The purpose of a landing page is to convert visitors into leads. Somehow, the page should get them to take the “next step”, whatever that means for you: sign up for more information? Give their contact information? Or even, dare we say, buy something?

So to get them to the next step, you have to build trust, engage them, and encourage them to take the next step. One of way to do all three is to use videos on your landing pages.

96% of consumers say videos help them decide if they’re going to make a purchase.

By now, it’s a no-brainer that videos are the present and future of marketing. So use them to optimize your landing pages – here’s how:

Tone of voice and movement: two underrated essentials for your landing pages.

  • Hearing a human voice versus reading the text somehow makes the information sound more meaningful and important. It’s like when you read a text message and can’t tell if it’s sincere or sarcastic: text loses tone. But a speaker conveys the correct tone and alerts you to the seriousness or humor. Understanding tone = understanding meaning.
  • And movement grabs attention, which you obviously need to keep if you want the viewer to consider signing up for more with you. Text doesn’t move. Video moves.
  • So deeper understanding of info + capturing attention through sound and movement = successful landing page.

When you use videos, you increase trust

  • 58% of consumers say that companies that use videos on their pages feel more trustworthy – it’s harder to hind behind confusing words when it’s an image.
  • And trust is the one thing that factors into every purchasing decision: can you trust the company? Can you trust the brand? Can you trust the product? Can you trust it’s value in your life?
  • Testimonials also require images. When there’s an image attached to the review – like a person’s face – trust increases because now there’s a connection with a real person. And so, you guessed it: video reviews are even more trustworthy.
  • Videos also simplify tons of information, whereas text information can be overwhelming. Simplification increases brand trust.
  • And trust is the number one element that’s going to convince consumers to take the next step with your company.

Okay, okay, so you understand that you should use videos on your landing pages. But…how do you harness the power of the video on your landing page?

Put the video about the fold

  • “Above the fold” comes from newspapers: the most important information was on the upper half of the newspaper, before the “fold” in the middle. So, put your video on the top half of your landing page, rather than at the bottom. Above the fold content is seen and read more, and the placement signals that it’s the most important. Basically: consumers might not make it to the bottom of the page to watch the video if they’re overwhelmed by text. So start with what will capture the most attention.

Make sure the video matches the page’s purpose

  • There shouldn’t be a lot of different topics or links – one landing page = one idea. So that video has to match the landing page’s purpose.
  • And of course, the video has to be about the business and the product – it’s another chance to encourage them to take the next step.
  • On top of that, make sure to streamline the text. If there’s still a lot of overwhelming amount of text on the page, consumers will still be distracted from the video.

Tag it and bag it

  • Optimize your SEO value by using those tags. Host the video on your own domain, enable embedding, and use video sitemaps. And don’t be scared of the hashtag: use any relevant tags you can think of to increase the likelihood of visitors and eventual leads.

Include Calls-to-Action

  • Don’t forget to tell the viewers what they should do next. You’ve captured their attention with video — now what? Point them to the next steps; don’t assume they’ll read through the page themselves to find out.