Victor Blasco September 2, 2021 Online sales have become the easiest and most practical way to do business in our interconnected digital world. But still, many people don’t feel safe purchasing products they can’t see, from strangers they know nothing about.
If you want to make it in the eCommerce arena, you need a reliable way to reach your audience and elicit trust consistently!
Thankfully, video marketing can do that. Video gives your audience something they can see, and therefore trust – especially when it comes to online shopping. Lacking physical interaction with a product, people online are buying with their eyes and their minds more than anything else!
Good news is that the work of the skilled production companies out there shows that there’s little you can’t accomplish with the right video and the right strategy.
So, in this piece, we’ll go over the different types of video content you can use in your online marketing strategy! And how they can help your brand become trustworthy in the eyes of your audience.
Before We Start, Why Video?
The old saying goes: a picture is worth a thousand words. We can update it now by saying that video is worth a thousand pictures!
When looking for the right way to communicate what your company is all about, pictures and text just don’t do it anymore. Not when video can give you the best of both worlds.
A professionally designed video is the single most effective way to promote the products and services of your eCommerce company. It’s the only medium versatile enough to generate brand awareness and audience engagement while also delivering useful information.
Your piece can focus on the benefits of your products or services, it can tell the story of your company, or even give your community of clients a valuable lesson. Videos can translate all of your needs and more, into an easy-to-consume piece of content.
So, if you need to build consumer trust in your eCommerce company, there are three main types of videos that will help you: Product Videos, Explainer Videos, and Company Stories. Now we can start!
Put the Benefits Up Front with the Right Product Video
Product videos are the most traditional type of video you will find in eCommerce marketing, but it is rarely used to its full potential.
In a simple and direct manner, a product video lists the most important qualities of the product or service you’re trying to promote. The video needs to explain all its possible uses and benefits, leaving no doubts about what your product does.
A great product video also shows your product or service being used in context. You need to show the audience how they will benefit from your product in their everyday lives. Also, if you’re dealing with a complex product that needs assembly of some kind, this is the moment to include a clear and simple list of instructions.
Now that we understand what product videos are, let’s break down some great examples.
Kelty’s Linger Side Table
This product video starts by showing you a couple of scenarios you might use the product for, illustrating why you would need it. Then it proceeds to describe the product and its benefits, while also showing you how to set it up. All in less than one minute!
You’ll notice this isn’t an expensive-looking production, but it uses its small budget and friendly tone to its advantage.
By prioritizing a clean look and simple script, you’ll finish the video feeling like you’ve learned everything you need to know about this product. You can find more examples of these stripped and effective product videos on their YouTube Channel.
Redsbaby’s 2020 Collection
Redsbaby raises the stakes with a video that shows their whole 2020 collection of baby products. But instead of making you feel like you’re browsing through a catalog, this video shows how each different product can be used at a different time of the day, or with kids from different ages.
The loving feel of this video’s context uses its families as the real protagonists of the piece.
Notice that each time a new product appears in the video, it’s followed by close shots of the mechanics of the product, without being overly specific. If you dig deeper into their YouTube Channel, you’ll find hundreds of how-to videos for the frequently asked questions you may have about their products. This is a great way of building a trustworthy and long relationship with your clients.
Showcase Expertise and Make the Complex, Easy Through Explainer Videos
Everyday people go online looking for videos that will help them solve a problem they’re having or for videos that teach them about a subject they don’t understand. Explainer videos offer that type of information to your audience by tackling a complex topic in an easy-to-understand way.
Explainers shouldn’t feel at all like traditional ads or promotional pieces: they are the perfect combination of educational and branded content.
Unlike product videos, they center on the benefits that your product will bring to your specific audience, rather than going through a generic list of features. That way, they generate brand awareness and audience engagement while also providing valuable information that will strengthen consumer trust.
There are a couple of qualities that can help us understand why explainer videos are the most basic yet powerful type of branded content out there. First, they are great at answering the “what”, “how” and “why” of your service or product, helping advance potential customers down your sales funnel. And also, they are short and concise animated pieces, usually not crossing the 120-second mark.
Let’s look at some explainer videos to have a better understanding of their potential.
Simply Agree’ Software
How can you make an engaging and simple video that explains the work of transactional attorneys? Or an even harder question: how can you illustrate the benefits of a piece of computer software? Well, this cool motion graphics explainer video answers both those questions.
Look at the creative ways in which each illustration is followed by the next one, maintaining an engaging pace throughout the whole video. It also shows you step-by-step the problem the software solves, how it does it, and all its benefits. And one more nice detail: it’s a colorful piece, but you can also notice that the blue and grey brand palette stands out.
This is the type of subtle yet effective branding this style of video delivers.
Green Geeks’ Web Hosting
People are just drawn to good storytelling. This piece created a character, Paxton, to explain the benefits of using an eco-friendly web hosting service. Scripting a setting and a character that reflects your target audience is a very effective way to get them into the shoes of your video’s protagonists and illustrate the benefits your service or product can give them.
Just like the previous example, this piece uses very creative transitions between animations, and its illustrations are green colored just like the brand palette. But, most importantly, after watching the video, you’ll end up feeling that you’ve learned something new about pollution, and will think of Green Geeks as a brand that cares deeply about the environment.
Humanize Your Brand with Company Story Videos and Testimonials
So far, we’ve covered videos that put your products or services upfront… but what about the people who make them? And what about the people who use them? Company story videos and customer testimonials are the best types of content you can use to foster empathy from your audience.
While sometimes used as a recruiting tool, company story videos are not just for hiring: they can be a sales weapon too! Especially in the era of social media marketing.
Maybe you have an interesting story about how your company was founded. Or you want to interview your employees about what they think of their workplace and company culture. Company story videos offer a behind-the-scenes look at the real people who make the products or services your customers love.
Customer testimonials on the other hand, consist of reviews about your product or service by an uninterested client. It may sound simple, but there’s nothing more convincing than watching someone telling their experience and sharing their views on how your product helped them.
While different in their nature, company story videos and customer testimonials offer a solution that no other type of video does: it puts real people in front of the camera. This way, audiences will stop thinking about your brand as a faceless company, and start seeing it as what it really is: a group of people working together to help a community.
Now that we’ve got that covered, let’s see some examples.
Ben & Jerry’s Social Mission
Ben & Jerry’s is not just a delicious ice cream company. Well, they are, but this video also shows that the people who work behind the brand understand the value the company has in its community and their role on a much wider scale.
We all would like to know more about the things we buy and the products that make us happy. And we rarely get to watch the whole production process as shown in this video, starting with farmers and ending with customers. And this video shows how Ben & Jerry’s team is involved in each part of the process.
Take note that the most honest and human moments of the piece are when Ben & Jerry’s employees are caught off guard in the interviews, or when they don’t know how to answer a specific question. Because company story videos don’t look for good answers: they look for the truth.
Tesla’s Customer Stories
The biggest challenge of any branded video content is to bring a product to life. When you think about a company like Tesla, it’s difficult to translate everything the brand stands for into a simple and engaging message.
This is why the company started a series of videos called “Tesla Customer Stories” that focus on real customers and how their lives changed thanks to their products. This piece manages to explain the benefits of the Tesla Model S but in a very uninterested and convincing way.
A Few Additional Tips from the Pros
Up to this point, we’ve covered the main types of videos that can help your brand build consumer trust. But before you go, we wanted to go over some tips and tricks that should be useful regardless of what type of video you’ll end up producing!
- Make an emotional connection: People are bombarded with all types of content in their everyday lives, so what makes certain content stick? The answer is emotion. If your video can make your audience feel something, even a little smile, chances are that they will remember your piece above all the rest.
- Keep it simple and fun (as possible): When looking at content online, nobody has the time to sit through a lengthy and complex video, don’t matter how awesome the product you’re selling is. People are just passing by, scrolling through, and they just want to find easy-to-consume and kind-of-funny videos.
- Leave them wanting more: A good and short branded video should feel like a movie trailer: engaging enough to make you want to watch the whole film. This is where your call to action (or CTA) comes in. Make sure you end up with a video with clear directions on where you want your audience to go next.
Wrapping Up
Trust is a very difficult thing to achieve for a brand in the online world. Thankfully, video content provides a wide range of possibilities suited to your marketing needs.
That being said, nothing about marketing should be written in stone. The online world seems to never stop changing, and brands will always want to figure out new ways to connect with their audiences. Use this article as a way to start thinking about what kind of relationship you want to build with your customers, and how you want your clients to think of your brand as a whole.
All branded content should focus on fostering trust from clients. If you keep that in mind, organic engagement will come. So, start today!
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