Posted by Digital video viewership reached 3 billion internet users in 2021. No wonder the video advertising expenditure was a huge 55.34 billion U.S dollars in 2021! While the viewership is expected to reach 3.5 billion by 2023, advertising expenditure will further reach a whopping 78.5 billion U.S dollars by the end of 2023.
So, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that video content is the need of the hour. Simply put, video marketing, if leveraged the right way, can help businesses reach new heights of success.
In this post, we will highlight how you can ace your video marketing strategy by taking into account five key video metrics.
Let’s get going.
5 video marketing KPIs that can make or break your content
1. View count
This metric tells you about the number of times your audience viewed your video. View count is a great KPI to get an in-depth insight into your video’s reach amongst your target audience. Simply put, if you wish to target more and more of your prospective customers through your videos, tracking view count can help you understand what number of your target audience is looking at your video.
If the view count is high, you can assume that people can find your video online. However, if it’s low, you must analyze these questions:
- Your target audience, are they unable to watch your video because of a technical glitch?.
The glitch such as the video not being supported in their browser? - Is your audience unable to find your video in the search results?
- What about your video link? Is it broken?
Let’s take an example. Imagine creating a video tutorial course on “how to ace your email newsletter campaign”? 45k people signed up for your tutorial but, the view count is only 31k.
Now, that’s a clear indicator that your registered audience either faced an issue while trying to view your video or maybe weren’t interested in the video at all.
Whatever the case, you must find out the answers to the questions mentioned above and take corrective measures.
Here’s how you can increase your video’s view rate:
- Make extensive use of social media channels to share your video. You can create a robust content distribution strategy to ensure that everybody sees your video content.
- Leverage email marketing to spread the word about your video. You can use an online form builder to collect the email address of your subscribers.
- Find out social media and YouTube channels relevant to your video content. You can ask them to do a paid collaboration and promote your video.
2. Play rate
With this KPI, you can get a clear idea about the number of times your target audience played and watched your video. This metric lets you know if your audience base likes your video content or not.
If the play rate is high, it is clear that your target audience is resonating with your content. However, if it’s low, you might want to spruce up your video content strategy. Here’s how you can do it:
- Research your target audience. Find out the kind of content they love. Simply put, figure out your video niche. For instance, if you run a fashion apparel e-commerce store, a video on the latest cloth trends might make your video viral.
- On the technical side, a great way of accelerating your video play rate is by increasing your video’s embed size.
- You should ensure that you choose an eye-catching and visually appealing thumbnail that entices your audiences to click on the play button.
- Also, you should take care that the copy explaining the video is relevant to the content. In other words, you should try to create a video that appeals to your mass audience. You can also use video marketing tools to try your hands on different kinds of video formats.
3. Click-through rate (CTR)
So, you created top-notch video content. You are getting good views and play rates too. But are your audiences taking any action after consuming your content? This is where measuring click-through rate can come in handy. CTR in the context of the video is the percentage of your audience who clicked on the call-to-action button present at the end of your video.
A high CTR signifies that your video can compel your target audience to take action.
Here’s a look at the strategies that can increase your video’s CTR:
- Ensure it is visually appealing. It must stand out amidst the content. You can take the help of video editors to beautify your videos.
- Create such video content that’s in sync with your CTA. For instance, if your e-commerce fashion apparel store created a Youtube video on how to curate a trending winter wardrobe, a CTA of “shop the latest winter collection” will look relevant. This, in turn, would encourage your target audience to click on the CTA and browse your products.
Take a look at Emory healthcare’s explainer video and how well it uses its CTA. The video explains how the health system brand helps people reach the right medical help at the right time.
The brand ends the video with a strong “click to know more” CTA.
4. Engagement rate
It is one of the essential metrics that help you understand the overall performance of your video. This metric combines the average viewing time and the total percentage of your video that your target audience watches.
In other words, engagement rate gives you an idea about the average time the audiences watch your video. With the help of this video, you can get answers to questions like:
- Is your target audience watching your video till the end?
- What is the CTA and is it enticing enough to compel audiences to click-through it?
- Can you confirm if the CTA is included in the right place?
- Are the audiences liking specific parts of a video more?
Now, let’s see how you can improve your video’s engagement rates:
i. Steer clear of fluff. Make sure to keep your video short, crisp, and to the point. You can take some inspiration from this commercial video from Candy Club. The video is creative and fun to watch and conveys the message in a straightforward yet compelling way. Take a look:
ii. Find out the highest and lowest engagement time of your video. If the engagement is high at a particular time, maybe your target audience wants more of such content and vice versa.
iii. Always make videos that match your customer’s expectations. If they want to see a tutorial video and you are giving them a commercial video, the chances are they will drop off.
5. Retention rate
This is another critical video metric that can determine the success or failure of your video content. It indicates the average percentage of a video that your target audience views. In simple words, if the initial few seconds of your video is off track, you might find it challenging to have a higher retention rate.
For instance, say you uploaded a video with a length of 6 minutes. If your target audience watched the video for 3 minutes, your video’s retention rate would be 50%.
You can increase your video’s retention rate through the following strategies:
- Come up with a hook that grabs the audience’s attention right in the beginning.
- Use a teaser to show what value your video will provide your audience. For instance, if you are a food blogger creating a video on “ 10 healthy recipes to drool over”, your teaser can be a line that says, “this video will show you how you can lose weight without compromising on taste.”
- You can also give your audience a sneak peek of your whole video. It can be more like a summary of your video where you can mash and highlight the big moments in your video. It is an excellent way of enticing audiences to go ahead with your video. However, remember not to give away too much content in the sneak peek. You can use Youtube video editing software to nail your video’s look.
- Another great way of retaining audiences is by providing them with an exact value. For instance, as mentioned already, if you are running a video tutorial on “how to grow your Youtube channel?” You can tell your audience how they will learn 10 strategies to create a perfect Youtube video in this tutorial.
Wrap Up
Video marketing is an excellent way of targeting the right audience at the right time. All you need to have is a target audience, content that resonates with them, and metrics to know how your videos are performing. Whether it is view rate and play rate or engagement, CTR, and retention rate, video metrics can help you nail your video marketing strategy, one video at a time.