We know videos 'should' be 1-2 mins, but our homepage video has many key msgs. At 2.50 mins we're happy with it. Is this ever acceptable?

A 2 minute explainer video is like being chained to a wheel of injustice.

Seriously :) when did you manage to get through a 2 minute video without leaving or skipping?

1min to 1.5mins TOPS. Break the other deeper aspects into short form video explanations or separate the feature set out as a separate video.

Homepage video:

1. Help the viewer identify with the problem
2. Ask leading questions (creates a curious mindset
3. Tell them about the solution quickly and the differentiator (now Bob can travel fro x>y 1.5 times faster and cheaper than any competitor whilst Joe, Shmo and Clet get to be drivers without a $1m medallion).
4. Summarize
5. CTA

The rest you can explain in deeper pages with feature-set explainer videos(even shorter! Bite size chunks that make you want to watch more... Like eating some small tasty M&Ms)

So let's step back.

There are two sides and only two sides to the online sales equation:

Traffic

and

Conversion.

Your videos are conversion methods.

Let's ignore them for a moment.

What kind of traffic are you sending to your home page?

What are the sources?

How pre-qualified are they?

If you're sending junk, it doesn't matter how short your videos are.

If you're sending high quality leads, then they will stick with the video regardless of its length. When you badly want to know about something, you want AS MUCH INFO AS YOU CAN GET.

So before we get around to your conversion tools, let's find out more about your traffic. How are people reaching your site?

Are you paying for leads?

Are they coming organically?

Are there feeder paths like Youtube videos linking to the home page?

If your traffic side is bad, it's going to be tough no matter how good your conversion side works. At the beginning, the biggest bang for your buck will be improving the traffic side.

Minutes were not created equal.

Coming from the screenwriting business, you know that 1 minute can shoot past like lightning ... while another minute eats up half a lifetime.

A good 2.5-minute explainer will FEEL shorter than a mediocre 60-second presentation.

Maybe you can cut the length. Maybe you can tinker with the tone to fool people into thinking you did.

If you want tips on whittling down or rephrasing what you've got, I can help. Video isn't what I do, but words are.

Send a message with a link to the video. I'll take a look at it and let you know if I can help out,

all the best,

Lee

If anything the best advice I got from late Steve Jobs was to break messages into 3 parts. - have on goal and break your validations into 3 parts not one continuous long message.

Also, think about the fact that if you cannot over simplify the explanation of your product you are risking being viewed as lacking expertise. Really work on simplifying the value, which also comes from product market fit - if you can't simplify a lack of market fit might be the cause.

I can see a lot of enthusiasm in your questions: this is great:)
Now I love what Alan Jones said about testing what you got, but also agree with Eran Eyal i.e. 1min30 max videos.

Now here is my opinion. If it takes you so much to explain your offer, I have the feeling that you haven't done yet one of the following:
1. define clear target groups who have frustrations/fears/needs your product can solve
2. define 1 clear benefit per target group
3. define your unique selling proposition: what do you offer than others don't? This will be the reason people will believe you can really deliver the benefits in point 2.

All 3 points will help you set a clear priority among the multitude of elements in your offer and force you to focus. A good exercise all company should do, in my opinion.
I've helped many companies going through the above thinking and I can coach you through it too.

Looking forward talking to you,
Serena

I disagree with 80% of this advice.

Follow these points:
- Test smaller cutdowns of the video at 1-min and 30-secs.
- See how this compares to the completion rates of your 3-minute video. You might like the video, but it matters more that your customers like the video and actually watch the content. Nearly every video hosting service worth their salt includes analytics in their base packages. If the drop off rate over 1minute is 40%, you are doing pretty good. If it's 20%, that is a pretty damn good video you have.
- With 3-minutes of content, you could likely make 4-5 smaller videos using existing collateral. Editing doesn't take much resources, and it sounds like you've done the hard work already.

If you'd like an example, see our case study for Acast:
https://vidico.com/case-studies/acast/