13 reasons why every Product Manager should use video

January 10, 2023

Nowadays, choosing video to explain your product or brand is no longer a matter of ‘wanting or not wanting.’ The days when investing in videos was a luxury that only a few could afford are long gone. Undeniably, most professionals are aware of the advantages of video and understand that creating videos for your brand is a necessity you cannot overlook.

But just in case you are one of the few Product Managers who are still not sure if they really need video to boost their product, we will give you not 5 or 7, but 13 reasons why you definitely need to use videos. Video advantages that you cannot afford to miss. Let’s take a look!

1. Your target audience loves watching videos

Well, your target audience and everyone else. Don’t deny it, you like them too.

We live in the golden age of videos. The internet and advancements in communication technologies have made it possible for people to watch high-quality videos wherever and whenever they want. Given how convenient, direct, and straightforward video is, people have fully embraced this format.

There are studies that claim consumers would prefer to watch a video about a company over reading about it at a ratio of 4 to 1. Another research suggests that video is processed 60,000 times faster than text. Do you realize? In today’s world, people have shorter attention spans than ever, and we all want things to be simple and direct: video can provide that. So, if you publish videos, you won’t have to persuade your audience to watch them; it’s the kind of communication they are eager for. It’s one of the significant advantages of video.

2. They help you rank on the world’s second-largest search engine

Here we explained it, and you probably already know: YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine by a wide margin. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. If people are watching more and more videos every day, it’s logical that the largest video platform is the first place they look.
People use Google to search for everything. From when the new season of The Crown will be released to the address of a Greek restaurant, to an explanation of string theory.

But what are people looking for on YouTube? In addition to videos from the channels they subscribe to, people use it to find educational videos, especially instructional videos that teach anything you can imagine. One study shows that searches for instructional videos increased by 70% in recent years. You don’t want to miss out on being part of the content that meets that demand.

This video we made for Transports Municipals de Barcelona has had many views on YouTube.

3. Videos are good for ALL search engines

The videos you create for your product or brand will go beyond YouTube and have a significant impact on your SEO. In recent years, search engines have focused on improving the user experience by providing relevant and valuable results. You just need to combine that context with the growing interest in videos, and you’ll understand why search engines now consider videos as valuable content.
That’s why you see videos in Google and other search engine results. But how can you make your video appear there? Well, even though search engines don’t reveal how their algorithms work, it’s quite evident that having videos embedded on your website will help. Just saying that one study has concluded that you are 53 times more likely to appear in Google’s top results if you have a video on your website.

And why is that? Well, videos increase the average visit time, which is an important ranking factor for search engines. The number of times your video has been shared is also important. Clearly, videos for businesses are essential for SEO. Are you starting to see the advantages of using video?

4. Your target audience is easier to reach through videos

We’ve already seen that people love videos. However, that doesn’t guarantee that your video will reach your target audience. For that, you need to consider your target audience from the very beginning of the video creation process. Developing the story and characters of your video with your audience in mind is crucial to capture their interest.
Imagine you’re working on an explanatory video for your product. Well, you have to demonstrate that you understand your audience’s problems and needs, and that your product is the perfect solution for them. You need to focus on your audience’s needs more than on your product’s features to establish the connection that keeps viewers engaged.

5. Your social media will grow thanks to videos

If people love videos, then videos are what you should offer them, especially where the people are. And where are people today? On social media! Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn: all these social platforms have witnessed the rise of video in recent years and have leveraged the advantages of video to integrate it into their core user experience. A quick look at any of these social platforms reveals that most people’s feeds are filled with videos.
Consider this statistic: 76% of social media users say they would share an entertaining video, even if it’s a company video. This means that if you can create a fun or engaging video, people are likely to share it with their friends and family, regardless of whether they have an interest in the product or not!

So, your number one goal when creating a video: make it genuinely entertaining (i.e., shareable). Which, of course, is not easy. But it’s easier if you think about the audience and what they need, rather than just praising your product’s features.

6. Mobile users choose video over (almost) anything

What can we tell you that you don’t already know! You see it when you travel, go to the bank, run in the park, or dine in a restaurant: people are obsessed with their mobile devices. They carry them around and use them at all hours and everywhere. Every little break in our daily routine can be filled with a smartphone or a tablet.
And do you know what people do with their mobile devices during those breaks? Watch videos! It’s a growing trend. 33% of tablet users watch around an hour of video every day, while 28% of smartphone users watch at least one video per day. Short and entertaining videos are perfect for those short breaks, which is why so many people watch them.

So, if you can include videos in your marketing strategy, you can also become part of the catalog of videos that these people will watch when they are bored.

7. Videos are highly recyclable

Yes, this is undoubtedly another advantage of video. Do you think a company video is too expensive? You might think so if you consider the video as a finished and closed product. But you shouldn’t see it that way. You should view it as a product with (almost) infinite uses. What does that mean? It means you can take your video and squeeze it like an orange, getting more juice out of it than you could imagine.
You can create GIFs from segments of your video, thus creating small snippets of content for social media. Or you can reuse the illustrations from the video for PowerPoint presentations, your website, or to create an infographic explaining your product. Or even you can even re-edit the video and turn it into something new. Do you see it? An explanatory video has many lives.

For example, take a look at this video we made for a product that identifies dogs based on their DNA in their feces.

And now, take a look at some of the GIFs we created using illustrations extracted from the video. These GIFs appeared on their website and social media.

8. Products and Services Shine in Videos

Remember when I mentioned that people prefer videos over text when learning about a company? Here’s another statistic that complements that: 98% of Internet users claim to have watched an explanatory video to learn more about a product or service. 98%! That’s an incredible number of people actively telling you, “Show me your videos!”
But why does this happen? In reality, it’s quite simple: videos (especially animated videos) are perfect for illustrating concepts that are hard to grasp. They can demonstrate how a product or service works in just a couple of minutes, they can be enriched with various graphics and characters, and they can be easily replayed.

Combine that direct and straightforward nature with the fact that the brain processes videos faster, and you’ll understand why products and services truly shine in videos. When it comes to videos, it’s all advantages.

9. The ROI in Videos is Incredible

You know, ROI, Return on Investment, the measure of all things in the business world. Given the cost of videos, their ROI is spectacular. Absolutely.

52% of entrepreneurs claim that corporate videos have the highest return on investment in marketing. Such confidence in videos guarantees that, although you’ll have to invest some money initially, you’ll see returns within a couple of months, after which everything that keeps coming is pure profit.

And the money will keep flowing, don’t worry, which brings us to the next point.

10. Videos Increase Your Conversions and Sales

If videos make you more visible, reliable, transparent, and connect you with your audience, it’s logical to expect more benefits from them, right? We also have numbers to support that assumption. When comparing a website that doesn’t use videos with one that does, the site that doesn’t use videos has an average conversion rate of 2.9%. The website that uses videos shows an impressive difference: its average conversion rate is 4.8%.

There’s something else you need to consider here. 64% of people who shop online say they did so after watching a video about the product, and 40% of mobile users say the same. In short, people turn to video to get better informed before making a purchase, so it makes sense to start creating videos now to assist your target audience.

11. Video Ads Rock

If you haven’t invested money in videos yet, you might be spending it elsewhere, maybe on email marketing or SEM. Well, you might want to reconsider because did you know that the Click-Through Rate for video ads is approximately 1.84%? It’s the highest for any digital format!

Moreover, consider that 76% of the total ad recall (the number of people who remember the ad after seeing it) is achieved within the first 10 seconds. So, if you craft your video correctly, you can ensure that people will remember it, even if they haven’t watched it in full or clicked on it. That’s how amazing video ads are!

12. Email Marketing Improves with Videos

As we explained recently in this article, videos significantly enhance email marketing results.

The power of video is so great that just by using the word “video” in the email subject line, your email campaign will see an increase in the open rate by 7 to 13%.

Videos not only get more of your emails opened but also increase their click-through rate. And that’s an advantage of video you need to leverage. Since you can’t embed the video in the email, you’ll have to place an image or a gif representing it, but even that can work wonders. In fact, some studies claim that click-through rates double simply by including that video image.

Email marketing is undoubtedly one of the best tools for marketing your products. And if you include video, you’ll take it to another level.

13. Videos Help You Profile Your Audience

Finally, videos have their own analytics that will help you better understand your target audience. Combine them with the data you get from social media, your website, email marketing, and other channels you use, and you’ll have a more complete picture of who you’re talking to.

Among the wealth of data you can obtain from videos are, of course, basic demographics like age, gender, and geographical location. But there are also excellent indicators, such as how people interact with your videos, how many have reacted to your CTAs, where they went after watching, how many of your videos they viewed, etc., which will provide you with a profile of your consumer like no other content can.

In Summary
Well, we’ve given you plenty of reasons to seriously consider videos as a communication tool. Thirteen reasons, to be exact. All the advantages of video are compelling. From the indisputable fact that people love videos to economic reasons like a guaranteed return on investment. They all explain why so many Product Managers are increasingly investing in videos to support their products or brands. Videos simply work.

So, if you don’t want to be left behind, maybe we should talk. Get in touch with The Visual Speech and start a video marketing campaign to discover the incredible power of video for yourself.