User experience (UX) design is integral to everything we do and interact with daily. From the service quality at a restaurant to the user-friendliness of a website, user experiences (good or bad) can determine a product’s chance of success.
Why? Because if something isn’t pleasant to use, people stop using it.
Unfortunately, many companies treat UX design as an afterthought or a “nice to have,” but it’s actually key to conversion. If customer journeys are confusing or inconvenient, the prospect will bounce. Alternatively, investing time to improve UX can yield astounding results. According to Forrester Research, convenient and friction-free UX design can increase conversions by up to 40%.
In this blog post, we’ll share how to create the perfect balance between high-quality and efficient video user experiences and highlight four key aspects that impact UX video content.
You could spend hours talking about why your product is exceptional, but for ads to be the most effective, they must be concise.
An ad isn’t a video sales letter (VSL). It’s (often) a top-of-funnel asset meant to compel people to learn more about your product and join your sales funnel. Video length impacts UX: too long will bore people into clicking away, but too short may leave people with questions and feeling like they’re missing something.
A good baseline for ad length is 30 to 90 seconds. However, a major factor to consider is the platform you’re publishing the video on. Sprout Social created a continuously updated spreadsheet that shares the most optimal video length based on the social media platform — keep it handy for quick reference!
According to Forrester, video media has a 50 times higher chance than plain text of achieving organic Google page ranks. This stat illustrates how game-changing video marketing can be when executed effectively.
A video format is how a video’s file information gets stored on servers or devices. High-resolution videos are heavy files, and tools like Cloudinary’s adaptive bitrate streaming and customized video transformation features help optimize loading times and lower bandwidth strain.
The most important factor when choosing a format is the quality of the video. Video length also plays a role, but it’s mainly about how and where you’re publishing the video. For example, the most common is MP4 thanks to its universal compatibility, making it great for sharing online. However, they’re also notoriously tough to edit.
While it’s true that high-resolution elevates your brand and provides a better viewing experience, video quality should be treated as strategically as any other design decision. For example, ultra-high-resolution videos take much longer to load, especially on mobile devices.
As with all marketing, it’s about balancing form and function. The video needs to look, sound, and perform optimally. If your video or image takes too long to load, it won’t matter how great it looks because people won’t bother sticking around to see it.
Width and height (also referred to as the “Aspect Ratio”) describe the dimensions of the image or video and are measured by pixels. The aspect ratio (width/height) influences the quality of UX because it needs to adapt to the device it’s displayed on. After all, we all know how frustrating it is when a page or piece of content is too large to see properly on a mobile screen.
Width-by-height proportions are also dictated by the platform they’re posting on (noticing a theme here?) Here are some commonly used aspect ratios as an example:
- “Classic” Video Aspect Ratio: 4:3 (Universal) and 16:9 (High-Definition).
- “TikTok” Aspect Ratio: 9:16 (Vertical).
- “Instagram” Aspect Ratio: Between 1.91:1 and 4:5.
The Wyzol report showed that 15% of marketers aren’t using video because they don’t know where to start. Additionally, 75% of video markers are using AI to help create and edit video content. The best way to stay competitive in the ever-evolving digital world is to balance efficiency with quality.
Working with an effective image and video API platform can help your organization optimize user experiences on your visual content faster, easier — and even more eco-consciously.
Schedule a free demo to discover how Cloudinary helps you elevate your visual content with generative AI tools that automatically edit, format, and optimize media performance.
