Long-time MarketingExperiments readers will notice that we have shifted to a video-centric format for our Web clinic replays, which aim to deliver actionable marketing advice based on our optimization discoveries …

And we realize we still have a long way to go to fully optimize this new channel to ensure it provides the most value and most compelling experience to the audience of marketing managers and advertising creatives we seek to help. But we also realize we’ve come a long way from our previous format as well.

Since many marketers are increasingly looking to add more video into their marketing mix, in today’s post, I wanted to share a few basic lessons we’ve learned at this early stage in the process:

Get the right people involved

We never would have been able to produce a video like this without the deep technical know-how of one of the newest members of our team, A/V Specialist Luke Thorpe. While there are simpler ways to do video, we wanted to create an experience that would really grab the attention of marketers, a group that is accustomed to impressive production values. Also, we wanted the format to reflect well on our brand.

For example, the video above was shot in our green screen background, utilizing six layers of animation over the green screen. We never could have done that without the MECLABS Spielberg himself, Luke.

Make sure video is right for you

Just because lots of people are doing video and a video about a kid biting another kid’s finger got 411 million views on YouTube, doesn’t necessarily mean video is the right channel for your audience.

“There is a lot of information in our one-hour Web clinics,” Luke said. “Video gives our presenters the ability to engage with the content and guide the viewers through each step of the presentation. I believe connecting on this additional level (video) will facilitate learning.”

Practice makes perfect

Before we created the video you see above, Flint McGlaughlin, Managing Director, MECLABS, recorded two other Web clinic replays that we never released. When trying something new, give your team some grace to figure it out well before any deadlines. That said …

Your first release won’t be perfect

So decide what is good enough to release. And keep working to make it better, because …

The medium influences the message

And opens up new possibilities as well. Producing video has caused us to take a second-look at everything … from how we organize our Web clinic replay landing pages, to how we produce the Web clinics themselves.

We don’t have all the answers yet, just lots of questions. And a good question is always the first step to true optimization. So keep in mind that …

Optimization never ends

This certainly isn’t the end of our efforts to optimize the channel … more like a new beginning.

“There is still a lot of room for improvement with our current presentation,” Luke said. “On the surface, we are improving the sound and picture quality, but more important will be the playback setup. For example, there are many ‘video players’ on the Web that allow you to add bookmarks at key points and give the viewer the ability to place bookmarks of their own.”

“Moving further along, we hope to enable the audience to more easily share these key discoveries with their peers and colleagues.”

Related Resources:

MarketingSherpa’s 30-Minute Marketer: How to Create SEO-Friendly YouTube Content

What do great viral videos have in common?

Inbound Marketing: Small business builds YouTube channel from the ground up, expands to 40 countries

Improve Search Visibility with Video: 5 Strategies

Friction is one of the greatest obstacles to your conversion process, and though most marketers currently have some idea of what Friction is, many are only seeing half the picture.

When asking marketers to identify the Friction associated with a conversion process, the response is often very confident. Usually, the number of form fields on a page will be pointed out first, the number of steps in a process next, and occasionally a third comment might focus on the length of the individual pages themselves. The overall consensus from marketers is that if you can eliminate these simple elements, then you can eliminate Friction.

However, our research suggests that most of the Friction in a conversion process goes undetected. Further, this “hidden” Friction often is the most lethal to conversion. So, in this post I wanted to lay out 7 of the most undetected ways that Friction might be threatening your conversion rates. I have dubbed these The 7 Silent Killers of Conversion.

SILENT KILLER #1: A Misguided Eye-path

The first, and probably most common of these silent killers is a misguided eye-path. A Web page’s eye-path is the natural way in which a visitor’s eyes move through a Web page.

Often times, the eye-path of a visitor is sent all over a page without any logical order (see example). When this happens, a visitor will experience a level of Friction that lessens their probability of converting.

We discuss how to properly direct the visitors’ eye-path here.

SILENT KILLER #2: Multiple Equally-Weighted Objectives

Another common problem is providing two or more equally-weighted options for the visitor to choose between (see example). Giving your visitors multiple options to choose from might seem polite, however, more often than not, our tests show that this only increases the Friction a visitor experiences in a conversion process. Your visitor needs to be led. They need to know where they can get the most value. So, point them in a clear and decisive direction to a main call-to-action.

But what do you do when you have multiple CTA’s on a single page (like a homepage)? We discuss how to handle this here.

SILENT KILLER #3 Underemphasized Calls-to-Action

Related to the last problem, many Web pages work hard to convince a visitor to convert and yet drop the ball when it comes to designing something as simple as a button. Often, a visitor has to hunt for the call-to-action, and this creates unwarranted difficulty.

If a button’s primary goal is to elicit a click, it should be emphasized using size, shape, and color, in the main eye-path, and most importantly, look clickable (see example).

SILENT KILLER #4: Multimedia

What? Multimedia? Say it ain’t so…

For online marketers, there’s often much excitement that surrounds video, Flash, and other forms of interactive media. However, our research suggests there is a lot of Friction that goes under the radar when it comes to multimedia. In fact, for many pages we have tested, the “coolest” aspect of a web page was actually hurting conversions the most. We hypothesize that this is for two main reasons:

1. Reason #1: Multimedia assumes a technological standard on the visitor (e.g., “Everyone has flash.” Or “Everyone can stream this without having to wait”). When this standard is beyond that of the visitor, Friction is created.
2. Reason #2: Multimedia often comes with a steep usability learning curve. This is especially the case with multimedia that leans heavily on interaction. If your visitor has to learn how to engage with a particular type multimedia, there is another layer of Friction.

Now, I am not forbidding the use of multimedia. I truly believe it can actually be a great tool for expressing the Value Proposition and/or leading your visitor through the conversion process. We just need to be aware that multimedia is often a double-edged sword, and we must ensure that our use of it brings more value to the table than Friction.

SILENT KILLER #5: Overuse of Different Fonts (sizes and styles)

This seems to be less of an issue nowadays, but still watch out for the overuse of different font sizes and font styles throughout a Web page. This can make readability very difficult. As the saying goes, “When you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing.”

Instead, use variation in font size and style sparingly to lead the visitor through the text (emphasized headlines and section headers), and to call out specific points of value (impactful phrases, key points, testimonials)

SILENT KILLER # 6: Unorganized Content

Another big silent killer is poorly organized content. This is particularly relevant to ecommerce Websites offering a wide array of products (see example), but also applies to any Web page that has a substantial amount of content. If the content is not organized clearly, then most of your visitors will experience confusion. And in the midst of confusion on a webpage, there is really only one way for the visitor to regain clarity – by clicking the back button.

So, how do marketers ensure that their Web pages are organized properly? Well, when our researchers seek to organize a page, they start out first by ensuring the page answers three critical questions for the visitor:

1. Where am I?
2. What can I do here?
3. Why should I do it?

I think this is a good place to start, and for more on how to answer these three key questions, see this Web clinic.

SILENT KILLER #7: Difficult Color Combinations

Finally, the seventh silent killer: difficult color combinations. Now I love color and I love creativity. But there is an often-crossed line where creativity actually hinders conversion. Our research suggests that certain color combinations can actually decrease the readability of a webpage, and subsequently increase the Friction.

To minimize Friction associated with color combinations, make sure you select high-contrasting colors. Our research has led to the following consistent – though not absolute – observations.

And it doesn’t end here…

As stated at the beginning of this post, Friction is not limited to form fields and page lengths. It’s not all about getting everything above the fold. It goes much deeper, and requires a marketer put themselves in the shoes of their customers.

These 7 Silent Killers of Conversion are a good start at doing that, but keep in mind that these seven are not the only ways that Friction hides on a web page. In order to really identify and address Friction holistically (both length and difficulty), we must begin to see our web pages from the perspective of our visitors. We can’t just rely on a list of seven rules. Ultimately, as with all optimization, we must strive to understand our visitor’s thought sequences, and experience the conversation process from their point of view.

QUESTION: What other ways have you seen Friction hidden on a Web page? Let us know in the comments…

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Related Resources:

No Unsupervised Thinking: How to increase conversion by guiding your audience

Homepages Optimized: How using the homepage as a channel led to a 59% increase in conversion

Clarity Trumps Persuasion: How changing the first seven seconds of user experience drove a 201% gain

Imagine you’re one of those marketing wizards, speaking to a captive audience and receiving deafening applause. Everyone congratulates you on your incredible insights and groundbreaking (not to mention insanely profitable) work in the complex field of marketing.

Who hasn’t wished to be a guru? Move one step closer to making it a reality by practicing vicariously while listening to the speakers at TED.

If you haven’t heard of TED, understand that TED’s not a single person but a conglomeration of many people, working in the fields of Technology, Entertainment, or Design. TED’s annual conference started in 1984 and its growing library includes (free!) video presentations by some of the most creative minds in those three industries.

One of the best features of the site is the way each talk comes with a recommendation for another talk on a similar topic or theme. The practice of following up on these recommendations is what I call heading out on “the TED trail,” a practice that might lead you to some substantial insights of your own.

Be careful what you wish for, you may get it

I stumbled onto a TED trail analyzing the nature of desire as it relates to marketing success by clicking on a three-minute presentation by Renny Gleeson, Global Strategies Director for advertising giant Wieden and Kennedy (and stealer of my potential blog’s potential name: ouroborous), about antisocial phone tricks.

Gleeson’s brief talk comes with a slide show featuring a series of Kodak non-moments: pics catching people texting with varying degrees of disregard for their surroundings and loved ones, culminating in some seriously reckless multitasking.

But with the jokes come a serious question: as portable, speedy technology makes us ever more available to one another, what are the expectations and obligations that come with availability?

For marketers, this question is relevant both for our interactions with prospects and our interactions with each other. Gleeson cautions that we become not only the stories we tell but the way we tell them. Before marketers dive into the strange seas of new technology, they might consider the adage of medieval map-makers, who indicated uncharted territory by writing, “Here be dragons.”

Dragons aren’t necessarily bad, but before you brought one home you’d want to do some research on its care and feeding. The same applies with any new technological initiative. Before lining up for the next cool thing, consider whether you’ll use it, how you’ll use it, how you’ll troubleshoot your use, and how to bow out gracefully in the case of user failure (known in the Urban Dictionary as PICNIC: problem in chair, not in computer).

When you wish upon a star…

Renny Gleeson’s talk came with a recommendation for me to check out a presentation by writer and consultant Joseph Pine author of Mass Customization, Experience Economy, and Authenticity, three books analyzing the evolution of consumer desires.

Pine argues that as our desires evolve, so do markets to serve them. Back in the day, we wanted things (food, shelter, clothes) and we had a commodoties-based economy. Today, now that we’re pretty full in the things department, we want … drumroll, please … authenticity.

According to Pine, there are two ways to be authentic: you can be true to yourself and you can be true to others. In addition, a large part of authenticity, whether with people or companies, comes from understanding your heritage. Pine believes that for a business to be perceived as authentic, the actions of that business cannot deviate too widely from that company’s previously established persona.

For examples, he cites the latest disastrous media acquisitions of the Disney corporation and takes on the national self image of the Netherlands.

He also sets out three cardinal rules for companies looking to capitalize on the public’s desire for authenticity:

1. Don’t say you are authentic. With apologies to Margaret Thatcher’s theory of power, being authentic is like being a lady. If you have to say you are, you aren’t.
2. Do not advertise what you are not. Try not to create an ad that creates a disconnect.
3. Provide places—not just ads—for people to experience who you really are.

The tastiest wish in the world

Finally, TED’s database recommended that I move from Joseph Pine to one of the most popular speeches in the system: Malcolm Gladwell’s ode to Howard Moscowitz and the development of spaghetti sauce as we know it.

In this speech, Gladwell takes on some fundamental assumptions about the nature of desire. Whether or not his conclusion is fundamentally sound is besides the point. Moscowitz — a psychophysicist and consultant to whom we owe zesty pickles and extra chunky tomato sauce — is an inspiration. His journey to discover the most satisfying sauce “changed the way the food industry thinks about happiness” and should change the way product development is approached in every industry.

Instead of looking for the perfect sauce, Moscowitz searched out the perfect sauces (plural intentional). In food land, this multiplicity of choices led to forty-three varieties and six hundred million dollars in revenue for Prego. For marketers, Moscowitz’s insights might lead you to look at the choices your company currently offers. In what ways are those offerings only imitations of what your competitors offer? In what ways might you be able to refine the choices you offer or create new ones?

(Hint: Cable companies who only offer three packages and don’t allow viewers to customize their channel selection, I’m talking to you…)

Click your mouse three times…

And go visit TED. I recommend it as an antidote to mind-numbing meetings and wallowing in whitepapers. Whether or not it gives you ideas that you can apply directly, TED features people who are thinking deeply about what people want and how people work. And that’s what you, future gurus, marketing scouts and trailblazers, are doing too.

This post is the first in a new series about using video effectively on your landing pages.

Many marketers assume that putting a video on a landing page is going to automatically lift conversions. As much as I wish that were true, results have shown otherwise.

Your video can have the best production value, best talent, best message, etc. — but if you don’t deliver the video in a certain way, you can actually hurt conversions.

There are many things I want to say about online videos. However, I’d like to start where your visitors start.

Your visitors need a reason to watch

The truth is none of your visitors start with a reason to watch your video.

Whether it is an email capture form or a registration page, as we have discussed in recent web clinics, your site must give a reason for every action you ask your visitor to take. The same applies to video.

You should not assume that viewers will automatically be drawn to your video. For visitors, there are many potential annoyance and risk factors associated with videos: How much time will this take? Will this have any good information? Will I have any technical difficulties?

Another way to say this is that watching a video has a value proposition associated with it. You must make sure that you are communicating this value to your visitors just to get them to watch the video.

For instance, maybe the value of the video is that visitors can get all the information of a page in less than a minute and they don’t have to read the full page. Maybe the value is that you can see and hear the CEO of the company speak about the product. Or maybe it’s a demo of the product or testimonials from other people who have used it. Whatever it is, there must to be some value that is expressed to the viewers up front.

How you communicate that value will vary. Video headlines, subheads, descriptive tags, thumbnails, and play buttons can all be used for this for this (see illustration). If you do this part right, you will see significantly better results from using videos on your landing pages.

For my next post, we will look at the relationship of the content of a landing page to the video, drilling down on what kinds of pages most effectively utilize videos.

It’s always fascinating to see smart, unique, and occasionally crazy concepts come to life. Most interesting are those that somehow connect with a brand and really support brand awareness.

Just a couple weeks ago, Ad Age released its Viral Video Chart for the week of April 6, 2009. Here a few of my personal favorites from the complete list:

• E-Trade’s babies (229,799 views that week)
• Samsung’s Extreme Sheep LED Art (1,114,491 views that week)
• Cadbury’s Eyebrow Dance (438,407 views that week)
• T-Mobile’s Dance (742,120 views that week)

Besides being funny and eye-catching, what have these videos done right?

They connect in a personal way with our minds and more than grabbing our attention, they create a rush to share them with friends.

However, we can share videos all day long and enjoy happy feelings, but still be left with no connection to any brand in particular. Here is where, I think, great videos differentiate themselves.

The power to make connections

What really makes some of these videos stand out in terms of their marketing objective is how they help viewers intuitively connect the message with the product or brand.

For example, E-Trade jokes that babies could master their product but, within the joke, manages to plant the idea that their product is seriously easy to use. In other words, E-trade’s video overtly displays their product strengths and subtly addresses the anxieties prospective customers might feel about getting involved in the online stock market.

By showing shepherds developing a sheep-borne light show, Samsung engages the “can-do” energies of creative and scientific professionals who will watch the video and simultaneously be amazed and think, “I can top that.” ( Doubt me? I forwarded the email to two performance artist friends and within a day received their email proposals for mobile LED displays based on four-legged, two-legged, and wheeled choreography.)

Furthermore, Samsung’s video showcases the same energy and teamwork that goes into any performance and also points out that their product is tough, versatile, and will perform in difficult conditions.

Engaging viewers is merely the beginning

It is important to have an engaging concept for your viral video. That’s what makes people watch, and more importantly, forward or, even better, stick that link on the ol’ Facebook page.

But it is vital for the success of your campaign to choose a creative concept that makes an intuitive connection with the benefits and advantages of your product, service or offer. Then you’re not only making a video people will pass along, but spreading a brand that viewers will want to remember and reengage with.

We know that most viral campaigns do not go viral; at least that much is predictable. However, is there a way to know what might cause something to go viral or not?

Testing over the past few years shows that viral marketing, like other aspects of marketing, can not only be tracked, but also predicted.

The components of what causes videos, blog entries, or any web-based media to go viral can be separated, analyzed, and adjusted to increase what has been called the “social velocity” of the medium. After years of testing, we are discovering which steps are instrumental in making a viral marketing campaign successful.

Our sister company, MarketingSherpa, in collaboration with Yovia.com, recently put together some videos answering some of the top questions we get from marketers concerning viral marketing…

Video: Is Viral Marketing Predictable?

See these other questions answered here:

Does viral marketing work for B2B?

Can viral marketing be tracked?

Is viral marketing predictable?

Is viral marketing free?

Does viral marketing require a large budget?

We’d like to get your take on these and other questions surrounding viral marketing. And if you’re looking for ways to improve or get started with viral marketing, don’t miss MarketingSherpa’s upcoming “How To Viral Market” webinar on Wednesday, December 10.

For additional ideas on video, check out our previous blog post: “What you need to know about using video online”