014, comScore reported that mobile Internet usage actually surpassed desktop internet usage.
Many businesses are making the move to optimize for this rapidly growing mobile majority, including Jones Soda Co
The company was founded in 1995 by Peter van Stolk and photographer Victor John Penner. It launched with the idea of incorporating random photos taken by Penner and using them as bottle labels. The brand became even more special when consumers started submitting their own photos, which the soda company now uses as ever-changing labels. This strategy showed that when it comes to presentation and branding, it is important to keep the customer in mind.
The only area that needed to be improved upon was the incorporation of a mobile-optimized website to provide a superior user experience and presentation of the brand to mobile visitors.
They decided to implement a technology called Javascript Adaptive Technology, which delivers content to different user devices, including mobile, from the same URL.
Here’s how Jones Soda Co. was presented on a mobile device before and after the technology was implemented.
With the Javascript Adaptive Technology in place and a web presentation that was superior for mobile users, Jones Soda Co. increased their ecommerce conversion rate by 103 percent. Transactions increased by 127 percent, average order value by 43 percent and unique purchases by 170 percent. But the most impressive result for the soda company was a 225 percent increase in revenue.
2. Utilize 3-D product imaging and interactive demos.
Flat static images aren’t as effective in converting as 3-D rotating images and interactive product demonstrations.
As far back as 2001, E-Commerce Times reported on an email test conducted on Mother’s Day at Gifts.com. It found that the 50,000 consumers who viewed a Mother’s Day pendant via 3-D video converted seven times higher than those who viewed a 2-D version of the pendant.
And yet, many businesses still aren’t implementing 3-D and interactive product technology.
3. Use engaging and informative videos.
According to comScore, 64 percent of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it. And 70 percent of marketing professionals state that video converts better than any other medium, according to MarketingProfs.
Demo and explainer videos help give visitors a better understanding of your business and products, which is especially valuable if your solution is complex.
Let’s look at NRGSTREAM, a company that provides energy traders a software solution with real-time data visualization to help maximize their opportunities in complex power markets. Since their solution is a highly specialized platform, the company wanted to provide prospects with an understanding of its software capabilities before they engaged with the sales team.
Autodemo created this 3-minute demo video that combines key product features, animations and music to inform visitors.
The demo video was placed on the company website, promoted in email and shared on social media.
NRGSTREAM’s sales team reported that prospects felt the video was very useful in helping them understand the software solution. It helped deliver more qualified leads to the sales team and increased website registrations by 15 percent.
4. Include interactive videos.
By engaging visitors, interactive video goes a step beyond just creating awareness with a “sit back and watch” mentality.
Emarketer reports that research by Sizmek revealed interactive video start rates in North America were impressive at 84 percent. Eighty-three percent of videos were played up to the halfway point and 70 percent were watched to the very end.
There are a couple of ways to create interactivity in videos. One is to take an existing video and then insert interactive “hotspots” where clickable content, URLS, buttons or other information is added.
The following video for Pepe Jeans shows examples of hotspots. The creator, WIREWAX, reports that on average, they see 78 percent of audiences interacting with the videos, three clicks per video, three times higher engagement time and between 17 and 48 percent click-through to conversion for shop-able videos.
Another method is to create a video where viewers are able to choose their own story path by the choice they make at each option. This video for Subaru created by Interlude lets visitors steer their own adventure.
5. Use analytics to improve video performance.
Video is of little value if you don’t use analytics to measure the performance of your videos. For example, these Wistia video analytics reveal that this particular video received a 74 percent play rate with 3,300 plays and 85 percent engagement. The darker orange areas in the viewer specific bars shows points where viewers spent the most time engaging with and re-watching the video as well as drop off points.
How well you present yourself is going to make a difference in how well you convert visitors.
