Problem
An educational website client approached us with a challenge: their members weren't watching newly developed video content. Despite ongoing production by the content team, a large backlog of un-watched videos was accumulating. The root cause? Members were unaware of the new videos' existence.
What We Did
Upon analyzing the client's Google Analytics, we discovered that most members accessed the site via links in daily or weekly newsletters. We identified this as an ideal opportunity to showcase new videos.
Instead of immediately pitching a project, we proposed a small-scale test:
- We updated two upcoming newsletters to include linked images of recent videos.
- We used speakers' profile pictures in these links, as research shows people respond better to images of people.
- We compared click-through rates of these emails to historical averages.
Results:
- One newsletter saw a 30% improvement in click-through rates.
- The other achieved a 50% improvement.
Having established the effectiveness of this approach, we addressed implementation. The client relied on numerous contractors working on different schedules to create newsletters and videos. They needed a quick, consistent method to showcase videos to members.
Our proposed solution: A custom plugin that would:
- Integrate videos from the website into their Acy newsletter management software.
- Allow the client to select videos from their Brightcove pool of available videos and match them to scheduled newsletters in Acy.
- Videos would be added with the correct formatting for the newsletter, and an alert would go out to administrators if an email was scheduled to go out with no assigned videos.
The Result
Within 30 days of implementation:
- Video content views increased by 15%.
- Email forwards doubled, sometimes tripled, as members shared videos within their networks.
- Email read-through rates improved across the board.
Within 90 days:
- Newsletter click-through rates doubled.
- 450 videos were exposed to readers, projecting to 1,350 videos annually.
- The backlog of un-watched videos began to rapidly decrease.
The client reported this as one of their most successful projects of the year, effectively solving their problem of under utilized video content while increasing member engagement through their newsletter.
