- Just: Content Team
- June 5, 2022
- Estimated Reading Time - under 3 minutes
Nowadays, almost everyone creates videos. Everyone has a smartphone with a camera and video recorder in their pocket. But with so many minutes of video content being uploaded every minute of every day, it’s harder than ever to stand out and engage people. Captions are an easy and effective way of boosting traffic and widening your outreach by enhancing the user experience. Here’s why.
How do video captions improve engagement?
Videos themselves stand out on a web page, namely because they produce sound and moving pictures. But a surprisingly large number of people watch videos muted, even in private places. A study in the US found that in public places 69% of viewers watch videos with the sound off, along with 25% in private. Moreover, 80% of respondents said they “were more likely to watch an entire video” if captions were available.
Captions also extend video watch times. This is for three key reasons. Firstly they enable users to watch your content anywhere, including in places where having the sound up is not possible (either because it’s too noisy or to not disturb others). Secondly captions focus users’ attention, which is of course known to drift. If you see words on a video you are much more likely to stop and look rather than scroll on. Lastly but not least, it makes your content more accessible to other user groups, such as those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
But video captions don’t just keep viewers hooked, they get them there in the first place. By adding subtitles to your videos you can boost your SEO and get your website up the Google or Youtube pecking order. Captions also help your videos rank for keywords that are not in its title or description.
If you are interested in captioning your next video, this is where JUST: Access comes in, with 100% accuracy and fast turnaround guaranteed.
