How SiteSell Uses Video to Sell Services Online
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Web Marketing Today
Apr 8, 2008, 07:52
When you go to SiteSell's homepage, you see a professionally produced 2-1/2 minute video of Evoy sitting at an office desk explaining the Site Build It! (SBI) concept. Within two days of putting that video on the homepage in autoplay mode (playing automatically a few seconds after a person comes to the page), conversion rates rose 20%. Evoy makes sure that the pause button is clearly visible for those who don't want to watch. "Some people, I'm sure, don't like the imposition," he says, "but if it works, use it." Currently he sets the video player software for autoplay only the first time a person enters the site to keep from annoying those who return. He is about ready to do an A/B split-test on a 47-second "close the sale" video on the order page to see if he can boost sales when people are ready to check out.
One of the keys to this type of video is to keep the length under three minutes, he says. The homepage video of Evoy was shot in high definition by a two-camera crew during a 3- to 4-hour shoot. Then an editor distilled the best clips into the 2-1/2 minute final video, interspersed with testimonials from happy users. Evoy employs a video player from WebVideoZone (webvideozone.com), but hosts the videos on his company's own dedicated servers.
After watching the initial video, prospects are invited to view a 30-minute SBI Video Tour (http://videotour.sitesell.com/sales-sbi.html) that explains each of the major concepts that makes SBI work. The Video Tour isn't full motion video, but combines screen captures and graphics with a voice-over narration, developed with Camtasia software (www.camtasia.com).
Testimonials
Over the years, Site Build It! has acquired an appreciative user base, so when Evoy invited them to make "I Love My SBI" videos to tell how Site Build It! helped them grow a business, the response was spectacular. More than 75 short videos are accessible on SiteSell's YouTube channel. Evoy features these "I Love SBI" videos (http://ilovesbi.sitesell.com/sales-sbi.html) on his site, embedded in YouTube format for credibility, to help sell Site Build It!
Affiliate Video Promotion
Evoy repurposes these testimonial and sales videos to help his affiliates promote SBI, embedding a selection of videos into their own websites. For this purpose, the videos are streamed from SiteSell's dedicated servers. They employ WebVideoZone's video player because it is uniquely capable of carrying an affiliate link and allowing the affiliate's viewers to click through to the SBI site for the sale.
Instructional Video
At the core of SBI is the Action Guide, a sound, step-by-step, no-hype guide to building a successful online business. It began as a written guide. However, since the video version has been available over the last two years, 80% of SBI clients use only the video version, 15% use both, and 5% use the written version only. The guide is broken up into 10 "Days" (the 10 steps in the process). Each "Day" consists of 20 to 45 minutes of video instruction developed using Camtasia.
If you're trying to figure out how to use video effectively to sell your products or services online, SiteSell offers a great model from which to learn.
