Guide · 2 min read

How to tell if your video is working

Views are the easiest number to find and the least useful. How to decide what success looks like for a film before it is made, and how to check afterwards.

After a film goes live, the first number anyone sees is views. It is easy to find and it is almost never the point. A film made to help close a funding round, recruit for a trial or train a sales team should be judged on whether it did that job. Here is how we measure that at Lumen, a film production studio in Toronto.

The trick is to decide what success looks like before the film is made.

Start from the job the film has to do

Every film has a job. Write it down in one sentence. "Help investors understand our platform before the first meeting." "Get referring physicians to understand the trial." "Give the sales team something to send after a call."

The job tells you what to measure.

Pick one main measure

Choose one number that shows the job is being done, and a couple that support it. For example:

For a sales film: how often it is sent, and how many of those conversations move forward
For a launch film: visits to the launch page and sign ups or enquiries that follow
For an explainer: how much of the film people watch, and the questions it saves your team from answering
For an internal film: whether people can explain the change afterwards

Watch how far people get

Most video platforms show how much of a film people watch. A sharp drop early on usually means the opening is not grabbing attention. A drop at one particular moment often points to a confusing section. This is one of the most useful signals you have.

Ask the people who use it

Some of the best evidence is not in a dashboard. Ask your sales team whether the film helps. Ask partners what they remembered. Ask new staff whether it made things clearer. Short, honest answers often tell you more than a chart.

Give it the right home

A film can only work where people see it. The same film may need to sit on your homepage, in your email signature, at the start of a pitch and on a conference screen. Short versions for social channels bring people back to the main film.

Review after a few months

Check the main measure after the film has had time to work. If it is doing the job, use it more widely. If it is not, look at where people stop watching and where it is shown before deciding it failed.