How to 10x Your Sales With Irresistible Product Videos

You’re thinking of buying a toaster online.

Top of the range high quality, and you’re willing to splurge.

Would you be satisfied after reading a review and looking at a couple of pictures? Or would you like to watch a 3 minute video that explains what the product does (in a completely non-technical and fun way) and also has a few customers chip in and exclaim how much they like that toaster?

I know, I’d prefer the video. And it’s not just me. 71% of consumers think video explains the product better.

According to Kale, DropBox increased their conversions by 10% (which is around 10 million additional users, so it’s no small feat) by simply adding a product explainer video.

This is why product videos are such a good investment for business. They’ve got immense power to sway potential customers. And product videos are also some of the most common types of videos available and watched online.

A 174% increase in conversions through product videos

Step2, manufacturer of kid's toys and preschool items that are sold at Target, Toys R Us and Walmart, sells a lot of their products through their online store as well. So they decided to use product videos to show their products in action so that consumers could make an informed decision and their sales would skyrocket.

"The folks who are going to purchase in-store were doing a lot of their research online anyway, and for those products that people didn’t even have the opportunity to see them in-store, we needed to get the message across of the play value of our products."

The result was awesome. They saw a 174% increase in conversions after using a variety of different product videos.

"Video lets us connect with moms in an authentic way, whether they’re on our site, a retailer’s site or in a retail store."

A plethora of brands have jumped on this bandwagon and are using a variety of product videos to increase their revenue, conversions, engagement and meet marketing goals.

There are several reasons why product videos work so well and 73% more visitors who watch product videos will buy the product.

Why product videos?

1. It builds trust.

58% of shoppers think companies with product videos can be trusted.

If you’ve spent time, effort and money creating a product video for the convenience of your customer, you’re showing them that you care about them. You’ve thought about their needs, the difficulties they face while purchasing online, and you’re happy to help them out by giving them quality information and make the entire process easier for them. To some, building trust may not seem like a big deal, but in the world of ecommerce, trust is EVERYTHING.

2. It eliminates most subconscious buying barriers.

A lot of people might not buy that toaster because ‘it looks good in the picture, but what if it’s too small for my kitchen?’ Or ‘it looks good, but I need to see it working to make a solid decision.’ Pictures show only a part of the product. Consumers want a little something more to make a decision. That’s where product videos come in. There are lots of product videos that don’t even have the product in them (Yes, it’s true) and they work really well, because they’ve used other persuasion techniques in the video.

No matter what your niche is (or how boring you may consider your industry - hello, bankers and tax analysts), product videos work for everyone and add that extra little oomph to brand image. A great little example is Wallprotex’s product video. Who could have ever thought something as un-sexy as wall protection products could be made so much more interesting (and easy to understand) through an animated video.

There’s lots of different video types you can choose from to create a product video that syncs well with your brand and your audience base. You don’t necessarily need to include humans in it or make it funny (funny ONLY works if it’s genuinely funny, otherwise there’s nothing worse than a video with stilted and forced humour). You can create any kind of video that explains your product well and persuades customers to act on your CTA.

Types of product videos

1. Whiteboard videos

Easy to create, explains the product really well, and looks great, too.

Whiteboard animations are a clear favorite of brands looking to explain their products and services in a non-technical and interesting way. One of my favorite ones is by PadMapper. A great little mix of funny and informative, this whiteboard animation product video makes moving an easy-peasy process.

2. Videos with humans

There are lots of different ways you can incorporate actual humans in your product videos. You can have employees jump in and act, or you can star in the video yourself, or you could even hire professionals to act in your video.

Here’s one of the most popular product videos, starring Founder of Dollar Shave Club and their razors. The interesting part about this video is that the founder, Michael Dubin, was a student of improv, and he wrote the script himself. According to reports, while the video cost $4500, it quickly went viral and gained an insane amount of traction and views.

A copywriting firm showed off their superior copywriting skills through a simple yet highly emotional video.

3. Animated videos

Here’s an excellent animated product video by Fridababy for their unique products.

Since they were launching products not-seen-before, they needed to create a product video that not only persuade parents to buy the snotsucker, but also tell them what exactly it is. Their cute animated video does all that and more.

4. Storytelling videos

Tell a story that ties in your product or service really well. Storytelling is big in the video world. People are more interested in stories that suck them in, instead of blatant advertisements and promotional content. So more and more brands, like AirBNB, are flocking towards this type of video to promote their products subtly.

And just try, try not cry after watching this emotional storytelling video by Google Search.

5. Film-like content

This is for the big players in the industry. Brands like Kate Spade and Marriott have created movies with shoppable links and episodic content that subtly promotes their brand. This requires big budget and high level of planning, so not everyone can attempt to do this. But brands have been seeing an insane amount of success through these product videos as well.

Best Practices

Now that you understand how the whole world is going towards video, and product videos can truly turn your business around, start creating one for your brand.

I’ve listed a few tips and tricks to help you not only nail your videos, but also make the process a little less daunting.

• Understand your product, it’s benefits, it’s unique selling proposition, your target audience’s pains and desires, and only then proceed to create your product video. A product video isn’t about your product’s superior features. Nobody cares about that. It’s about how your product or service can change your potential consumer’s life for the better. Keep it more about them and less about you.

• Keep your videos short and free-of-fluff. 60 seconds to 120 seconds is the optimum time length for a product video so keep your videos within that time frame. Less than 60 seconds also works sometimes, so you can experiment with that. Just try to make each second count.

• Use a mix of visuals and text for a better user experience. If it’s purely visuals, then add subtitles, because 85% of video on Facebook is watched without sound.

• Make use of audio to set an ambiance. Having the right background tone or music can truly amp up your video and make your audience feel something.

• Don’t let small budgets get in the way. Start small, track your results, build an audience, and then if you want you can create bigger-budget videos.

• Keep your brand image in mind when creating the video. What are you brand colours? What’s your brand voice? Do your consumers prefer humour over getting teary-eyed with emotion, or vice versa? What kind of language do they like?

• Don’t forget to add a CTA. A call to action is the most important part of your product video. Even if it’s something as simple as your website at the end of the video, add it. Tell your audience what they should do next.

  Something as simple as this works, too.

• Cross promote your video on different social media channels for better reach. What’s the point of creating a product video if you’re not going to promote it far and wide? Optimise the video for different social channels by keeping their optimum time lengths in mind, and then share them.

And, lastly, don’t stop creating.

Video works better than most content and there are a plethora of case studies that prove this. So keep creating videos. Keep experimenting. Don’t give up.