Israeli startup company, EyeView, has raised anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million in seed funding to build technology it says will increase website conversion rates.

The big idea? Displaying short Flash tutorials - screencasts, video guides, or any rich media presentation - with a call to action at the end.

Presumably EyeView aims to make it easy for marketers to put together such tutorials, but if that’s the big idea… I don’t get it.

Technology is nice. Flash videos are nice. But a nice Flash video is NOT a guarantee of higher conversions! What will increase conversions is NOT having a Flash tutorial per se. Rather, it’s offering visitors something of value in return for which they are willing to take a specific action.

Will someone tell me what I am missing here? According to TechCrunch, EyeView says it’s able to improve conversion rates for internal website marketing campaigns by as much as 20 percent. Customers already trying out EyeView’s technology include Yahoo, eBay, HP, and Nokia.

Again, I ask: is it the technology… or is it the value inherent in the Flash presentation… that is the cause of the higher conversion rates? Given that it’s already possible to put together Flash and other rich media presentations, I have to wonder if the real benefit of EyeView’s solution is that it makes it EASIER to create Flash tutorials, rather than its ability to increase conversion rates.

Source: Erick Schonfeld, “EyeView Raises Seed Round For Flash Tutorials That Convert”, TechCrunch, November 17, 2008

Andrew Warner recently commented on my article, 3 Tips For Viral Marketing Success. It turns out that Andrew recently interviewed viral marketing ‘guru’, Hiten Shah, partner at ACS SEO and a guy who has helped grow online traffic for major tech players such as TechCrunch, Guy Kawasaki, HP and Samsung.

During the interview, Shah revealed a number of powerful techniques he recommends for optimizing viral marketing campaigns. Here are six (6) such techniques - techniques you may wish to consider using in one or more of YOUR viral marketing initiatives:

1. Use a ‘beat me’ or competitive approach. Websites that allow users to challenge each other are inherently viral. For example, eduFire.com went viral by allowing its users to play language games and then challenge friends to score higher.
2. Require people to refer others to the viral application or content in order to benefit. Put it this way, no-one can use Skype… unless others also use Skype. And the same goes for numerous other applications and services, ranging from email to PayPal.
3. Let people show off - let people create or contribute content, and share what they’ve created. Doing so is a major reason behind the viral success of GE’s online whiteboard.
4. Encourage people to share - make it super-easy for users to share and embed your content. Who does this exceptionally well? YouTube!
5. Give people something to boast about - give people something to brag or boast about… and they will! For example, when Feedburner created a badge allowing bloggers to show how many readers they had, bloggers everywhere began displaying Feedburner badges – leading to Feedburner’s growth.
6. Measure your progress - measure your viral growth to see what is working… and what isn’t… and make changes accordingly.

To learn more powerful viral marketing techniques, click here to listen to the full interview between Andrew and Hiten Shah.

Source: Andrew Warner, “7 Essential Tools of Viral Marketing - The Hiten Shah Interview”, Mixergy.com, September 5, 2008