3 Reasons Why Your Website Needs an Introductory Video

Every company wants to engage and grab the attention of their viewers, but how can you do that?

Almost every site you go on, visitors are bombarded with something. Whether its fancy text, a ton of text or even graphics everywhere.

Keep your site simple, don't let your visitors lose site as to why they came to your website in the first place. One of the top reasons why bounce rates are so high is because visitors are overwhelmed with the amount of information being placed in front of them.

A great way to introduce your company and brand to your viewers, upon visiting your site is with an introductory video. According to The Deep End, "a website has ten seconds to capture a visitor’s attention before losing them forever". A video is just the thing you need to keep them engaged and on your site.

3 Benefits of an Introductory Video

Your homepage leaves an impression on your visitors, so what do you want that impression to be? It should be amazing, make them want to keep coming back. Just remember to keep your video between 1-2 minutes, no one is going to want to watch an hour video.

 Why video is valuable:

• Improved user engagement
• Brand awareness
• Search engine optimization

The impact of videos can be seen, especially since your visitor's attention span has decreased from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. With the right script, you can maintain the attention of your visitors after those 8 seconds.

Informational

There is so much information on your site, with an introductory video, it's an easy and interesting way to provide your target audience and visitors with an understanding of what the company does without them having to read through a bunch of text. Still not sure if you should add a video to your homepage? tmg Custom Media, says that "60% of respondents said they would watch video previous to reading text on the same webpage, and 22% said they generally liked watching video more than browsing text for examining business information".

You can provide information with your homepage video by:

• Summarizing who the company is
• Explaining your product or service
• Explain your terminology

Engage and Connect with Viewers

The main objective of your introductory video is to get your visitors to engage and connect. The best way to do that is by telling them what it's like to work with you and the members of your company. And a great way to show people what its like to work with you is through your personality. All that text on your website makes conveying the personality of your company limited. Whereas videos give you an opportunity to show viewers exactly how you look, sound and act.

What a great way to project your core values. Visitors and other companies want to know, are you young and fun? Bold and assertive? You can answer their questions about your personality and the culture of your company through your introductory video. Another benefit of using video is being able to  reach out to your visitors in a more personal manner, really let them get to know you.

Now that you've told them about your company and they understand your culture, you can further engage and connect with each visitor by showcasing people using your product or service.

 User engagement is achieved through:

• Perception
• Appraisal of meaning
• Evaluation of meaning
• Emotional response

Give them Direction

Do your visitors know what to do next after landing on your homepage? Sometimes they have no idea where to even start. With your video, you can provide each visitor with some sense of direction. You may have talked about something that interested them. This especially comes in handy when showing people using your product or when mentioning how your service can bring them results. They will want to learn more about that product or service.

Something interesting and different that some companies have implemented into their introductory video is lead capture forms. Everyone wants to generate more leads, some companies actually ask you to enter your email to continue watching a video.

According to Unbounce.com,  "Approximately 30% of page visitors watch your introductory video and 50% of those viewers watch the video in its entirety". Another added benefit of adding a video is that sites that actually had an introductory video on their homepage saw a 10% increase in their conversion rates.

With your video encourage visitors to:

• Visit other parts of your site
• Share your video through social media
• Act on some next steps that were mentioned in the video

If you still need some convincing, check out these six brands that created amazing introductory videos that will  grab your attention and reel you in.

6 Brands with Amazing Introductory Videos

1. Dollar Shave Club

2. Color Me Rad

3. Tough Mudder

4. Shopify

5. GoToMeeting

6.Litchfield Builders