Getting a lot of views on your videos can be a good ego boost, but the true return on your investment in video marketing strategy goes beyond visibility metrics. Measuring the full impact of video content requires analyzing multiple data points alongside long-term business outcomes that impact your bottom line. For instance, some of your videos might make excellent lead magnets that bring customers into your business. When you nurture those customers over the long term, they’ll regularly spend money with your company, and that success isn’t measurable by counting views.

To get a handle on your true video marketing ROI, you’ll want to measure more than views. However, it’s important to note that you’ll need a variety of video types to get the best results. Videos serve different purposes, but they all work together to support your brand as a whole. Not every metric can be measured from every type of video, but many are interconnected. For example, video ads can generate traffic, but it’s up to your sales copy and landing page to generate conversions. However, if you have a video sales page, that video can turn traffic into sales.

Conversion and revenue metrics that matter

Some of your videos will be made with the intention of generating direct revenue through sales, while others will be created to get leads. These types of videos can include sales presentations, evergreen webinars, product demonstration videos, and any other content produced with the intention of getting customers to buy from you either now or in the future.

When done right, lead-generation videos will help you generate sales over time, so you want to generate as many email leads as possible on a regular basis. According to the data, the ROI on email marketing is $36 for every $1 spent. That’s a good return.

If you only measure a video’s success by its views, you won’t know its true value as a lead generation tool. For instance, say you have a video that only has 5,000 views compared to other videos you’ve published that have close to 300,000 views. The video with more views might be popular, but if your less-watched video has a 10% conversion rate for lead generation, then that video is highly valuable.

The important metrics to track related to conversion and revenue include:

Conversion rates‍

Whether it’s immediate sales, email signups, or customers taking your specified action, you’ll want to track how many viewers take a directed action after watching your videos. Immediate sales are ideal, but keep in mind that other conversions matter equally when they are part of your sales funnel.

Lead generation‍

Track the number of leads you get compared to video views. For example, this would apply to your video sales pages and short content you’ve published to YouTube (or any other platform) in order to get leads.

Attribution‍

Use pixels and UTM codes to accurately track the source of your revenue. Wherever you’re getting the best results, that’s where you should put more of your money.

Average order value‍

Run tests to see if your video content drives larger purchases, like with cross-sells and upsells. You’ll need to be running a split test or at least upselling with video content during the purchase process to measure this factor.

Click through rates‍

Tracking the number of people who click on a button or link as instructed in your video is important. Better videos will get more clicks, and more clicks turn into sales.

When tracking conversion metrics, it’s a good idea to run split tests to determine which videos perform the best as well as which calls to action are generating the most leads and sales.

Brand impact is crucial

Another way to measure ROI from your videos is through brand impact. Do people remember you after seeing your videos? Do they think of you when they see products in your market? This can be tough to measure as a small company, but when you have an impactful product or service, it’s easier. Measuring content marketing ROI can also give you insight into this.

Big corporations spend a lot of money on marketing and advertising just to get their name and image out into the world. Repeated exposure makes people more familiar with a brand, which influences their choices when faced with a purchase decision. Key metrics, such as website traffic, can help you determine the effectiveness of your video campaign in achieving this familiarity. This is how brand names become interchangeable with generic product names. For example, Kleenex is a brand, while facial tissue is the product, but most people use the brand name exclusively to refer to all facial tissue.

If you don’t already have videos designed to bring awareness to your brand, it’s not too late to create some. These videos can serve multiple purposes, but you’ll want to craft them in a way that verbally and visually gets people familiar with you. Consider using Google Analytics to track relevant metrics and further measure content marketing ROI effectively.

Who’s talking about you?

One of the best metrics to gauge your ROI is to find out who’s talking about you, where, and how often. If you’ve done quite a bit of video marketing, there should be some kind of buzz out in the world about you, at least online. This is also known as social proof.

Start searching platforms like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Reddit to find out who’s talking about you and what they’re saying. Hopefully it’s all positive, but negative press isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Keep track of these discussions and search once every week or two and see if it’s happening on a regular basis. If the conversations about you are increasing, that’s a good sign. Although, it’s important to implement the right tracking strategies to know if your video marketing is responsible for the buzz and not some other type of campaign.

Analyze the sentiment of brand mentions

When people are talking about your brand online, pay attention to what’s being said and the sentiment behind the statements. If you’ve started promoting your videos through social media ads, and people are curious about your brand, or looking for more information, this is a good sign that people are interested. If they’re praising your products and services, it’s a sign that your video content is not just converting, but your customers are happy. Most customers won’t email you to tell you they love your product, and many won’t even leave reviews when asked. Sometimes monitoring brand mentions is the only way to gauge customer satisfaction at a higher scale.

If for any reason you find that customers are not happy or their expectations aren’t being met, that’s a great opportunity to revisit your video content to make sure you’re not accidentally making false promises or misrepresenting your product. This is where professional video marketing services can come in handy. By hiring a pro to script and film your videos, you’ll get a more accurate representation of your product or service since they’ll be a neutral third party.

Measure support request frequency

If you’re making product demo or instructional videos for your customers, you can measure the ROI of those videos by tracking the frequency of support requests. If your videos are working well, you should see a general decrease in the number of support tickets you receive. When your videos are intended to help people solve issues independently, you should see a difference in these numbers.

Don’t automatically assume a drop in sales is a bad thing

This one might seem counterintuitive, but it’s very important to note. Sometimes successful video marketing content will correlate with a drop in sales, but not in a bad way. Often, marketing videos are made with a lot of hype that gets people excited in the moment to make an impulse buy, and then they either return the product or initiate a chargeback when the product doesn’t meet their expectations.

The better your videos are at explaining who your product or service is for – and who should not buy your product – the fewer impulse buys you’ll receive. This is a good thing. It means you’ll have fewer returns and chargebacks, and better customers overall. You really don’t want customers who are looking for a quick and easy fix because they’re never satisfied, they can get needy, and they won’t stick around long. Monitoring audience engagement and leveraging analytics tools to collect data about your video performance can help refine your approach.

If you start a new video marketing campaign and see an initial drop in sales, pay attention to your return rate and chargeback numbers. If you see a decline in returns and chargebacks, your drop in sales is likely caused by an increase in your video marketing content’s ability to qualify (and disqualify) leads. This can also improve customer lifetime value and help you better understand how much revenue your video generates.

Maximize your video marketing investment

Looking past vanity metrics, like views and likes, will give you valuable insight that can help you determine your true ROI. When it comes to successful video marketing efforts, there are plenty of metrics to track and strategies to employ, and that’s why most businesses work with a marketing partner to do all the heavy lifting. It’s not easy to script and film your own videos, especially when you don’t have access to studio-quality equipment and lighting isn’t your strongpoint.

If you’re ready to get measurable results with your video marketing, whether you’re looking for product demos, professional corporate videos, or engaging content to post to TikTok or Instagram, we can bring your ideas to life.

If you’re ready to take your video marketing to the next level, we’d love to add a professional touch that will help you get results. Whether you need ideas, a full script, or just want us to craft a video for you, we can help you achieve your goals.

Contact us today to learn more about working with us!

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