Humans are visual creatures. According to Seyens, people can typically remember over 2,000 pictures to at least 90% accuracy in recognition tests. A study by the University of Minnesota also found that presentations which include visual aids are 43% more persuasive. In other words, visuals matter.
The natural progression from static to visual content is video, which is even more impactful if utilized correctly. According to Tubular Insights, 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos. Videos on a landing page can also increase conversions by 80% or more!
It makes sense, then, to use videos in your marketing.
Read on to learn how!
Video marketing is simply the use of video content to promote your products or services.
Brands use video content for several reasons. First, it helps bring products to life. According to HubSpot, 54% of consumers want to see more videos from their brands. Brands also use videos to showcase their creativity and beat out the competition. Creative video marketing helps to increase brand recall, which can translate into sales.
Adding videos to brand websites increases user engagement and decreases bounce rate. In other words, it’s good news for your brand in terms of boosting your SEO, growing brand awareness, encouraging customer loyalty, and driving more conversions.
Why Video Content is Great for Ecommerce Stores
Video content is great for your ecommerce store because it is so versatile. Here are just some of the things you can do with video marketing for ecommerce:
- Explain how your products are used
- Describe and demonstrate specific product
- Create a story around your products or brand identity
- Instill confidence in your potential customers
According to Upcity, two-thirds of people (66%) said they would like to watch a short video before purchasing a product. That’s a huge number of conversions you’re potentially missing if you don’t leverage video marketing.
7 Ways Video Content can Attract New Customers
But how exactly does video marketing for ecommerce work? What types of video content can you create to attract new customers? Let’s look at some specific strategies in this section.
You’ll notice that many of the videos here don’t require a fancy camera or a big production team (although those can help if you have the budget!). With a few tips on making better videos and a little bit of practice, you can shoot great video content using just your smartphone.
Let’s get started.
- How-To Videos
How-to videos are very useful for both next and existing customers. Who wouldn’t want to see first-hand how a product they are considering purchasing (or have purchased) works?
Your how-to videos don’t have to feature real people unless you want them to. Animated how-to videos can be highly successful and very popular.
Pro tip: include subtitles in videos that have a voice-over. This ensures the instructions are clear, as well as making your videos more accessible to people who learn in different ways.
With a product demonstration on your ecommerce page, you can give potential customers that final nudge they need to make a purchase by showing them that the product is easy to use. You can also help out existing customers, showing them how to get the most out of their purchase. This will increase customer loyalty.
Adding videos to a website is simple and, in most CMS interfaces, you won’t need any coding skills. If you get stuck, ask your IT team or web developer to do it for you.
2. Video Content in Email Marketing
It’s a great idea to include videos in your marketing emails to subscribers. According to Vidyard, videos in emails can increase site traffic. Strong video thumbnails can also increase clicks by 50%!
Here’s an example from Moo:
Your videos don’t have to be about a specific product (though they can be). Be as creative as possible, and make sure that your videos are interesting and well-crafted.
Here’s an extra email marketing tip:
Use an email verifier to validate the email address each time a new person signs up to your list. This will keep your bounce rate low and deliverability score high, ensuring more people will see your lovingly crafted video marketing content.
3. Interviews of Experts
One strategy that is underutilized in video marketing for ecommerce is to create interviews with expects. Authority figures who can vouch for your store or product are a great way to nudge undecided customers to make a purchase.
For example, if you’re selling a particular brand of electric toothbrush, you might include a video of a dentist vouching for its effectiveness. If you sell dietary supplements, you might share a video of a registered nutritionist discussing their health benefits. And so on.
Make sure you work with a genuine expert, though. Getting someone to pose as one or pretend to have qualifications they don’t is unethical and will backfire on you.
4. Customer reviews
Customer reviews are a powerful form of social proof. This theory states that people who don’t know what the proper behavior is in a given situation will imitate what other people are doing. Applied to sales and marketing, social proof states that people who are uncertain about making a purchase will push through once they see other people have bought the product and loved it. In addition, 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends.
Therefore, why not ask your satisfied customers to shoot short video testimonials for you? These only need to be around 20-30 seconds long. You can use them as stand-alone reviews, or cut several together to create a reviews montage.
Here’s how Forst, a company selling commercial wood chipper machines, did it:
In this 3-minute video, various customers are shown using Forst machines while talking about why they like the product.
5. Videos Based on Stories
Video marketing for ecommerce is not just about using videos to sell. Many companies are now understanding the importance of storytelling and are using video content to share stories about their brand, products, or services.
Airbnb is one example of a company that uses videos to tell a story. The travel company uses video content to sell an idea and experience (visiting a new place and living like a local), and defines its brand values at the same time:
When you create a story-based video, make sure your video is communicating the right message. Others may interpret it differently to how you intended. If in doubt, seek feedback and adjust your content accordingly before you release it to the world.
6. User-Generated Content
The great thing about video marketing for ecommerce is that you don’t always even need to create the content yourself. User-generated content is powerful because it helps your customers to feel involved.
When you choose a theme for your user-generated content campaign, choose something that is closely related to your brand identity but also easy for customers to carry out. Coca Cola’s example, asking its customers to film themselves drinking Coke, is a perfect example.
Chances are, if your company is well-known you’ll get more content than you can use. Choose an array of clips that reflects the diversity of your customer base. Those you don’t use can always be saved for a future campaign or used in other ways, such as on social media.
7. Video Ads
People look at video content around five times more than they do static content. This means that if you run video ads, you stand the best chance of getting noticed. But you don’t need to be able to afford a spot on TV to use video advertisements!
You can display them on platforms like Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, and Instagram. The platforms you choose should be those most used by your target audience. For example, if you are targeting young adults and college students, Instagram is your best bet.
Wrapping up
Video marketing is a great way to engage customers and potential customers for your ecommerce store. If you do it well, this increased engagement will soon lead to more sales.
I’ve listed just a few of the types of video content you can create. You don’t have to do all of them, though! Just choose one or two that you think will work for your audience, products, and business model. Monitor conversions from your video marketing efforts to learn which types of content generate the best results.
Then, next time you undertake a new campaign, choose another type of video content and compare the results. This will give you the information you need to determine which ones deliver the highest ROI. Keep learning, and each new video campaign will be better than the last.
About Qbrick
Qbrick is a Video Platform company with a suite of video apps to help businesses make better videos for all purposes.
With Qbrick you get a complete Video Platform with hosting, video editing, transcriptions and subtitles, interactive buttons, live streaming and more. Click on the button below this to get a complete and personal demo of the apps that matter to you!
