Once you’ve launched your ecommerce business and you’ve started seeing sales, you might be wondering how you can optimize your product listings. One option is to add product videos. Showcasing your product in a video can highlight its best attributes in an entertaining way and encourage customers to buy.
Not sure where to start? Read on to learn more about product videos, including:
- What a product video is
- Why you should make one
- Examples of good product videos
- Equipment you’ll need
- How to make a video, including tips and guidance for adding videos in the Amazon store
What is a product video?
A product video is exactly what it sounds like: a video that showcases your product. There are different ways to approach a product video, like introducing your product, showing how it works, sharing its story, and illustrating how it might fit into people’s lives. Some product videos contain all this and more. When done well, product videos can be a powerful marketing tool and help build your brand.
Why should I make a product video?
Video is a great way to make a connection with your intended audience. The more guesswork you can take out of buying your product, the better chance you have of a customer clicking Add to Cart.
While product photos are valuable for showing the basics, and written descriptions can offer helpful general information, video takes your product to the next level by showing it in action. This is especially important if your product is complicated or has several features you want to highlight.
Videos can also help bring your product listings to life and boost sales. By incorporating elements of who you are as a business, you can help customers connect with your brand.
What are the different types of product videos?
Product videos tend to fall into six categories:
- Product overview: This is a basic introduction video, where you share an overview of your product, demonstrate how it works, and highlight interesting features.
- Unboxing: Often best for new or anticipated launches, unboxing videos are where you take your product out of its shipping box to show customers how it’s packed, and its size and scale once it’s out of the box.
- How-to: This approach shows the step-by-step process of how to use your product.
- Set up: Does your product need to be assembled? This is the video where you’d show people how to put your product together.
- Troubleshooting: These videos can help your customer fix common issues that prevent their product from working properly.
- Brand story: This approach is a great way to introduce your brand, company history, and share your entire line of products.
5 examples of good product videos
If you’re wondering how to make a product video, it can help to see successful videos in action. Here are some good examples:
1. Solo Stove
At just over 30 seconds long, this visually engaging product video makes great use of its runtime by establishing brand identity, showing the product in action, sharing what makes it different, and demonstrating how it fits a customer’s lifestyle.
2. Anker Prime Charger A2343
Anker takes a unique approach to showing their product’s multiple uses and where it can come in handy. They also make great use of text call-outs to highlight benefits.
Watch: Anker Prime Charger video
3. Hot Taco Games
When you want to create excitement for your product, take cues from this Hot Taco Games video. They do a great job of showing how much fun people can have with their product using narrative storytelling and text call-outs.
4. COSRX
Here’s a good example of showcasing the brand’s full offering. It shares the product line, product consistency, details what each one is good for, and establishes ease of use all in under 30 seconds.
5. Chom Chom Roller Pet Hair Remover
This video is excellent at showing how easy it is to use the Chom Chom Roller—and how easy it is to clean. Text call-outs highlight the product’s most important features, while the closing shot shares the color options customers can choose from.
Equipment you’ll need to make product videos
How much equipment you’ll need for your video production will depend on how in-depth you want to get, but here are some equipment options to consider:
- Camera: You don’t have to invest in a top-of-the-line camera. Today’s smartphones have excellent cameras capable of taking 4K resolution videos.
- Tripod: Using a tripod with your camera reduces shaking and makes for a steadier, clearer visual.
- Lighting equipment: The right lighting equipment can make your product easier to see, especially if you’re shooting indoors. You don’t need a full suite of light boxes—a good ring light can go a long way.
- Microphone: Clear audio is important if you plan to explain your product or tell its story, whether you’re in front of the camera or doing a voiceover.
- Editing software: If you don’t want to hire an editor, invest in good editing software to help your video look professional.
7 steps to create and launch a product video
1. Make a creative plan
Decide what kind of product video you want to make, then make a roadmap for how you want the end result to look. You can write an in-depth script for every shot, use a more visual outline like a storyboard to illustrate shots, or—if you’re really comfortable in front of the camera—just use a general guideline that helps you stay focused, but also leaves room for improvisation. If you plan to show your product in different environments and situations, you should at least have a shot list that details the scenes you want to include.
Make sure you’re clear on your audience. What are their needs, and how can your product meet them? Having a creative plan can help you stay focused and keep your video from veering off track.
2. Choose your locations
If you’re new to cinematography, a simple white background is always a safe way to help showcase for your product. But if you plan to do a product demonstration, make sure you pick an environment that fits how the product will be used.
For example, let’s say you sell running shoes. You could find an unpopulated trail to show someone jogging in the wilderness, or a quiet street in your neighborhood for an urban shot. Depending on your creative plan, you may want to do a mix of both—showcasing your product against a simple white background and in action to help customers see how they can use it in their daily life. Regardless, make sure the environment isn’t so busy that it pulls focus from your product.
3. Put your product in the best light
Whether you’re in a studio or in the great outdoors, make sure customers will be able to see your product in the video. You’ll have more control over the lighting in a studio, but if you’re shooting outside, make sure you shoot on a day with ample natural light and avoid shade.
4. Call “Action!”
Now it’s time to shoot your video. Show off your product’s features and benefits, tell its story, and make a case for how it meets your customer’s needs. Capture your product at different angles so customers can get a complete view of it. It’s also a good idea to have an extra take of your important shots, just in case you need it when editing.
5. Edit your video
Download your footage and use video editing software to help you put it into a cohesive story. Remove any mistakes, and if something you shot doesn’t work for your overall vision, delete it. You can also add text overlays to share additional information, or music to create a mood. Just make sure you have the rights to the music you use, or find fair use music to avoid any copyright claims that could result in your video being taken down.
6. Optimize your video
Before you upload, ensure your video is properly formatted and compressed. Overly large video files can cause viewing issues like buffering or blurring. You also want to make sure it works on different devices, like phone screens, tablets, and computers.
7. Upload and launch your video
Whether you’re adding video to a product page or launching it on your own website, now’s the time to upload your video and introduce it to the world. Once you’ve confirmed it’s uploaded and playing properly, share the launch on social media, through an email list, or other marketing channels.
Tips for creating product videos
As you’re planning and shooting your product video, consider these tips—and things you may want to avoid:
- Keep it short and sweet. Don’t make your video so long that you risk losing people’s attention, but do make it long enough so people understand what you’re selling. There are exceptions to the rule, especially if your product requires a lot of explanation. But generally, a product video should be 30 to 90 seconds long, with some more detailed videos running up to two minutes.
- Make sure it’s clear. It’s tempting to get artistic and abstract, but will that accurately represent your product? Keep it simple, easy to understand, and let your product’s effectiveness speak for itself.
- Don’t be afraid to have a little fun. While you want to keep your product as the focus, nothing says your video shouldn’t have personality. Tell your product’s story in an engaging and entertaining way that matches the mood of your brand. If you enjoy telling your product’s story, customers will likely enjoy watching it.
- Skip the fear-based sell. Today’s consumers are on to old-school marketing tactics based on scaring people into buying things. Pushing the risks associated with not purchasing your product disempowers customers. Sell them on the benefits of your product instead.
- Add user-generated content. Did your product go viral on social media? Do customers sing its praises online? Splicing in user-generated content is a great way to add social proof and show the impact it has on people’s lives. Plus, it can add some visual value to your video—especially if you’re light on footage. Just make sure you get permission to use the content and credit the creator accordingly.
- Avoid stock footage. Stock footage can look too generic and likely won’t match your brand. Customers can pick up on this and may find it uninspiring—especially if the stock footage has been used in other product videos.
- Share social initiatives. If your brand strategy includes social initiatives like donating a percentage of sales to charity, working with local artisans, or using eco-friendly materials, customers will want to know about it.
- Make sure your customer knows the next step. Whether it’s signing up for a waitlist to be notified of a launch, adding it to their cart, or sharing their information to get a special discount code, customers should have a clear understanding of what they should do after watching your video, also commonly referred to as the “call to action.”
- Don’t forget who’s watching your product video. You don’t want to lose sight of your audience, who they are, and what they’re looking for to meet their needs. Talk to them like you would any other person you’d want to interact with.
Adding product videos in the Amazon store
If you sell products in the Amazon store, adding product videos is a great way to enhance your product detail pages and brand identity. You can add product videos in two ways.
- Add videos to the main image block: Sellers associated with an enrolled brand or sellers who have been active three months or more can upload videos to the main image block on a product detail page. They may also appear in the videos section below the page fold and in search results. Your video will only appear in the image block if you have less than six images. Follow these steps to upload a video
- Create Premium A+ Content: Use Premium A+ Content to add video to a product description. This tool also lets you enhance your listings with larger images, interactive hotspots that help customers zero in on product features, clickable images or video carousels, and more.
New to A+ Content? This tool helps you showcase your products and share your brand’s story by adding videos, enhanced images, customized text placements, shoppable product-comparison charts, and more to your product detail pages. Doing so can help drive brand awareness, encourage repeat purchases, and increase sales.
To use A+ Content, you need a Professional selling account. You also need to be a Brand Representative for an enrolled brand (login required) or have generic products in your catalog.
