Video Marketing KPIs: How to Measure the Success of Your Video Campaign

You create an exceptional video, plan a solid marketing campaign, and witness the video go viral. Like most marketers, you feel satisfied with the whole thing.

Why shouldn’t you be? A viral video means more views, which obviously indicates a successful video. Right?
Not exactly.

A high view count isn’t a bad thing, but it doesn’t give you the big picture. The real question is: Is the target audience that watches the video convinced by the message in it?

That said, how should we measure the success of a video campaign? In this article, we introduce you to key performance indicators (KPIs) that are used to measure the impact of video marketing.

What are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

More and more, marketing strategies are becoming data-driven. And video is no exception.

Using data findings in conjunction with your other marketing efforts, you can better understand the progress of a campaign. Why is it slow? Where do the problems lie? And how can you remedy the situation?

That’s where KPIs come in.

KPIs are how you measure the success of any marketing effort. It is a set of performance criteria set based on your marketing goals and helps you determine the degree or level to which a goal is achieved using data and metrics.

For example, an ecommerce site wants to generate hype around a new product launch. The goal is to build brand awareness, and the KPIs would include website traffic, time on site, bounce rate, etc. An increase in traffic shows that the marketing campaign was successful, and more site traffic means more visitors to their store. However, if they see there is a high bounce rate then that indicates that something on the page is not engaging with customers so they are leaving.

Simply put, KPIs tell you what worked and what didn’t.

Match your KPIs to your marketing goals

KPIs always go hand-in-hand with your marketing goals. In fact, they can’t exist without each other.

Even before you produce a video, you should work on creating a killer video marketing strategy.

Your marketing strategy should revolve around having an aim and purpose for each video you create. This will help determine the video goals and how it will be used in your sales funnel.

What’s the goal of your video? Is it to create awareness? Encourage the viewers to visit your website or landing page? Subscribe to the newsletter? Register for an event? Or convince them to make a purchase?

Using the example from above, the goal was to create awareness. This means the video content would be focused on informing audiences about the new products and would be used in the awareness stage, maybe in social media campaigns or display ads.

It’s imperative for video marketers to set a clear goal, as this will determine which KPIs will be used to track and measure the video’s success.

Let’s take a look at the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the most common goals of video marketing.

Video marketing KPIs to focus on

Soon, over 80% of all internet traffic will head toward video content. Marketers can increase traffic to an ecommerce landing page, website, or social media page just by adding videos.

Video content is the future and video marketing trends are changing frequently and fast. Naturally, you should leave no stone unturned to ensure the success of your video marketing efforts. So, it’s high time you pay close attention to these key performance indicators.

Awareness Stage KPIs

In the awareness stage, your goal is to attract the maximum number of viewers to the video.

• The users are aware of a problem and they are looking for a solution. Through the video, you’re promising a solution and introducing your brand as a means to attain that solution.
• Most of the users are still looking for various options and some are not even sure they need help with the problem.
  

This is the top-most stage of the video marketing funnel. these videos can be informative, such as explainer videos.

Here are the KPIs to focus on:

View Count

The view count indicates the number of times the video was watched by the users. Keep in mind this metric doesn’t tell you whether the individual has stayed till the end of the video or not, we’ll cover that below.

Each social media platform has its own definition of view count. A Youtube video is marked as viewed if a user stays until the 30-second mark. On Instagram and Facebook, it’s just 3 seconds.

View count alone won’t reveal much about the performance. In fact, it can be rather deceptive and misleading. So view count should be analyzed in conjunction with one or more KPIs that can better help you measure engagement rates.

Impressions

Impressions inform the marketer how many times the video was displayed and appeared before the user.

The impressions metric will be increased by one even if the video wasn’t played by the user.

Like view count, impressions taken alone is not the best measure of engagement. But, by combining the two you can ascertain whether you’re targeting the right audience or not.

For example, having a high impressions count, but low views indicate that you should re-visit and re-check the ‘target audience’ page of the video campaign.

Unique Views

This data measures the number of times the video was watched for the first time. This metric is usually tied to a cookie that keeps track of the user.

If a person watches a video 5 times, the unique views count will register just once.

Video marketers would prefer a gap between total views and unique views. A wider gap is a compliment to the video. That’s because it shows that more users are replaying the video which indicates a growing interest in the brand and potentially further engagement.

Brand Awareness Lift

Although this metric includes elements of other stages of the video marketing funnel, it’s basically considered an awareness stage metric.

This data indicates a positive shift in the viewer’s attitude toward the brand. In a nutshell, it shows how many viewers remember the video, message, or brand after a short duration (number of days).

Brand Lift generally reveals the following: awareness about the product, service, brand, or offering; positive or negative attitude towards the quality and appeal of the product; ability to recall the video or message; likelihood to favor and recommend the product; and odds of a purchase.

This isn’t an easy metric to measure. Usually, one or all of the following three methods are used: primary research, quantitative metrics, and social buzz.

Ad Recall Lift

This metric measures the number of people who remember and recall the video ad after a brief gap (two days in the case of Facebook).

The ad recall lift is usually measured by conducting a brief survey with questions regarding the ad, brand, message, or all three. Platforms such as YouTube and Facebook employ other methods to measure ad recall.

Facebook uses both behavioral signals and polls for measuring ad recall lift.

Engagement Stage KPIs

People who are engaging with the video are considering your brand as one of their options to solve their problems. The target audience is in the consideration stage now.

• The target audience is aware of your brand (product or service). Hence, they have moved past the awareness stage. They are now forming opinions about their choices.
• Videos created for this stage of the video marketing funnel must engage the audience, feed their interest, and develop a connection.
  

Great videos for this stage could be product reviews or demos. These can be extremely effective when created by your affiliate partners, as they can add their own voice and customer perspective to the video.

Now, you need something more than view count and impressions to understand engagement. Try the following engagement metrics:

View Through Rate (VTR)

VTR gives us the percentage of viewers who watched the video all the way through, out of those who clicked on the video.

For example, if 1000 people clicked on the video, and 200 of them stayed till the end, the view-through rate of the content is 20%.

VTR gives a good idea of how many people are interested in the video. Low VTR indicates the video is failing in its purpose of engaging the target audience. This is especially true in the case of videos with a call-to-action at the end. Video marketers want the viewer to stay until the end of the video.

You can hire a video editing service to tweak the video and make it more appealing to the viewers.

Watch Time

The watch time metric calculates the total minutes the viewers have watched the video. This is another KPI that reveals if the content is resonating with the audience or not.

Platforms define watch time differently. Some describe it as ‘duration watched,’ Facebook defines it as ‘minutes watched,’ and for YouTube, watch time means ‘estimated total minutes spent viewing your content.’

How is this metric useful? Suppose the total length of a video is 10 minutes but the average watch time is 6 minutes. From this, you can infer that the video has reached the right audience, but isn’t engaging enough to hold their attention.

In contrast, if the watch time is 2 minutes, we can safely conclude the video isn’t speaking to the right audience.

Brand Favorability Lift

This is the third of the brand lift studies that measure the impact of video on the viewers.

The brand favorability lift metric shows whether the viewer takes a favorable view of the brand (product or service) after seeing the video.

Social media platforms generally use perception surveys and a mix of behavioral and experience metrics to measure favorability lift.

Brand Interest Lift

This is a measurement that shows consumer interest in the brand. A viewer who shows interest in the brand after watching a video will want to increase interaction with the brand.

The interest lift is measured directly by employing polls, surveys, and questionnaires. Indirect techniques such as brand-related searches, video shares, and comments are also used to measure this metric.

Brand Consideration Lift

This is yet another high-level metric to understand the effect of the video.

Using consumer research and other methods, you can estimate whether a viewer will consider purchasing a product or service after watching a video.

A higher brand consideration lift indicates the video is more likely to boost sales.

Decision Stage KPIs

Customers in this stage have made up their minds. They considered all their options and chose your brand as the best pick. That said you still need to nurture the lead and convince the customer to buy.

• Videos that you produce for this stage must highlight the value and benefits your brand offers.
• The content of the video must showcase why your brand is better than the others.
• The content must ensure your brand remains at the top of the mind.
  

The video content at this stage should prompt viewers to convert. This could include testimonials, case studies, and other forms of social proof.

In this stage, you need to focus on KPIs that estimate the growing interest in your product or service. Here are the metrics to focus:

Call-to-Action Clicks

Elements built in the video act as an effective call to action. They are equally useful in revealing the mind of the viewer.

Usually, the elements in a video take the customer to a landing, product, or signup page. For example, a ‘top products’ video for affiliate marketing can include clickable elements after each product review to take the viewer directly to the product page.

Most of the time, clickable elements are placed in the latter part of the video. Customers who watch the video longer and who are engaged with the content are more likely to click.

Calls and Chats

This metric defines the number of people who proceed to call or chat with the brand after watching a video.

This move by the customer reveals that they almost made up their mind and consider your brand as the top pick.

You can use cookies or call tracking to calculate the metric. Generally, customers who call or chat, wanting to learn more about the offering, exhibit a high level of interest in your brand.

Signups

This is a very important metric. This metric shows higher engagement with the video.

For the first time in the customer journey, the person has made a commitment. This step shows that the customer is a lot closer to a sale or any action that you want the customer to take.

By opting for a signup, the viewer is ready to trade personal information (name, email address, and more) for more information about the product, service, or other offerings.

Purchase Intent Lift

The purchase intent lift is a more accurate estimate of a customer’s intention to buy. Like other brand lift metrics, a combination of research, metrics, and customer behavior tracking is used to calculate purchase intent lift.

Sales

The sale is a tricky metric because it’s difficult to directly link sales with video. Not many would buy a product or service immediately after watching a video.

You can use sales as an effective metric in video marketing if customer behavior is effectively tracked at every possible touchpoint.

Retention Stage KPIs

If the Pareto Principle is to be believed, 20% of your customers will provide 80% of the business. Your job isn’t done once the customer buys a product or service.

• You need to delight the customer and retain loyalty, so they can provide more business and become a returning customer.
• Think about what added value you can give the customers so they would refer your brand to their friends and even purchase from you again.
  

Videos play a key role in customer retention. Consider how you can use video content to further build your relationship with customers, such as guides for mastering a certain skill or more-depth tutorials for your experienced customers.

Plan your strategy carefully and focus on the following metrics:

Plays and Return Visits

Visits to post-sale videos or return visits to marketing videos can be used to measure the impact and effectiveness of your video content.

This metric gives marketers an idea of what the customer expects and how the customer thinks and behaves after the sale.

Social Interaction

Video content and social interaction go hand-in-hand. Moreover, social interaction is not an exclusive post-sale metric.

Social interaction happens in all stages of the marketing funnel and monitoring it can help marketers predict customer thinking and behavior.

Social interaction is especially high after purchase because customers want to share their reviews (positive or negative) of your product.

Monitor the views, visits, likes, shares, and comments to understand if customers are satisfied with your product, will recommend your brand to others, and become returning customers.

Favorability Lift

This is a useful metric to monitor both during the decision and retention stages.

You’ll see a spike in this metric and an increase in the association if the video answers key questions and offers incredible value even after the sale.

Video engagement metrics

There is a reason why these engagement metrics find a separate mention.

• First, these metrics have a say in every stage of the video marketing funnel.
• Second, these numbers signify an important shift in the viewer’s thinking and behavior. The user crosses a significant threshold – he or she converts from a passive to an active viewer. This behavior shows the video has had an impact on the viewer and has resulted in an action.
  

Thanks to social media, viewers are no longer mute spectators of the video. Now they are interacting with your brand and can communicate their reactions.

You can gather these metrics directly from the platform where the video is hosted or use social media tools.

Likes and Dislikes: Likes indicate the video has hit the bull’s eye; that the viewer agrees with the content. Dislike might mean many things – the viewer doesn’t agree with the message, how the video is made, or the brand cannot solve the pain points. If the problem is with the quality of video production, then you can use anamorphic lenses for higher video quality.

Shares: This metric indicates the viewer not only likes the video and agrees with the content; he or she wants others to enjoy and benefit from the video. Shares are the best compliment that a video can earn in the pre-sale stage.

Comments: Although comments give a deeper insight into the mind of the viewer, eliciting them requires more effort. Comments often indicate extreme reactions – either the viewer likes the video, therefore leaves a positive comment, or hates it hence leaves a negative comment. Either way, comments tell a lot about the quality and appeal of a video.

Start engaging audiences with videos today

Video is already far ahead of text and images in engaging the audience. So, monitoring the right KPIs will help you produce effective videos, craft better messages, and develop a solid video marketing strategy – all these will lead to the success of your campaign.