Product Video Benefits: Why You Need Product Videos for Your Webshop
Consumers watch more video content than ever before, making it the fastest-growing form of media of our time. With apps like TikTok and Instagram, customers are used to moving images - and snack-sized content.
Product videos aren’t only more approachable than old-school product descriptions but also show details of your products that images simply cannot. No matter from which angle or how high the resolution - an image can’t show the movement of a silky skirt or a color-changing feature on a shoe.
Whether you show your product in movement on a turntable or worn by a model, product videos are proven to boost your online performance significantly.
Product videos can increase your conversion and decrease your return rates
When browsing through products we’d potentially like to order online, we want to know what they actually look like, what they feel like, and eventually how we’d look in them.
Sure, product images are great to show a quick glimpse of a silky skirt on a product listing page. But when that silky skirt grabs our attention, we want to know more; how the fabric moves, how sheer it is, where it potentially creases, how it fits, and so on.
Seeing a skirt on a model in a product video helps your customers to make informed buying decisions. They’ll better understand what they’re purchasing from you. This not only results in increased conversion rates of up to 80% but also in fewer returns.
Having videos on your website boosts search ranking and site traffic organically
Featuring video content on your website can impact your position on search engine result pages (SERPs) way more than you think. With regards to SEO, two things matter to rank high: your site’s relevance to the search terms that were entered and the quality of your website content. Search engines, like Google, not only crawl the text on your pages but also scan for various types of media, such as images or videos. Having a diverse selection of media on your site signals the search engine higher value and therefore boosts your SEO.
Furthermore, search engines take into consideration how long people stay on your site (time spent on-site). Customers are more likely to watch videos than reading text or looking at images. Therefore, product videos also engage people on your site longer.
Consider adding voice-overs or subtitles to your product videos to create an immersive experience of watching, reading, and listening. Added bonus: this may also reduce your bounce rates significantly.
Boosted SEO, and with that, improved visibility of your website on SERPs, in turn, leads to an increase in site traffic. The more high-quality video content you create, the higher the amount of traffic coming to your site. Again, people spend more time on your website while engaging with your content (watching, reading, listening). Therefore, you boost your online shop’s SEO long-term.
Skyrocket your email marketing by including videos in your send-outs
Merely mentioning the word “video” in your newsletter subject lines increases opening rates by almost 20% according to HubSpot. Unfortunately, embedding product videos into your newsletters or email flows can be quite tricky as many email clients don’t support playing video right in the send-out itself. You can work your way around this by converting short clips or video teasers into GIFs that can easily be embedded into the email body (Giphy is a great free online tool for that). As a rule of thumb, make sure that your GIF is below 1MB in size for optimal loading time.
The landing page you link to from your mail should feature the full video you previewed to your subscribers. A potential call to action could look like “watch the full campaign here” or “discover the whole tutorial here”. If you manage to keep up with interesting video content in your emails, you’ll likely see low unsubscribing rates follow. Of course, there are more channels you have to differentiate your video content for. Find out how to optimize your product videos for social channels here.
Reach brand trustworthiness by adding product videos to your landing pages
As mentioned before, you want your customers to convert more often and return merchandise less by making informed buying decisions. Informed buying decisions, in turn, are closely tied to the trustworthiness of your brand or online presence. As a brand or vendor, there are two important factors in creating product videos.
Firstly, transparency - you cannot hide the fit of a dress, there is no option to clip the clothing to hold it in place for the model to pose as you might do when taking product images. When you show a 360° spin and potentially zoom in on the most important features of your product, you signal to your customers that there is nothing they could have missed about the item. They know exactly what to expect when ordering from you.
Secondly, control - as a brand or vendor you have control over what you want to highlight in your product video. Choose the angles that are worth highlighting and if working with a model make sure they look great in your products. More on directing or finding models that fit your brand here.
Generate brand awareness through social sharing
Social videos generate more shares than text and images combined. When creating content for your social media profiles, try to shift your focus towards videos instead of stills. You will not only reach your followers with your content but also get them to share your videos with their network. Having high-quality content that is interesting and appealing to your audience goes without question here.
Sharing your content doesn’t only happen on social media. Take a look at your webshop, is your content easily shareable (e.g. via a Pinterest button)? Make it easy for shoppers to save your products to their own wish lists or to share it with their network for extra reach and a boost in brand awareness.
Everyone loves videos
Due to social media usage, shorter articles, and news apps featuring updates in pop-up form, our attention span has decreased significantly. Also, our brains are wired to remember visual content better than text-based one.
Moving images, such as video, grab our attention right away and consumers state that they’d rather watch a product video than read a product description. So why not shift your resources more towards creating an appealing product video instead of focusing all your attention on dusty descriptions?
On top of that, your audience wants to be entertained. We increasingly spend more time behind our screens - so make sure you stand out. Tell a story with your product videos, work with fun props, or switch a boring white background with a more appealing one that supports your story (see candy pink sneaker example). However, make sure you stay on brand with your creativity. Read more about the perfect strategy for product video creation here.
Product videos function as a virtual salesperson
Product videos can help to bridge the divide between online and offline shopping experiences. Through product videos, you can make the touch and feel of a product (remember the silky skirt?) more approachable for your customers. Also, try to keep potential questions your customers might have in mind when creating a product video. Show the fit, zippers, button closures, lining, and other details that might be of interest to your audience. Also, if available, look into the information you gathered from past returns. Direct customer feedback can give great insights and can help you to optimize your product videos even further. Overall, try to increase the understanding of your products or services through video, just as a salesperson would.
Take aways
Overall, product videos are worth investing in and can really boost your business! On your product detail pages, they can function as significant conversion and revenue drivers and help your customers make informed buying decisions.
If used correctly, product videos can make your brand appear more trustworthy and generate brand awareness. Most importantly, videos help to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping. They function as virtual salespersons, so use them to answer the right questions.
If you haven’t started investing in product videos for your website, now is the time to get on board. All example content on this page has been shot with our Profoto StyleShoots Eclipse or Profoto StyleShoots Live. They are all-in-one video content solutions that generate continuous high-quality, standardized content with the click of one button.