I am looking for some feedback on video spokes models. These are those little people that walk onto your screen and give a short presentation. Claims are that they can improve sales by 150% to 300%. If you have used these on your web site, what was the result?
Those claims must be horribly wrong. I'd seem to think that most users find them to be very obnoxious. Also, generic never equals effective. If the ads were custom tailored to the niche, it might be a different story.
Your generic and obnoxious terms remind me of what skip intros became. I don't like to ask for directions or have help forced on me, it sounds like you are the same. Hopefully this stuff is more valuable. Well, it wouldn't be generic and it would be something to guide people at a point where many stop and leave the site. If a site is having one or two percent conversion and it jumps to four to eight percent it would be an accurate figure. I have seen sites jump from 5% to 25% conversion with a layout change or an added prompt for action so I won't discount their claims yet. Hopefully I'll hear some real world experiences.....
I've come across them a couple of times when I have been searching to buy something. From my own consumer perspective, I find them annoying - I don't want something to just invade my screen. However, the idea is a good one. What I like a lot more and actually find effective is having an embedded video on your sales page, that has you (or someone else, doesn't matter, just needs to look/sound professional) give a quick why-you-need-this-product pitch and what it can do for you. Consumers like to be able to associate a face and voice with the seller, it builds trust. Try that instead. Plus, I think it's easier to implement.
I suggested embedding a video and one objection was "That's too YouTube-y", I consider it a good thing. I would definitely have the video, whether a walk on spokes person or an embedded video be set as click-to-play. An added benefit to being a YouTube video is that even the most useless video ends up with 70,000 views.
Well you wouldn't even need to make it a youtube video - in fact, I suggest not, because then it would have the YoutTube logo on it, and that detracts from your site's professional appearance. It shouldn't be a large video, so just host it on your own server.
I applied a free trial version on one of my sites for a short time and got lambasted by my visitors. It was very unnerving and quite embarrassing by the time it was over. This was a forum, however....so feedback was instant.
That sounds like some canned ad, not something specific to your site and he/she walked right in and started talking, right? A lot of these are like door to door salesmen that walk right in your door and start talking without ever knocking.