Recently my email sent me to a kind of video I’d never seen before.
After the usual optin, I clicked on the arrow in the middle of the screen, but instead of the video just starting, some software took over my browser for a few seconds the way some web popups now do. This means the window was grayed out except for the video’s frame, which then began playing.
While it started, I wanted to take a further look at the unusual offer displayed on the site (and now hard to read), so I naturally clicked on the window.
The video totally disappeared. It didn’t just stop playing. It was gone.
I had to click on the arrow to start it from scratch again.
And I’m so used to clicking on other things, I wound up repeating that three or four times, before I finally got the message — STOP CLICKING AND WATCH THE VIDEO.
Only trouble is, I’m just as stubborn and distracted as other people online. I didn’t like being dictated to in that way.
It was worse than the proliferation of videos that don’t allow you to pause them or even to see how long they are.
Jason Moffatt wrote about them not too long ago. He agreed they’re annoying, but admits he uses them too, because they work.
But at least they don’t take over your entire window.
I have to admit I do admire the cleverness of the offer.
The video is promoting some site creation software that’s going to make you a bazillion dollars (of course). The creator is going to put on a webinar about how to get a Top 10 ranking on Google in a week.
Instead of asking for the usual opt in, he wants an essay on why you should become his partner (join his membership site) — which will increase you involvement and feeling of identification with and desire for his software, straight out of Robert Cialdini — or a $50 donation to the Red Cross.
That’s a great way to weed out freebie seekers without seeming to be too greedy upfront.
Tags: video marketing