Autoplay is a clever concept, attempting to draw the viewer in and grab his or her attention without requiring user initiation of the video. However, although it may be a useful tool for advertising videos, such as those that often appear before popular content on YouTube, for example, autoplay may not be such a great idea when you’re designing the homepage of your business website.
Here at AV3, we know that your promotional videos can take your business to a whole new level of success, and this is why it’s really important to consider your options and get your video marketing right. Talk to us for more information about how we can help you to stand out, or to begin creating a corporate video that will put you ahead of the rest.
Reasons To Avoid Autoplaying Homepage Video:
1. It’s too much. Users like a well designed website that is easy to navigate and simple to use. Having a video playing can be distracting and overwhelming, and makes it harder for users to identify what they are looking for and choose the links they need. Giving your customers what they want is an important rule of business, and simplicity means avoiding autoplaying your homepage video.
2. It’s slow. We’ve all had the experience of waiting for a webpage to load and, quite frankly, it doesn’t make for a good first impression of a business. Autoplaying videos will create slow loading pages that can use a lot of bandwidth, and this is annoying for most users and extremely problematic for those with weak connections, such as those using public wi-fi services.
3. It’s distracting. What do you want your audience to do after visiting your homepage? If your end goal is for them to watch your video, autoplay isn’t a problem. If, however, you’re hoping to make a conversion or lead your viewers into a sales funnel, your video will only serve to distract them and lead them away from the goal. Having to wait until a video has finished, or being given information that may encourage viewers to neglect the call to action you have set up, will lower your conversion rate and compromise the impact of your homepage.
4. Outcomes may be poor. Statistics show that in comparative research, homepages that do not include autoplaying videos experience higher traffic and better conversion rates. Users appear to like homepages that are as simple as possible and make it easy to move to the next appropriate page. Autoplaying videos create clutter and do not enhance the homepage experience in most cases.
Don’t just take our word for it, test it out! Experiment with different uses of video on your website and see what your analytics tell you. Some methods may work better for certain businesses than for others, so explore the concept and find out what works for you.
Are You Seeking A Video Production Company in Ireland
Here at AV3, we are one of Ireland’s leading TV Production companies, and we have worked on many popular TV series and documentaries. If you’re looking for a professional video production company to take care of your advertising, staff training packages or other website content, call us on 021-7332222 (Cork) or 01-6363190 (Dublin), or visit us online today.