You’ve probably noticed background videos are featuring more and more on the web, and have most likely even come across one or two while visiting your favourite websites. Background videos command attention, draw your visitors in and instantly give your website a creative, modern and stylistic feel that static background images just can’t compete with.
What’s more, experts have noted that visitors will stay on a website longer and are more likely to choose to opt-in or sign-up when a website features a video background. For example, Foodblogger Pro saw their landing page conversion rate improve by a massive 138% when they added a background video! Now, that’s impressive to say the least! When done the right way, a background video can help your business improve sales, however there are pitfalls you need to avoid.
If you don’t have a website yet, and are wondering whether to incorporate a background video in your design or if you’re simply considering adding on to your existing website, there are three important things you should keep in mind.
Why You Need To Consider Using Background Videos On Your Website
- Know what you are aiming to communicate
- Your background video should add to user experience
- Your video should be consistent with your content
1. Know what you are aiming to communicate
It is important not to simply pick a video because it looks great. Your video should be relevant to your business. It is crucial your background video is consistent with the message your homepage is trying to communicate, and we’ll talk more about this later. First, you need to decide exactly what you want your video to communicate to your visitors.
For example, a Day Spa may choose a video promoting health, wellness, calm and relaxation to trigger an emotional response from its website visitors. Alternatively, they may choose to showcase their treatment rooms and feature relaxed clients enjoying treatments to encourage visitors to make a booking. A Bed & Breakfast may wish to showcase the surrounding area with stunning location shots of the nearby countryside to lure visitors to make a reservation, or they may wish to focus on videos of the property wowing potential visitors with the accommodation on offer. Still not sure what you’d like to feature?
Ask yourself:
- Do you want to add atmosphere or convey a message?
- Are you hoping to show clips showing of your business or products?
- Can you convey your business’ extraordinary customer experience visually?
- Would it benefit you to show a certain lifestyle that meshes well with your product or service?
Choosing a video that highlights what your company offers its customers is a powerful marketing tool and can bolster your customer engagement.
2. Your background video should add to user experience
You want your video to improve your visitor’s experience, which means considering a few elements:
- Readablility: If you overlay text, ensure it contrasts against your video (eg. a light coloured text on a dark background and vice versa). Any text should add to, and not detract from, your user’s experience.
- Size: When adding a video background it is vital to consider your website loading speed. Larger files take longer to load, and you don’t want your visitors to bounce due to poor loading speed. The answer is to choose a video that is short and to keep your video file small, preferably around 5-10 seconds long and on a continuous loop. (Try to aim for around 6MB or less for the video file size).
- Keep it in the background: Firstly, we recommend you remove any audio from your video. Web pages that auto-play audio are considered to create the most annoyance among visitors. Secondly, remember your video is a background, so remove all video player controls from visitor vision. An informative or instructional video that requires sound or controls in order to play, rewind and watch again is not a background video – it’s a featured video, and should be used as such.
3. Your video should be consistent with your content
Your background video should complement your content, not detract from it. If your video is too good at grabbing visitor attention, it could take the focus off your content.
The way to avoid this is to focus on a simple idea, ensure the video reinforces your page’s message and is consistent with the rest of your site’s content.
Choose a visually appealing background video, draws the visitor in to want to learn more and to discover more – but choose one that doesn’t consume too much of the visitor’s attention by being overly complex. A short video of your customers doing business with you can help your potential customers visualise themselves doing the same.
Now, if you’re thinking you’d love to add a background video but simply don’t have the budget to film your own videos, don’t worry, there are lots of places to source free stock background videos (such as Coverr, Mazwai and Pexels Videos).
Background videos can add a sense of vibrancy and life to any website. If you’re re-thinking your business’ website design, or thinking about creating a new website for your business, the team at Pixel Fish are ready to help – so go ahead and contact us today!
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Further Reading:
Top 10 Benefits of Using YouTube Videos on Your Website
Top 10 Steps to Start a Successful Online Store
What Is Google PageSpeed Insights and How it Can Improve Your Website
How to Successfully Balance UX and SEO for The Most Effective Website
10 Reasons Your Website Is Fundamental to the Growth of Your Business
10 Best Practices for a Successful WordPress Website Design Project
