According to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research, one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words, when it comes to online marketing. That means that if you’re online but you don’t host any video at all, you are most definitely missing a trick.

More than 100 people log on to watch online videos everyday, and 90% of online shoppers who browse major retailers websites find video helpful in making shopping and buying decisions. The reason that videos get this widespread use is that users really engage with them. According to ComScore, 45.4% of internet users go online to find video content at least once per month – that means they are looking to be engaged by a particular type of media. Put another way: 100 million internet users go online every day looking to watch a video.

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But do these viewing figures actually mean anything? You bet they do. A whopping 80% of internet users recall a video ad they’ve watched over the last 30 days. And, according to the Online Publishers Association, almost all of these viewers took some kind of action: 26% looked for more information, 22% visited the website named in the advert, 15% visited the company represented in the ad, and 12% purchased a specific product or service on the back of it. Those are conversion rates that many companies dream of.

Don’t get us wrong – there are things video can’t do. When you have to convey complicated information, or want to provide users with a handy guide to refer back to, for example, the written word is likely your best friend. But what these facts show very clearly is this: when video can do something, it can do it really well. Is it time you included a video in your marketing materials?