Video as a communication format reigns supreme, making up for more than 80% of the entire internet’s traffic.
The point is: the average person would rather watch a video than read text. This applies to the work setting as well, whether it’s a quick project update, a sales proposal, or training material.
That said, the key to winning with videos isn’t simply making more videos. Like any other format, it needs to effectively communicate the core message and achieve its intended goal, all the while keeping your viewer engaged.
To drive impact with every video you create, you need to take a step back, and ask yourself why people think, behave, and react in the ways they do.
In other words, ask yourself what can you learn from behavioral science to create better, more impactful videos? This deep dive into common workplace-related challenges, and how they tie to behavioral science concepts, will help you leverage video to influence human behavior.
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[#TOC1]The Workplace Challenge: Paying Attention to Information[#TOC1]
Selective attention is the tendency for people to focus on things that interest them for a period of time while ignoring other stimuli.
This concept helps explain why some information grabs our attention while other details go unnoticed.
Magicians actually use this same principle to perform their tricks.
Here is an old clip that demonstrates the power of selective attention:
Perhaps if you watched the video on mute or skipped the instructions at the beginning, you may have probably noticed the gorilla.
This shows just how effective it is to direct your viewer’s attention to the relevant information.
You could have the most important part of your video front and center, like the gorilla waving at the camera, and people might still miss it if they’re not paying attention.
How to Apply Selective Attention to Your Videos
The best way to use selective attention to your advantage is by incorporating visual cues into your work videos.
This aids attention and retention, making it easier for your audience to focus on and remember key information.
- Highlight the most important information using visual elements. Add arrows, circles, or highlights around key points in your video to draw viewers' attention. For instance, if you're explaining a new safety protocol, use an arrow to point out the emergency exit locations on a floor plan.
- Help viewers learn with visual aids. Research shows that visual cues can significantly enhance learning and retention. For example, in a training video on new software, highlight critical steps or commands with bright colors or bolded text to make them stand out.
- Keep the audience engaged by visually representing data. When presenting data, use charts and graphs with highlighted sections to emphasize key takeaways and aid information retention.
[#TOC2]The Workplace Challenge: Changing People's Behaviors[#TOC2]
As humans, we’re wired to be stubborn. It’s easier for us to learn something than it is to unlearn something.
Therefore, driving behavioral change, especially in an organization, is challenging.
Luckily, the COM-B model offers some help here. According to this model, human behavior can be changed through a combination of three key factors:
- Capability (C): providing necessary skills and knowledge
- Opportunity (O): creating external factors that enable the behavior
- Motivation (M): encouraging the behavior
For example, to get employees to use new software, they need training (capability), access to the software (opportunity), and encouragement or incentives to use it (motivation).
How to Apply the COM-B model to Videos
To make your videos effective, put yourself in the viewer's shoes. They need to know what you want them to do, how to do it, and why it matters. Here’s how:
- Capability: empower viewers with the necessary skills and knowledge.
- Pro Tip: include clear, step-by-step instructions and demonstrations. For example, if your video is introducing a new project management software, provide a detailed tutorial and link to additional training resources.
- Opportunity: provide the external resources and environment to take action.
- Pro Tip: highlight any tools or resources they need and explain how to access them. For example, if your video is about implementing a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, explain how to access support and provide tutorials on things like how to integrate it with existing systems.
- Motivation: make your reasoning clear and compelling to inspire action.
- Pro Tip: use data, case studies, or testimonials to show the benefits and importance of the behavior. For example, if your video aims to train the sales team to adopt a new sales strategy, share success stories from other companies and highlight potential revenue growth and efficiency improvements.
By addressing capability, opportunity, and motivation, you create videos that inform, enable, and inspire your audience to take action.
[#TOC3]The Workplace Challenge: Decision-Making[#TOC3]
People feel more comfortable in familiar surroundings and situations.
This can be explained by a concept known as Ambiguity Aversion — a tendency for humans to prefer the known over the unknown.
Ambiguity aversion is common in all areas of life, including workplace decision-making. For example, a company might stick with a longstanding vendor rather than exploring a new supplier who offers better terms but is less well-known.
How to Address ‘Ambiguity Aversion’ in Videos
Remember: the only cure to ambiguity is clarity.
To this end, regardless of the intended goal of your video, make sure it’s clear, specific, and detailed.
For example, when pitching a new product to a prospect, discuss the benefits and value your product offers in a clear and concise manner. If your prospect currently uses a competitor product, highlight how yours matches the features they are accustomed to and offers additional benefits like robust customer support or enhanced functionality.
In addition, address potential risks the prospect may have on their mind to make them comfortable with the idea of using your product.
This sales prospecting video from Daniel Shadburne, our resident enterprise account executive, ticks all of the above boxes:
Clear instructions and detailed explanations help viewers feel more comfortable and confident with the information presented.
This reduces ambiguity and gives your audience a clear path forward, encouraging them to embrace new ideas and actions.
This isn't only limited to sales pitches. You can implement these learnings on any workplace video when you want the viewer to make a certain decision.
[#TOC4]The Workplace Challenge: Sharing Important Information[#TOC4]
This behavioral science concept of fast and slow thinking helps us understand the way people process information and make decisions.
Humans generally rely on fast thinking for everyday tasks, which is instinctive and automatic, rather than slow thinking, which is rational and considered, and used for complex decisions.
Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner psychologist and economist who came up with the concept, explains:
How to Use Fast and Slow Thinking for Videos
Depending on the content and purpose of your video, determine whether you need fast or slow thinking elements, or a combination of both.
From there, design the flow of your video accordingly.
For instance, routine updates or daily briefings tend to be quick and familiar, lending themselves well to fast thinking. For these types of videos, keep the following tips in mind:
- Keep the video brief and to the point.
- Use clear visuals, bullet points, and concise summaries to convey the information quickly. For example, in a weekly project update video, use graphs to show progress, highlight key achievements, and summarize next steps in a straightforward manner.
On the other hand, when employees need to learn new information, develop new skills, or digest a big update or pivot, slow thinking helps them digest the information.
For example, in a training video about a new compliance procedure, start with the importance of the procedure, then methodically explain each step, providing real-life examples and allowing time for viewers to take notes.
Keep these tips as you create such videos:
- Structure the video to be slow-paced, allowing viewers time to comprehend.
- Include pauses for reflection, detailed explanations, and step-by-step guides. Consider chopping huge content pieces into smaller, more digestible clips (for instance: splitting a comprehensive training video into lessons).
- Use explainer videos to present key information in a structured and logical manner
A word of caution: slow-paced does not necessarily mean boring or unengaging. Your video needs to be engaging enough to not just get your viewer’s attention, but also keep it.
Check out our guide on how to get and keep people’s attention to learn more.
[#TOC5]The Workplace Challenge: Remembering the Most Important Details[#TOC5]
Communicating key information is only half the effort. The other half is ensuring the recipient (in this context, your viewer) actually retains all that information.
The serial position effect offers some insight into how we can win this other half of the battle.
This effect is the tendency for people to remember items that appear at the beginning or end of a list more easily than those in the middle.
How to Use the Serial Position Effect in Videos
Structure your videos in a way that the most important information is remembered by your audience. Here’s how to leverage the serial position effect in your videos:
- Place the most critical information at the start and finish of your video. For example, if you are outlining new safety protocols, start with the top three safety rules, emphasizing their importance and relevance. Conclude the video with a recap of these rules and a reminder of why they are crucial for workplace safety.
- Provide a concise summary of key points at the end of the video. For example, after detailing a new project management process, finish with a quick summary that highlights the essential steps and benefits, so it stays fresh in the viewer's mind.
- Repeat key messages throughout the video to enhance retention. In a training video, repeat the critical steps of a procedure at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end to ensure they are remembered.
- Use visual and audio cues to emphasize important points. For example, use bold text, color changes, or sound effects to highlight the main points of your presentation, making them stand out and easier to recall.
This video from VEED ticks all of the above boxes.
Ultimately, a deeper understanding of behavioral science will help you create videos that get the point across and inspire action.
Use these insights to drive better results with your business videos, making them informative and impactful.
