This is curious. I came across a video online that does all the things I’d think were wrong for an online marketing video. Does it work, does it convert, or are they actually doing it wrong? It may be they’ve hit on something that works well but is counter-intuitive, like the ugly long-form sales landing page.
Here’s what appears to be wrong in my opinion:
- Does not say how long the video is, so no way to have expectations of the time cost of watching it or how long is left at any point. At the beginning it says, “in this short video,” but it’s definitely not short.
- Video does not have pause button. If you get a phone call, have to read an email, you can’t pause. Or rewind.
- No call to action button during the video – no way to go to the next step at all except calling a phone number. Even the logo at the bottom says Order Online or Call, and it’s not a link. The only link is “join our affiliate program.” When the video finally ends, a call to action appears.
- Video is looooooong. How long? Over 30 minutes until the call to action appears, and then the video starts up with even more “not sure yet? Let us tell you even more things.”
- Bonus… If you want to see what happens when there is finally a call to action, click this link. The sales process from this point also breaks many ecommerce rules, like being really annoying, forcing repeated, unnecessary clicks, asking for personal information before revealing the price, and more. It’s almost a lesson in what to do wrong, yet I suspect that makes it work in breaking down mental barriers.
It could be the video weeds out the curious and only truly interested people will watch it all. It could be that by the time you’ve invested 30+ minutes in a video, clicked a bunch of boxes, entered personal information, and then saw it’s only 10 bucks, you might miss that you’re also subscribing to an auto-purchase program that is only in the fine print.
You see, this is a scam. If they used “normal” ecommerce methods, people would more easily see that they’re not only paying 10 bucks, they’re also subscribing to the massively expensive Pimsleur Rapid Fluency Purchase Program. With this program, you receive a new course every 60 days automatically. That new course is $256 set up as four $64 payments! Everything they say in their “short” 30 minute video about this being less expensive than other programs is a lie, which makes everything else they say suspect, too.
But in the end, this post is not about the scam, it’s about the video. If you want to scam people, and have the money to push your long form video out to millions for a straight-out by-the-numbers shotgun marketing approach, then here’s your model. But if you are a valid business with a respectable sales system, stick to the general rules of video marketing and let your creativity do the marketing.
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