Does a video on a website really increase sales by 80%, as many articles claim?

There is no verifiable source that proves it. That figure has circulated for years in articles written by video production companies, almost always attributed vaguely to some foreign study, never linked to it. Searching for that source today, it cannot be found anywhere: it is a number that has detached from its origin and keeps getting repeated unchanged. When in doubt, treat it as invented, not as a fact to base a decision on.

Does video slow down a website?

Usually yes, because a video file is almost always heavier than an optimized photograph, and a slower website loses visitors before anyone even gets to watch that video: I cover the real data on this with large-company tests in website speed, how much it really matters. The video itself is not the problem, it becomes one if it is embedded without checking how much heavier it makes the page.

Does the person writing this article sell video production?

No. I build custom websites, and a video, when it makes sense for the project, is a piece that fits into the site, not a separate service with its own price list. I mention this because I am not a neutral observer on the subject of websites in general, even though on this specific article I have nothing extra to sell.

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Website with video: does it really help you sell

Q: Is there more serious data on how video affects sales?

The most recent comes from Wyzowl, a company that sells video production itself and therefore has a direct interest in showing positive results: in its 2026 survey, based on 266 people collected in late 2025 among marketers and consumers, 82% of marketers report a positive return from video, down from 93% the year before, and 83% say video has directly increased their sales. These are self-reported percentages from people who sell video or use it to sell, not an independent measure of real sales, and the page does not say how many of the 266 respondents were actually marketers.

Q: How much does a short video cost for a small business website?

In Italy, based on real quote requests collected by the marketplace ProntoPro in 2026, the average range for a video production is between 100 and 1,000 euros. Two concrete, different examples published on the same platform show the variation: a 30-second promotional video quoted in Verona in August 2026 closed at 400 euros, while a package of 8 videos a month for a medical aesthetics clinic in Rome, in July 2026, closed at 650 euros. These are real requests, not desk estimates, even though the platform has an interest in showing accessible prices to attract more requests.

Q: Can a video actually reduce sales?

It happened in one documented case. The agency Invesp reports that a client of theirs, GoSection8, a US rental platform, had a video at the top of its sign-up page: removing it and replacing it with a list of benefits and a clearer call to action, paid sign-ups rose by 88.46%. It is a single case, reported by the agency that carried it out for its own client, without stating the test's duration or how many people saw it: it does not prove video always hurts sales, it proves a badly placed video can cost more than it earns elsewhere.

4 October 2026

A person filming another person on a smartphone as they show off a pair of sneakers in a shop, with a wall of displayed shoes in the background

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People who search "website with video" have usually already read somewhere that adding a video to a page increases sales, often with a precise percentage attached to the advice. Checked against the source, that percentage does not hold up. It is worth seeing what the data that actually exists says, cracks included.

The number that can no longer be found anywhere

For years, several websites selling video production have repeated the same figure: a video on a page would increase conversions by 80%, sometimes attributed to an American study, almost always without a link to the source. Searching for that source today, it cannot be found: no reachable research confirms this exact number, and the way it circulates, identical from one site to another, is the typical symptom of a figure that has detached from its origin and now travels on its own. When in doubt, a number like this should be treated as nonexistent, not as a fact to base a decision on.

What the people who sell video actually say

A more recent figure, and one more honest about declaring its own source, comes from Wyzowl, which publishes an annual survey on video marketing: the 2026 edition, based on 266 people collected in late 2025 among marketers and consumers, reports that 82% of marketers say they get a positive return from video, down from 93% the year before, and that 83% say video has directly increased their own sales. Two caveats apply. First, Wyzowl itself sells video production, so it has a direct interest in showing video as effective. Second, these are self-reported percentages from people who use video to sell, not an independent measure of real sales, and the page does not say how many of the 266 respondents were actually marketers, so the real margin of error stays unknown.

How much it costs, with two real examples

On the cost side, the data is more solid because it comes from actual requests, not surveys. ProntoPro, an Italian quote marketplace, publishes for 2026 an average range of 100 to 1,000 euros for a video production, built on real requests that passed through the platform. Two concrete, different examples give a sense of the variation: a 30-second promotional video quoted in Verona in August 2026 closed at 400 euros, while a package of 8 videos a month for a medical aesthetics clinic in Rome, in July 2026, closed at 650 euros. These remain figures from a platform with an interest in showing accessible prices to attract more requests, but they are real quotes, not desk estimates.

When video sells less

The opposite case also exists, and it is documented. The optimization agency Invesp reports that a client of theirs, GoSection8, a US rental platform, had a video at the top of its sign-up page. Removing it and replacing it with a list of benefits and a more direct call to action, paid sign-ups rose by 88.46%. It is a single case, reported by the very agency that carried it out for its own client, without stating the test's duration or how many people saw it: not enough to say video always hurts sales, but enough to say a video placed in the wrong spot can cost more than it earns elsewhere.

The risk that gets less attention: page weight

There is a more technical problem that gets talked about less, and it is easier to check on your own: a video file is almost always heavier than an optimized photograph, and a website that loads slowly loses visitors before anyone even reaches the point of watching that video. I wrote up the real data behind this, including tests run by large companies on traffic split in half, in website speed: how much it really matters. The video itself is not the problem: it becomes one if it is embedded without checking how much heavier it makes the page once it is added.

Where to start

There is no single, reliable number that says how much a video will increase sales on your website: anyone promising a precise percentage is selling a certainty the available data does not have. What can be said with real data in hand is more modest but more useful: a short video costs, in Italy, a few hundred euros; where you place it matters more than it seems, to the point that removing it can sell more in certain cases; and it should always be checked that it does not weigh down the page enough to lose visitors before the video even starts. If you want to know whether, in your specific case, a video makes sense or just risks weighing down the site, get in touch and we can look at it together.