Ana Gotter — September 13, 2017 — September 13, 2017
You know you want to use videos on your product pages to increase sales, but how do you choose what type of video you want to use?
There are several different types of product videos that you can choose from, each of which has their own strengths, limitations, and best uses. The product video that is best for your site will depend on a number of different factors, including your industry, your audience, and even the product itself.
In this post, we’re going to go over how to choose what types of product videos you should use for your business’s website and the different types of videos you can choose from.
How to Choose The Types of Product Video You Should Use
When choosing what types of content to share on your site, you want to use the type (or types) of product videos that will help you demonstrate the full reason users should buy your product and be geared towards accomplishing your marketing goals. For the majority of product videos, that means sales. And to drive sales, you need to demonstrate the undeniable value of your product. It’s all a pretty circular equation.
Some types of products will be better served by different types of videos. B2C businesses selling purses should focus on videos that show multiple angles of the product. A business that sells software, however, would likely benefit from showing a video tutorial.
There are several different types of product videos to choose from. Let’s take a look at each and when to use them.
1. Close-Up Product Videos
A video that focuses on a close-up view of the product can be beneficial for a large number of industries. This is particularly true for many B2C businesses that have physical products. Ideally, these videos should show the product from a number of different angles and/or in movement. In many cases, verbally listing different features and benefits of the product is a huge asset.
Think like a QVC commercial. If you were selling a purse, for example, you’d want to see the bag being opened, all the bag’s compartments pointed out, and
This type of video is most effective when you’re selling a physical, tangible product where the appearance of the product matters. If you’re able to showcase different features of the product in this video (even if the features aren’t all visible), that’s also an excellent choice. A great example of this is the product video from William’s and Sonoma’s website below, where one of the test kitchen chefs discusses the benefits of the pans while the camera zooms in on the product.
When it comes to product close-up videos, make sure to demonstrate the full value of the product, but be concise. The example video from QVC goes much longer than most videos you’d share on your product pages; don’t make them longer than necessary, or you’ll lose user interest.
The example below from Corelle is perfect in terms of time and efficiency.
2. Video Tutorials
Product tutorials are incredibly valuable to the user. They show the potential buyer how to use the product, which, in turn, shows a number of different ways the product can benefit them. Even video tutorials showing how to tie a scarf in 6 different ways emphasizes the versatility of the product, giving the customer one item that they can use to create a number of different outfits.
Product tutorials can also demonstrate how user-friendly and simple it is to use. This can be a big push to help drive sales. In addition to showing how to use the product, you can also have video tutorials on your page demonstrating information like product care and maintenance; this can keep users coming back to your site for this content, which may get them to purchase something else while there.
Product tutorials work well for businesses in both B2C and B2B sectors, and they are effective for both physical, tangible items and digital products like software or apps.
3. Videos Showing the Product In Use
This product video type may overlap some with tutorials or the close-up videos, but the purpose of these videos is a little different. Instead of just showing the product in all its glory or demonstrating how to use it, the goal of this video is to have the customer imagine that they themselves are using it because they see someone else doing so.
The video example below from FitBit combines the product-in-use video types with a tutorial format. They do show you how to track your heart rate, which is the tutorial portion of the video. They go behind that, though, showing the woman running across a track and up a set of stadium stairs. You’re supposed to see yourself using the product. By truly envisioning yourself wearing it, you’re more likely to purchase.
4. Videos Showing How the Product Is Made
The last type of product video on our list shows users who the product is made. While this won’t be an ideal fit for some—or even most—businesses, plenty of B2C businesses, in particular, could benefit from it.
Lush, for example, has a “how it’s made” video for many of their products. Not only do they attach some of these videos to the product pages, they’ll also share them on social media. This is one type of video that users are increasingly interested in thanks to today’s ethics-conscious, health-conscious society (both of which are good things). People want to know what they’re buying, who made it, and how it was made.
This is a video type all luxury brands should consider. Anything that’s handcrafted, or has state-of-the-art craftsmanship, could do exceptionally well in driving sales with “how-it’s-made” product videos. A great example of why is the video from Gucci below, showing how their bags are hand-crafted, all the way down to the last stitch.
What if I Can’t Choose Just One?
Realistically, you don’t have to choose just one type of video for your product pages. If you have the budget (and budget-friendly video creation software like Shakr), you can easily add multiple types of product videos to each product page. When possible, just try to ensure that the types of product videos are consistent across different collections on your site; you don’t want one product to have three videos and another to have none.
Final Thoughts
Product videos can do wonder for your sales, and that’s particularly true when you know how to share the right types of product videos on your site. Not every video type works well for every product; showing how a mattress is made in factories, for example, wouldn’t be as interesting to users (or effective) as showing them how their bath bombs are made by hand with natural ingredients. By understanding the biggest appeals and value of your products, you’ll be able to choose the right type of videos to create high-converting product videos and drive more sales.
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