When you start to publish videos for marketing, there can be many metrics which you may end up following. But here are the 4 important video marketing metrics which will provide you crucial information.
1. View Count
View count is something that’s least helpful if we look at it with a business context. What if there is a count of views, but with no data on who viewed it? That is exactly what view count is. If your target audience isn’t a part of the video views, then the video count hardly matters. It would be much better to have a smaller view count for your target audience. If a video is played for more than 3 seconds, then the algorithm considers it as a view.
A view of a video doesn’t convey much in terms of business unless it is your primary goal. This can be useful to measure the performance of brand commercials where there is no CTA and you also do not intend to make a direct business out of it, the purpose here is to build brand awareness. This can be measured with the help of other metrics such as completion rate and the number of shares.
2. Play Rate
Play rate is the number of people who clicked the video divided by the number of people who had visited the page where the video is displayed. A good play rate, which is 50 % and above, is an ideal sign of a video’s good performance.
Focusing on a better play rate has a direct impact on other numbers such as view count.
Better play rate can be achieved by a few things like,
- Replacing the current thumbnail with a better one.
- Moving the video to a different page on your website where the traffic is great.
- Moving the video to a better location on the same page, where more eyeballs are falling.
- If the video is not in-line with the page where it is embedded, it is time to rethink the location where that video is placed now.
3. Video Completion Rate
Video completion rate is the percentage that indicates the number of times the video is played till the end. This directly communicates the video’s ability to hold the audience’s attention.
A better completion rate is a sign that the team has done a great job in terms of scripting, content, video production, and in presenting the video.
4. Conversion Rate
This number tells whether the video helps to achieve the marketing purpose or not. A higher conversion rate would mean that you’ve got the right video and the appropriate CTA in converting your prospect to a customer, or even as a lead by making them sign up to a newsletter.
If your goal is to make more signups, this is the metric to watch and optimise.
The team at WISTIA sums up all the metrics very well connecting to the goals:
- View count to measure reach
- Engagement to measure quality
- Social media to measure word of mouth
- Conversations to measure the clarity
- Play rate to measure relevance
- Site metrics to measure user experience
- Comments to measure community
If you measure these metrics together, you can figure out more information. For instance, if the play rate and the video completion rate are more or less the same, then the thumbnail, descriptions, and video scripting, and video production have been spot-on. In this case, if you don’t see that much conversion, then the CTA isn’t appropriate, or the target audience has not been set appropriately. It could be anyone or many.
If the only notable metric is view count and if the rest falls short, then the distribution alone has been effective and everything else needs to be worked on. There can be many interpretations and it can help find many gaps in the execution. Keep publishing, keep measuring and that is how one can optimise their video marketing and get the full benefit out of it.
