When it comes to shopping online, your customers need to have as in-depth an understanding of your product as possible before they purchase.
You can invest in high-quality images and write a long narrative about your product’s advantages, but nothing tells the story quite like an engaging video. Every year, Wyzowl surveys both marketing professionals and online customers to gather data about video marketing efficiency. In 2019 it revealed surprising data and noted that 96 percent of people are watching an explainer video to learn more about the product or service before they actually purchase it.
Likewise, Wyzowl finds that 68 percent of customers prefer to watch videos to learn about new products and services compared to text- or image-based information.
Let’s dig deeper to find out how and why you should include video marketing in your ecommerce business plan.
Why is video marketing essential to your ecommerce business? Numbers don’t lie:
• Product videos on-site increase purchases by 144 percent (Neil Patel, 2017);
• Some 73 percent of consumers stated they have been influenced by a brand’s videos when making a purchase decision (Tubular Insights, 2014);
• Videos engage and keep users on site by 88 percent longer (Forbes, 2018);
• Video marketing is equal to profit. Some 84 percent of marketers agreed that video has helped them increase traffic to their own websites (Wyzowl, 2019).
It’s clear that the volume and demand of video content is increasing. YouTube is the second biggest search engine with more than 1.5 billion users per month and 1 billion hours watched per day.
When you’re convinced that video is a must in your marketing strategy, you might be asking what kind of video works best in the ecommerce space.
Create – Test – Analyze. This is the most effective trio that can help you identify answers to your questions. One video type can be great for one product but absolutely useless for another. Here are some video types that are proven to work for ecommerce:
Explainer videos – Tell your customers how to use your product by walking them through the whole process and answer all common questions. This type of video not only educates your audience but also builds trust. Before making the explainer video, come up with a bunch of questions your potential clients usually have and shoot a video that offers answers.
Feature explainer video – Describe the functionality and explain to the new and existing customers how the product works, its most common uses and value.
Testimonials – Share happy customers’ reviews. When prospects see inspirational stories of other customers who’ve gotten great results, this encourages them to want a similar experience.
Storytelling videos – The best commercial ads are those that are telling your story. Here, you keep your viewer engaged by showing the entire journey of using your product, from the implementation stage to the final result. Here you have an opportunity to evoke emotion.
Meet the team video – If you want to share with your customers your business values, mission and vision, introduce your team who speak for the business. After all, customers appreciate when they see the people behind the product they’re purchasing.
Behind the scenes – Show the “How it’s made” process. This offers a sense of inclusivity and shows how your business develops the product and thinks about the needs of their customers.
Round-ups – Show how your product compares with your competitors in a content round-up format. Create videos that are curated around one common theme. For example, “The Top 5 Best Dining Tables for Your House.” Promote your own product but give the market at large an object view.
Here, the magic trio comes back again: Create – Test – Analyze. Just like a display ad, you have to turn to A/B testing to figure out what works the best for your business. We hope these tips have inspired you to make your first steps toward creating effective videos for your ecommerce site.
Roman Daneghyan is the head of marketing for Renderforest, a service provider for simple, easy-to-use video maker tools.
