In February of 2019, ecommerce hit a milestone when retail sales online surpassed those of traditional general merchandise stores for the first time in the U.S. The steady growth of online shopping, something once considered a “fad” or novelty only a couple of decades ago, has now grown up and taken its place at the table of American consumer spending.
For those entrepreneurs looking to join the booming ecommerce community, it should be understood that there is greater competition online now than even a few years ago. No matter what products you are selling, finding your share of the market will require an online store that generates traffic and wins over potential customers once they arrive. And one of the best ways to accomplish this is with videos.
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The Power of Video in Ecommerce
You might have an incredible product offered at a great value to customers all on a clean, user-friendly website brimming with useful information, and that is all well and good. But it might be harder for potential customers to discover all of this without video content.
Google not only has separate search results exclusively for videos, but the search engine has a preference for websites with video content. So if you want to improve your standing with Google – which every ecommerce business owner wants – then invest the time to create videos for your store’s pages.
And besides doing better with Google, videos can give you a foothold in the second most popular search engine, aka YouTube. Bottom line, videos increase your visibility, and getting eyeballs on your product pages is the name of the game for online retailers.
Of course, videos do more than simply help you bring in customers.
They are a primary selling tool once potential customers find your store. There are a few simple reasons why videos resonate with customers compared to text and still photos.
One reason is clarity – a video can convey to the viewer information that which may be difficult to articulate in text and pictures alone. Seeing the product in space from all angles and in use allows the viewer to understand the product more clearly than even the most eloquent of text descriptions. Demonstration is a key method for educating people, and a well-informed consumer is a more confident buyer.
In a similar vein, videos are concise. Combining your text and pictures in video form is like killing two digital birds with one stone. For anyone who has slogged through a mediocrely-written installation guide or owner’s manual, the benefits of showing how a product is put together, installed and used is abundantly clear. Making information simpler and more digestible will immediately build confidence in potential customers. At bidetsPLUS, we create videos for each of our bidets because we understand that many US consumers are unfamiliar with bidet toilets. Therefore, by creating these videos, we not only get to show them footage and up close shots of the bidets, but we can also narrate and talk them through different features.
It expedites much of the learning curve and reduces hesitations people will have because of their lack of knowledge of the product. Here’s a great example of one of our top performing pages, the Brondell Swash 1400, that shows not only photos, but has a video that users can watch to get a better understanding:
As you can see we include an array of high quality photos, but also a video that users can conveniently watch.
Video is a medium in which today’s consumers have great fluency, so why not use it to the advantage of your business?
No Experience Making Videos, Don’t Sweat It!
If you have zero experience making videos, you might feel a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of creating a short film shoot with your products as the stars. But if you are serious about building an ecommerce store, then it’s something you need to figure out so your business doesn’t get left behind by the competition. And the truth is creating a great product video doesn’t require a film school degree.
Video Equipment You Will Need
A lot of people already have a good quality video camera in their pocket or purse. But if you don’t have the latest high-grade camera phone, don’t sweat it. You can rent the equipment you need for a video shoot, from the camera to the lighting equipment to the microphones. And you should definitely invest in good lighting as this is your chance to showcase your products.
While consumers aren’t going to fault a product video if it doesn’t have the latest CGI and special effects, the addition of good lighting will add a touch of polish and professionalism that will leave a positive impression with your site visitors.
One great thing about product videos is you can do the sound separately so there’s no need to capture the video and sound together. This makes life a lot easier when putting the final edit together. And speaking of editing, you may want to save yourself a lot of time and headaches by hiring a professional editor to put the video together for you.
Here’s an example of a video where we used all the tips that we used above:
For more examples, we have an entire product video library of bidets where we have videos showcasing the bidets we sell. This way users, instead of being inundated with product manuals, can watch quick videos of each bidet. Their imagination will then take it from there as they can determine if the product fits in their home visually and functionally.
With a little bit of effort, you can put together several product videos that will boost your online store’s traffic and sales. Video content can help with search results, customer education and confidence, and the overall professionalism of your website. So grab your products, put together your set, and start filming!
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Related posts:
- How to use Videos to help Sell Products on your Ecommerce Store - September 25, 2020
