Q: How can I use online analytics tools to measure the effectiveness of my online video?

A: Online video is all the rage these days. Companies of all sizes and across all industries are investing in video cameras and editing tools, making videos and posting them on the web. What many of those firms don’t realize is that putting video on the Internet without tracking its effectiveness is tantamount to hiring a new sales rep, training him, giving that individual a customer list and then never checking in with him.

That’s where website analytics come in. Defined as the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purpose of better understanding and optimizing web usage, analytics has become a critical element for companies that want to leverage their Internet marketing investments. Analytics are particularly relevant for users of online video–particularly those who want to know if their time and money investments are paying off…or not.

“Companies are looking for a connection to their ROI,” says Chris Savage, CEO of Lexington, Mass.-based Wistia, a provider of video sharing tools for business. “It’s become even more important over the last year, due to economic conditions, and with firms starting to look to video as a way to deliver their messages more efficiently.”

MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS
With so many videos posted online, Savage says the next logical question marketers should ask themselves is: How effective is our video? “If you spend $5,000 to make the video, and 10 hours of each salesperson’s time pushing it, then you’ll want to know if it’s worth it,” Savage explains. “The goal is to draw a connection between the video and the investment to figure out what impact this marketing strategy is having on your business.”

That’s where website analytics come into play. By tracking a site’s statistics, analytics allows marketers to see how many people are looking at which videos, what sites those visitors are coming from and, specifically, who those users are. With that information, marketers can measure traffic to their websites, understand who’s watching what and tweak their online video strategies accordingly.

Analytics tools range from simple online programs that can be downloaded for free to expensive systems that are installed on existing hardware–and everything in between. One of the most popular is Google Analytics. Free for users, the program takes just a couple of hours to install and configure. The program tracks how often visitors come to your site, conversions across multiple pages, visitor behavior and the percentage of people who click each link on a given page.

Video hosting firms such as Wistia also offer analytics tools. Using such systems, marketers can upload their videos and use an application that tracks just how many people actually watch the clips, on which page they clicked “play video,” which videos have the highest engagement rates, how much of each clip was actually watched and at what point the typical user “skipped” to other parts of the show or tuned out completely.

With that information in hand, Savage says marketers are able to craft a clear, concise, effective message that not only entices people to watch the video, but also pushes them to buy your product or service.

PART OF THE WHOLE
Analytics tools tend to work best when integrated into a firm’s overall marketing plan, and shouldn’t be relied upon as standalone tools. “Use analytics as part of a comprehensive program that address what you’re trying to achieve with your online video,” says Brian Tervo, CEO of Burlington, Mass.-based TIE Kinetix, a provider of electronic, business-to-business collaboration tools, “and make sure that those analytics are aligned with your internal sales and marketing processes. Only then will you be able to tell if a campaign is really working.”

If, for example, a particular video has received a lower number of hits than others on your site, think about how you can improve that clip to make it better for visitors, and get them engaged in the video. Companies that go through this exercise on a regular basis are sure to see increases in their online video ROI.

“It could be as simple as re-editing the video or as complex as making an entirely new one,” says Savage, who recently worked with a product marketing company that used analytics to hone its video content over time in order to create more effective messages for its customers. “The most important strategy that marketers can use is to look at the videos that they’ll be creating in the future,” says Savage. “Once you’ve come up with that concise message, it’s pretty easy to keep your audience on your site and engaged.”

That’s good news for marketers who are struggling to attract eyeballs and stand out among the clutter that is today’s Internet. By combining online video with analytics, firms can craft marketing messages that not only call out to customers online, but also keep them watching the clips. The Holy Grail comes when those viewers take a positive action after viewing the clips such as sending the video to friends and family, signing up for an online service or purchasing a product.

Previously published in Electronic Retailer Magazine, December 2009

Author of over 175 published articles, Tim Hawthorne is Founder, Chairman and Executive Creative Director of Hawthorne Direct, a full service DRTV and New Media ad agency founded in 1986. Since then Hawthorne has produced or managed over 800 Direct Response TV campaigns for clients such as Apple, Braun, Discover Card, Time-Life, Nissan, Lawn Boy, Nikon, Oreck, Bose, the Heifer International. Tim is a co-founder of the Electronic Retailing Association, has delivered over 100 speeches worldwide and is the author of the definitive DRTV book The Complete Guide to Infomercial Marketing. A cum laude graduate of Harvard, Tim was honored with the prestigious "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) in 2006.