Millennials Shop With Online Videos: 85% Purchase After Viewing

While all shoppers see online videos as helpful sales tools, millennials (adults 18 to 34) find them essential. Consider that 85 percent of millennials have purchased a product after watching a video about it. For adults overall, the number is only 76 percent.

Or consider that two-thirds (66 percent) of millennials engage with brands after watching their videos on social media. Only 53 percent of adults overall said the same.

That data comes from a brief survey conducted by content delivery network (CDN) Brightcove, which looked at the impact of online videos on purchase decisions.

"The most successful product marketing videos do two things extremely well: highlight the problem and drive action," says Kash Razzaghi, senior vice president of sales for Brightcove. "Something that is important to remember is people don't care at all about your product, they only care about the problem it solves. While new features and upgrades seem interesting and noteworthy, what truly drives people to action is anticipating the relief they'll experience once they use it. The best product marketing videos are more like 'problem marketing' videos."

Millennials see video as more engaging than other types of content, and score it higher as their preferred brand communication method.

Young adults are also more likely to find calls-to-action in a video helpful: 57 percent appreciate them, compared to only 45 percent of adults overall.

"Interactivity is a great tool to increase engagement as long as it enhances the viewer experience," Razzaghi says. "Timing and context are the most critical aspects to consider when applying interactivity to video content. Slapping a Buy Now button or any other call-to-action at the top of the video before establishing interest and curiosity from the viewer almost always leads to low engagement, and, much worse, a poor viewer experience. It's important to ask yourself these two questions: What is the story I want to tell and how do I want my viewer to feel? The answers to those questions will help steer viewers to the call-to-action you're looking for."

Brightcove's data comes from a YouGuv online survey of 4,446 adults, and was conducted in September 2018. View Brightcove's infographic for the complete results.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net