Video Revolution Catching On

Consumers are flocking to sites like YouTube and Hulu to watch videos: Comscore says there are now 9 billion videos on the Internet, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau says that in 2010, 50% of the U.S. population will watch videos online.

And that behavior has made the use of video in e-commerce that much more popular.

Melody King, vice president of sales and marketing for video production company Treepodia, said her company’s study says that one-third of consumers that hit a product page with video will view the video.

Speaking Sept. 23 at the Shop.org Annual Summit at Mandalay BayResort and Casino in Las Vegas, King said Treepodia’s study shows a large jump in conversions: consumers that click to watch videos have an 80% higher conversion rate than those that don’t view them.

“Online shoppers have a short attention span, and you have so much info to give them,” King said. “Adding video is like putting a commercial on your Website.”

So why aren’t more merchants using videos on their product pages?

King says the biggest barrier to online video implementation is the expense, which include actors, lighting and studio space.

But King said video generated by a single image – or a few images – and product specs, which can be even more effective in converting customers than a typical commercial video. That’s because the focus remains on the product and specs itself and not on the actors or the noise.

So where would you put online video? Other than on the product page, King’s recommendations include adding related product videos to the checkout page, and setting up a gallery page of product videos.

And consumers will watch, King said. “The popularity of YouTube has shown us that people are addicted to videos,” she said.