We hear this question a lot from people want to work video into their marketing mix: How long should my videos be?

The answer: it depends. (Sorry if that’s an annoying answer. Let us explain.)

We say, “it depends” because we want to give you the right guidance. It depends on context. (By the way, context also includes where the video will be seen if you’re producing videos for social media.)  To understand your video’s context, ask yourself questions like these: What are you trying to do with this video? Who is your audience and where are they at in the sales funnel?

Relationship context affects how much time your audience spends with your videos. Think about it, you wouldn’t expect a complete stranger to be interested in looking at your vacation highlight photos. But, your friends and family will be invested in looking at those vacation pics.  (Probably.)

At the beginning of the sales funnel, you have to consider your relationship with the viewer as a stranger. They need a chance to trust you, to get to know you a little bit, before they watch a long video. But as your viewers continue in the sales cycle, you’ll have earned their trust, and they will be more and more invested in learning about what you have to offer them and be willing to watch longer videos. So keeping this in mind, we’ll break down video viewing times into three categories: beginning, mid range, and end of sales funnel.

Videos that build awareness about your business and the problems you help solve for your clients should be short and sweet and to the point. There are a lot of opinions about the maximum length of these kind of videos but the consensus is this: NO LONGER THAN 2 MINUTES. The all-caps are intentional. (We are not yelling. We would never yell at you. We are talking loudly and with authority.)

People may bicker over whether they should be a minute or longer, but in general there is consensus about the 2 minute maximum. Why? Because if you are still in the building awareness stage with your viewers, you should consider them strangers or at best acquaintances.  These types of videos should be informative and if possible entertaining to keep the viewer’s interest. You need to give them something to keep them interested.

Once you are producing videos for viewers at the decision making part of the sales funnel, then you can up the ante a little bit. You can presume viewers at this stage are aware of the problem you solve and are even aware of your company. In this stage, you can increase the length. You might want viewers to engage in how-to videos, short recorded webinars, or expert insight. Again there is debate about this. But, generally speaking, you’ll want to keep these videos in the 6-10 minutes range.

Since context is key, so you’ll have to take into consideration who your viewers are and where they will view these kinds of videos. Either way, whether you go for the more conservative range or the more hopeful, these videos should be targeted towards people who understand the problem and/or are already looking towards your company to resolve it.

Content meant for viewers who’ve advanced in the sales cycle like case studies, detailed product tours, step by step video tutorials, and customized sales presentations, can live in the longer 6-10 minute range and even pushing into 12 minutes, but there is consensus that anything longer than 12 minutes begins to lose your audience. Ways around this is to engage the viewer at the level in which they are ready to engage. Want to share that detailed step-by-step how-to that goes over 12 minutes? Why not offer a one minute trailer with an interest form at the end? That way only viewers who really want the longer-form content will see it. Then try dividing the info into chunks. Work with your video marketing team to divide the information in a way that makes sense for the content while still keeping viewers engaged.  At this point, we say give them what they want.

So, there you have it. How long should this video be depends on the context. What are you trying to do and where is this audience in relation to your sales cycle? Videos for viewers at the beginning of the sales cycle should come in under 2 minutes. Middle-funnel viewers can go beyond that – up to 6 to 10 minutes. And finally, videos for end of funnel viewers can go up to but usually not beyond, 12 minutes – even if that means breaking videos up into segments. We hope this information is helpful in your video plans!