FootageFirm.com,

VideoBlocks.com, and more

Customer profile

Leaders in royalty-free stock video footage

Founded

2001 (FootageFirm.com)

2011 (VideoBlocks.com)

Websites www.footagefirm.com www.videoblocks.com www.stockfootageforfree.com www.stockphotosforfree.com

Category

B2B and B2C

Customer Since

2011

“I am without a doubt one of the most skeptical Internet marketers around. I don’t believe marketing claims until I personally have the data to prove them. Based on my own rigorous testing and ongoing use of the McAfee SECURE service, I can wholeheartedly recommend it for increasing sales conversions and securing websites.”

—Joel Holland

Chief Executive Officer

VideoBlocks.com

McAfee SECURE Service Converts Highly

Skeptical E-Commerce CEO

In 2001, entrepreneur Joel Holland founded FootageFirm.com with the goal of making stock footage and other video editing elements affordable to all video editors and enthusiasts regardless of budget. Today FootageFirm is the leading provider of royalty-free high quality stock video footage from around the world, boasting over 60,000 satisfied customers including high profile customers like NBC as well as independent filmmakers and hobbyists. In January 2011, building on his success with FootageFirm.com, Holland launched VideoBlocks.com, the first subscription-based resource for downloading stock footage, motion backgrounds, production music, sound effects, and more. Current customers include thousands of churches, video editing schools, enthusiasts looking to improve their YouTube videos, and traditional video producers. VideoBlocks averages15,000 downloads each day. In addition to the FootageFirm and VideoBlocks revenue-generating sites, Holland has since created additional sites, such as www.stockfootageforfree.com, where 350,000 regular users download stock footage for free.

Challenge

When building the VideoBlocks website, Holland started with a clean slate. With what he calls a ‘test and run, test and optimize’ mindset, he set out to create an online destination at which visitors would feel comfortable shopping and downloading files. Believing that a website security icon would help reassure customers, Holland initially added a leading security icon on the site’s web pages. When a McAfee sales representative approached him and claimed that adding McAfee SECURE™ service could help increase VideoBlocks’ sales conversions in addition to verifying the websites security, Holland was initially skeptical.

Solution

In fact, Holland was so skeptical, he decided to conduct his own A/B/C comparative test. Using the Adobe Test and Target multivariate testing platform, he tested three scenarios on VideoBlocks.com’s web pages: no security icon at all, the current security vendor’s icon, and the McAfee SECURE trustmark. He made sure the two security icons were exactly the same size and occupied the same exact position (upper right corner) on identical web pages; the only difference was the icon. As expected, the sites displaying the security icons experienced significantly higher sales volume than the site with no security icon. To Holland’s surprise, however, the site displaying the McAfee SECURE trustmark produced approximately 4,000 more sales conversions than the site with the other icon.

“We ran the comparative test a full month and collected lots of data. The evidence was solid: the McAfee SECURE trustmark produced 10 percent more sales conversions than the other vendor’s icon and at least 12 percent more conversions than no security icon at all,” said Joel Holland, CEO, VideoBlocks.com.

“Everyone is a little uneasy about downloading files, so we boldly stamp the McAfee SECURE trust- mark on each page to convey that your downloads are safe. We put it on our guarantee page. It goes a long way toward making sure our customers feel safe.”

—Joel Holland

Chief Executive Officer

VideoBlocks.com

Implementation

Convinced that McAfee SECURE service increases sales conversions, Holland went ahead and installed the service on the VideoBlocks website.

“Installation of the McAfee SECURE service was a breeze; anybody could do it. The instructions are clear and the dashboard is very detailed and easy to use. It was easy to turn on the service and run with it,” said Holland.

Results and ROI

As other e-commerce retailers will attest, cart abandonment is the biggest threat to sales growth, and, as Holland puts it, reducing the amount of friction customers experience is the key to reducing cart abandonment. Reducing friction entails making sure one’s site runs well, is responsive, and is easy to navigate and use. All of that is important, but the biggest friction reducer of all, says Holland, is trust.

“I have tested lots of friction-reducing solutions and McAfee SECURE stands out above the rest. Adding the McAfee SECURE icon creates trust, which is what ultimately drives shoppers to follow through on their purchase,” said Holland.

Contrary to his expectations, Holland’s own testing had proven that the McAfee SECURE service claim to increase sales conversions was not marketing hype. Yet another surprise awaited him. The multivariate testing had shown the benefit of the presence of the McAfee brand to increase customers’ comfort level, but Holland didn’t expect additional benefit from the McAfee SECURE service. Consequently, he was extremely impressed when the service uncovered vulnerabilities he hadn’t known existed—incomplete test scripts, open ports, and server and database information that was readily accessible to outsiders.

“I had totally underestimated the benefit of the McAfee SECURE service to help us protect our servers. Daily scanning definitely gives us a lot more peace of mind…Now we know our customers are indeed safe, not just feeling safe,” said Holland.

The McAfee SECURE service provides comprehensive, daily scanning that searches for more than 45,000 vulnerabilities remotely, without any need for expensive or complicated hardware or software. In addition to this daily hacker testing, sites that earn the McAfee SECURE trustmark also undergo a series of tests to uncover unintentional links to malicious websites, the hidden presence of browser exploit code, and the accidental sharing of customer email data.

Also surpassing Holland’s expectations: dealing with McAfee the company. Holland notes that his McAfee representative regularly checked in on him long after the sale to make sure he was completely satisfied with the McAfee SECURE service. In addition, the one or two times he has had a question for McAfee Support, he has been able to call at odd hours and talk to a knowledgeable person, “not just someone reading a script.”

Moving Forward

Today McAfee SECURE service protects VideoBlocks.com as well as all of the sites under the FootageFirm umbrella. Recently launched www.stockphotosforfree.com, protected from the start by the McAfee SECURE service, had 72,000 downloads in its first month.

“The McAfee SECURE service has clearly proven itself, so it is now on our checklist for all future sites, along with SSL certification and our other privacy logos. The McAfee name makes customers feel safe, but the benefit goes beyond just a logo,” says Holland.