What is it?
Product videos present the user benefits of a product in a quick and stylish manner. The goal is to show consumers how the product solves a problem and improves their lives, making it an essential purchase.
Product videos are brief, often 60 seconds or less, and include a strong call to action (CTA) at the end, typically an invitation to make a purchase. The CTA can be a link to a landing page, a toll-free telephone number or an eCommerce site where the merchandise and an order form are displayed. If the product is available everywhere, both online and through traditional brick & mortar retailers, then the function of the product video may be to introduce the item and raise brand awareness of its availability, rather than drive traffic to a specific landing page.
Sample product videos:
Signature Sleep Mattress in a Box Video by Digital Media Collab.
An amusing example of a product video promoting Man Crates.
Simple product videos might run for less than a minute. Telling a story or presenting a product tour can take longer.
When/Where to use.
Many companies choose to place product videos on their sales page or landing page, where the video and a purchase are in the same location. Product videos can also be optimized for the best search results, then uploaded to hosting sites such as YouTube and Vimeo.
Because new product launches are typically supported with an advertising campaign, product videos are effective when embedded within social media advertisements, including placement on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
For an email blast to potential customers, the product video can be embedded at the top of the email itself at the beginning of the sales funnel for driving customers to your website.
When played on a loop, the product video becomes an effective sales tool at expos, conferences and sales presentations, such as convincing major retailers to carry your product in their stores. No need to hire a demonstrator when your product video can do the job.
Why use it.
A product video gives your potential customers a taste of what your offering can do for them.
Products typically fall within two broad categories: those that solve a problem (tools, software, medicines, deodorant, home security, appliances, GPS systems, cooking equipment, etc.) and products that make life more pleasant. The latter includes luxury goods like designer clothing, wristwatches, automobiles, coffee makers and, yes, sunglasses, which can serve both to protect the eyes and make a fashion statement. Point being, there’s a chance your product overlaps both categories — solves a problem and satisfies a desire.
Because the presentation is shot on video under controlled conditions, you are able to show off your product in the best possible light. Live demonstrations may not always work as planned, but a product video works the first time, the second time and every time.
How to use and Analyse/Measure
Fully one-third of all online activity involves watching videos. Google in 2011 made it possible for users to search for videos based on subject matter, which opened up a whole new world of marketing opportunities. Today, more Google users are searching for video content than those looking for text or photos on the same subjects, according to SearchMetrics, a search-engine analytics company. Their research also shows people stay longer on websites featuring video content. And it’s a rather obvious conclusion that the longer visitors remain on your site, the more likely they are to buy something.
Product videos can be uploaded to hosting platforms where you are able to tweak the description for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This helps people using a search engine like Google find your product video with greater ease. Over time, Google’s algorithms begin to recognize popular and high-quality videos and display those first in the search results.
One measurement of success is to compare video views with click-throughs to your landing or sales page, then compare your click-through rate to actual conversions. You’ll want to set up your website to work with Google analytics so you can track the source of your web traffic and how long people stay on a specific page. You’ll be able to harvest a wealth of other data points that will help you fine-tune your marketing efforts in tandem with product videos.
Features
Effective product videos explain the solution the product provides, show how it works and present a call to action — often an opportunity to buy the product right then and there. This call to action can be a web link to a landing page, an announcement by the video narrator or a toll-free number superimposed on the screen.
How long should text be displayed on the video? As a rule of thumb, for the length of time it takes you to say the text out loud twice.
Product videos can take several different forms:
- Product Tour
This provides an overview of the product, what it does and why consumers need to buy it. This type of product video tends to run longer due to the need to explain and demonstrate. - Life Hack
This type of product video shows the audience how they can save time, money and energy using your product. Sometimes the video demonstrates a use for the product that may not have occurred to the viewer. Product videos presented as a life hack are popular on social media, where people see the benefits of your offering and want to share it with their friends. - Unboxing Videos
Take a look at any random sampling of unboxing videos on YouTube and you will see that this form of product video is wildly popular. Your potential customers get to see how the product looks when it arrives, how it is packaged, what accessories come with the product, as well as a demonstration of the product in operation. - How-To Videos
Similar to the Life Hack, the How-To Video explains and demonstrates precisely what the product is designed to do. One advantage of a How-To Video, especially when promoting more expensive products, is to create a series of videos that show various ways the product can be used. This can help conversions when customers may require more time and information before deciding on an expensive purchase.\ - Customer Testimonials
Here’s where the golden value of word-of-mouth advertising comes into play. These videos feature your actual customers using your product and praising how it has improved their lives. This is an opportunity to showcase how people from all walks of life can benefit from buying your product. - Production Videos
Depending on the product and how it is manufactured, showing the creation in action can create a fascinating video that grabs viewer attention. Whether you’re highlighting caramel apples on a stick or a custom-tailored business suit, these behind-the-scenes videos of your manufacturing operation — along with a few testimonials from employees at each stage of the process — deliver a glimpse into the care and exacting quality you put into the creation of your product. Adding employee testimonials gives the product video that human touch viewers need to connect with your offering.
Process to create
Every effective product video begins with a goal around which a strategy is developed for the production.Is the goal to increase sales? Announce and sell a new product? Build anticipation for a product soon to be released?
Consider your video from the perspective of the viewer. Are you targeting existing customers? People who may be unfamiliar with your brand? Can we reach both with the same video?
5 Stages of Production
There are 5 distinct stages of production for Corporate Stories: Discovery, Pre Production, Production, Post Production, and Delivery. Let’s walk through them.
Digital Media Collab can help with all stages, OR we can partner with you in the phases you need help with.
- Discovery – As your video production company we need to understand the project.. We’ll meet to discuss your vision, goals, and your budget and any other consideration you might have for the project. With Discovery, our mission is to understand your needs and propose a solution that fulfills them.
- Pre-Production – During this planning phase, we’ll begin work on the script for your explainer video project unless you have an in-house writer handling that task. Location scouting, hiring acting talent an AV Script and animatic, style frames. are some of the key aspects of pre-production. A/V Scripts outline each shot in the video and how they all fit together. Think of the storyboards as a blueprint or plan for creating your video.
- Production – At this stage we create we are capturing, 3D modeling and designing all the assets for each scene in your project.your project. This includes capturing video (live production), designing storyboards, getting VO (voice overs), choosing music video and audio to be used in the final explainer video.
- Post Production – Editing, Animating, sound mixing, are some of the steps involved in post production as your project approaches completion. There will be opportunities to review the work in progress and make revisions as necessary. Note: this is true for each phase. We generally do 2 rounds of reasonable revisions.
- Delivery – At this final stage, we provide a digital file of the explainer video to you. We will also, at your request, upload the video to popular viewing platforms where the target audience can find and enjoy your explainer video. Additional services can include tracking and reporting on the success of your project, editing long and short versions, adding different logos to the beginning and end, as well as other needs you may require.
With product videos, we can often use the insights of your internal marketing team to make the product video perfectly descriptive.
Once you have a clear understanding of the goal and the audience, we can begin to brainstorm a creative approach to the product presentation. As we’ve seen, product videos can take at least six different forms, from unboxing videos to life hacks, how-to instructionals, product tours and more. Identify the style that works best with your goal and the product itself. What works for promoting a food item may not be the best choice for an electric toothbrush.
When the presentation concept is mapped out, we then determine the production requirements to make it happen. This can involve securing locations, scheduling an on-site shoot at your production facility, hiring acting and voiceover talent if needed, and preparing a production schedule with a deadline target date for completion.
Costs
The cost for a product video, depending on your goals and the production values needed to bring your vision to life, can be as much as $5,000. Companies that know exactly what they want can get it done for less.
The cost is based on many factors, including the use of professional-grade cameras and sound recording equipment, securing permission and providing payment for location shooting, if necessary, plus hiring acting talent, renting wardrobes and any necessary props, licensing music, shooting the video, plus post production and editing.
Once the presentation strategy is determined, an experienced video production company should be able to provide you with an accurate estimate for delivering your completed product video, ready for uploading.
Production time
It’s best to begin planning a production video 6 weeks before you need it to be online. Four weeks is generally the minimum time from the start of production to delivery of the completed video.
The first two weeks is typically devoted to pre-production, because it is far less expensive to create a solid plan before production begins than to fix or abandon a weak plan in the middle of production.
Shooting the product video at your corporate headquarters may be the least time-consuming way to complete your project. The time requirement also depends on your product. If you are selling an item that is designed for use in specific ways, such as for camping or at the beach, it’s probably going to be necessary to create the video in the environment where the product is normally used.
Location work, elaborate production values and creating special effects will add to the production time.
Benefits
Website visitors who view a product video are up to 85% more likely on average to purchase that product, according to website analytics company Kissmetrics. That’s a compelling reason to produce a product video.
You get to display your product under perfect conditions, unlike the hapless door-to-door salesman who never knows when his demo vacuum cleaner will break down, resulting in a lost sale lost. When set up for maximum SEO, you can reach a potentially massive audience in a short period of time. If your video has a hook or some highly memorable quality (as it should), viewers are more likely to share the content with their social networks. Going viral increases awareness of your product exponentially.
Bottom line, a product video is probably the single most effective way of turning consumers into paying customers, short of physically placing the merchandise in their hands so they can try it out for themselves, which is obviously impractical in the world of eCommerce.
At Digital Media Collab, we’re excited to talk with you about developing a product video that fulfills your greatest expectations. Benefits of working with us:
- Provide clarity when featuring complex products or services.
- Show the benefits, features, and uses of your products in an easy to share format.
- Convey a sense of quality without having to read product descriptions.
- Give potential customers the opportunity to watch someone else handle your product and imagine the possible uses.
- Communicate the same message with accuracy every time.
- Share extensive amounts of information in a short period of time.
- Better ROI than other marketing and promotion strategies (people prefer to view videos).
Testimonials
“Excellent to work with. Very creative and talented. Easy to work with. Creative solutions. Delivered in a timely manner.”
— Brian Czock, SonLight Productions.
“Reliability and delivery. Best creative service around. Not a lot of companies out there that I trust like I do them.”
— Mike Crow, Orthofix.
