Top Video Metrics You Need to Track for Success

It’s no secret that video consumption has been on the rise. According to Wistia’s 2022 report, annual video plays have increased by 77% from 2019 to 2021.

Video is now the default expression of the internet. From web searches to livestreams, video is becoming the primary way the next generation of shoppers make buying decisions. In fact, we found that 46% of consumers* want to watch product videos before they buy.

2022 Future of Ecommerce report, Shopify

Just creating videos isn’t enough. The real work lies in understanding whether your videos are helping you grow.

You don’t need to keep an eye on every metric but there are a few important ones you can’t miss. In this blog, we’ll give you a primer on the top video metrics you need to track.

Video engagement

Before you look closely at how many consumers bought through a video, you need to take a step back to see if your video is catching attention.

What is video engagement rate?

Video Engagement Rate is the percentage of impressions that have resulted in some form of video engagement. How a consumer engages with your video would vary— video views, time spent viewing the video, and shares, to name a few.

But, how can you be certain that a video view is counted as an engagement? We recommend a minimum watch time of 5 seconds to track engagement more accurately.

You can dig a bit deeper with engagement metrics like videos watched per user and watch time per user. These better define the quality of engagement and how engaging your content is.

Why use video within your Shopify store?

One of the biggest mistakes that you can make is leading your shoppers to a third-party website (like Vimeo or YouTube) when they click to watch a video within the site.

Once they step away from your store, these shoppers get distracted by other videos and end up abandoning their intent to buy from you. Naturally, your conversion drops.

Your main goal is to keep shoppers engaged and on your store. The longer they stay on your site, the more you increase your chances to convert. On average, the time spent on a page is 62 seconds. When you embed video within your site, the time spent on the page increases by 2x, at least. This could have a significant impact for your dwell time and ultimately, your ranking.

What is dwell time?

Dwell Time is the amount of time that a Google searcher spends on a page from the search results before returning back to the SERPs. This metric is one of the many important signals that Google uses to rank pages better.

📈 Putting it to the test: In just 90 days of using shoppable videos, Ava Estell saw an added time of +3,269 hours on-site and a 14% increased engagement rate.

Screenshot from Ava Estell’s VideoWise dashboard.

🧠 PRO TIP: Don’t just use one video on a page. Increase your Dwell time and engagement by embedding a playlist of relevant videos! Immi Eats does this well, with a playlist of user-generated videos. Click here to see it live.

Show this video on autoplay: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yw0V9meti4a-u7G5QRAJLlpCvUYxxrj3/view?usp=sharing

Video conversion

The north star for any store implementing videos to guide purchasing decisions is how well the video engagement converted into a purchase.

What is video conversion rate?

Video Conversion Rate is defined as how often your video views lead to conversion. It is calculated as the count of video conversions divided by the count of video views.

According to VideoWise, video shoppers convert 2-3x times higher than shoppers that don't watch videos. Through the videos, shoppers are able to understand the product better, its use in context, and even answer any questions they might have about it. Having their major concerns addressed is sure to get them to checkout faster.

🧠PRO TIP: Make it easier and faster for visitors to purchase when they are most engaged with shoppable videos.

What is a shoppable video?

A shoppable video is an interactive video that allows viewers to watch how a product works and purchase it right within the video. This interactive element makes the shopping experience more personal, mimicking certain aspects of in-store shopping.

Turning a video shoppable is tricky but not impossible. This is where VideoWise can help. With this Shopify app, many eCommerce brands have been able to turn their product videos shoppable.

On average, brands that use shoppable videos embedded on-site end up seeing their sales multiply due to the high conversion rate that video shoppers have.

What are the benefits of shoppable videos?

Bambu Earth ran an A/B test using shoppable videos with VideoWise. The brand directed traffic from an email newsletter campaign to two product pages. Both pages were the same except that one of the pages had a shoppable video while the other didn’t.

The results from Klaviyo were clear:

• 23.8% more sales with shoppable videos.

In total, the product page with shoppable videos generated USD 8.5K in orders while the one without brought in a revenue of USD 6.5K.

• 19% higher AOV with shoppable videos.

Orders through the product page with shoppable videos generated an AOV of USD 105 while orders through the page without the videos saw an AOV of USD 85.

🧠PRO TIP: Don’t forget to make the experience mobile-friendly. On average, 70% of your site visitors use their mobile to shop from you. You can use vertical videos within your product pages to make their experience on your store easier and more enjoyable.

Here’s how DuraDry uses vertical shoppable videos on their store.

Sell better with your videos using data

Adding videos to your product pages is a good start. But, understanding how they are performing—what type of video content converts best, on what pages, and how your visitors engage— is crucial to help you leverage these videos to sell more.