How to increase conversion rate with video

We are watching and making more videos than ever. But it's very common for videos to be skipped or go unclicked on websites (just watch some session recordings). Here are a few ways to use video to increase your conversion rate, and a few ways how to not

What kind of video helps increase CR:

• Product videos on detail pages - This is how Victoria Beckham sells her eyeliner or how a Dutch telco sells phones by using 3D animations. Try A/B-testing or experimenting with this to learn if this really increases your conversions. 

• Instructional and how-to videos can work like a charm, especially if they are also spread on YouTube or social media. They are not only great for SEO, but might turn watchers into customers. Advance auto parts has some great instructional videos that helped convert users to their store.
• Use more video on desktop than on mobile. On mobile device videos create a lot of extra load time and there is often not enough real-estate. That's probably why Nike shows product videos on desktop only.

What type of video doesn't improve CR:

• Big homepage header videos - there was a time this was cool, Airbnb was one of the first to use it, but it often doesn't lead to more conversions or distract too much. 
• Videos that load too early or autoplay can decrease your pagespeed (= SEO). Make sure to know the ‘downside’ of video. Videos can also only start loading when the user pressed the play button on when the visitor scrolled. Ask a developer to help you out.
• Cut the crap. Often videos are made by marketing departments and contain a lot of buzzwords. Translate and bring it as close as possible to the customer.
• Autoplaying videos (on hover) might be distractive in some cases and lead to a drop in your main KPI's. I've seen it happen, although everyone thought this change was a no-brainer. 
• Sometimes not having video increases conversion rate. Make sure to run an experiment (A/B-test) to figure this out.