As we all know, people love to try products before they buy them. Looking at how something works with their own eyes is the best way to understand if a product is going to fill their expectations.
And hey, that’s completely understandable.
Nobody likes to feel disappointed by something they just bought!
But with the rise of e-Commerce shops, this ‘try-before-you-buy’ mentality is something that has gotten increasingly difficult to do.
That’s where video content comes into play. Product reviews, unboxings, and comparisons between products are some of the most popular categories on YouTube, and for a good reason! Watching people telling their success stories with a product inspires trust — and trust drives sales.
But not all product videos do justice to the thing they’re portraying.
After all, any experienced video production company will agree that brands can’t rely entirely on user-generated content!
But how can companies create product videos that actually make people want to buy?
Well, let’s talk about it!
Make It Shine: Show Your Product’s Key Value Proposition
Some might think that the best way to make a product shine is to cover all its characteristics and features at once. But in this case, more doesn’t necessarily mean better.
Try to resist the temptation to cram all the information you can into your video. Instead, identify the key value proposition of your product and make that shine.
Best way to identify what that is? Try to put in your customer’s shoes.
Think about what they value the most, and what they are (probably!) most interested in, and turn that into the centre of your message.
But why should you choose one specific feature instead of detailing all the reasons why your product is the best? Because when creating content online, we’re constantly competing for the user’s attention.
You need to make sure that your message attracts (and retains) your viewers quickly and efficiently, or you’ll lose them along the way.
Types of Product Videos
Are all product videos the same? Not at all!
As we mentioned at the beginning, there are many types of product videos that can help you present the benefits of a product in different ways.
Let’s review the most popular alternatives so you can choose the one that fits better with your business’ needs.
User-generated videos: Unboxings and Reviews
Let’s start with the videos that you can’t control: unboxing and reviews. These are user-generated video content — and it’s essential to keep them in mind when designing a video strategy.
Sounds conflicting? I assure you, it’s not. Of course, brands shouldn’t influence user-generated content; but they can (and should!) use the content in their favour once it’s out there.
People trust the opinions of their peers, and you can pick the reviews and unboxing videos that do justice to your product and repost them. That’s how you’re going to put them in front of the right people — your prospective buyers.
These types of user-generated content won’t replace a professionally-produced product video, of course. But it’s a great way to showcase your audience’s confidence and opinions about your products.
Explainer Videos
Not every type of product video can help your audience understand thoroughly what your product is all about, especially when you’re dealing with abstract concepts or ideas.
Luckily, you have animated explainer videos to save the day!
Explainer videos use characters and situations to create a storyline that your prospective buyers can feel identified with.
They portray the key features of your product as a solution for the users’ pain-points, showing them exactly how it will help them.
Like this one..
Tutorial Videos
Tutorials also show the key features of your product, but they do it in a more interactive way than feature-focused product videos.
Their main goal is to teach the audience the ins-and-outs of how to use your product, showing them the value proposition as well as giving them practical knowledge.
This makes them extra-appealing to people who already have some interest in buying the product.
For example, in the below video, we have shown the key software features as well as how to use those.
Demo Videos
Demo videos are one of the most popular ways to make product videos: They demonstrate a product by showing someone handling, using the product, or describing the product.
They are meant to give shoppers the feeling of actually seeing a product in a store and evaluating it from different angles, and they can be live-action or animated.
Product Videos – Things to Keep In Mind!
When creating your product videos, you should always go for the highest-quality possible if you want them to work. This involves following a certain pre-production process: if you set a strong foundation for your video, everything will run smoothly thereafter.
Creating the Script
How to create a script that shows the value proposition of your product in a way that’s simple and clear for everyone to understand? Let’s review a couple of tips.
- Keep your sentences positive and relevant: Make sure that all your statements are useful and clear, or you’ll risk your product sounding like a dull, uninteresting (even ineffective!) item.
- Avoid information that’s unnecessary or distracting from your main value proposition.
- Information alone is not enough. Make your script engaging in some way, such as using characters and storylines (just like explainer videos do).
- Show benefits, not features. People want to know how your product will benefit them — let them know!
Make sure your script is not too long! People online have very short attention spans, so if you want your message to get through, you should stay in the ‘Goldilocks zone’ of video marketing lengths: around two minutes — not too short, but not too long.
Storyboard
The second stage of pre-producing a video is to create a storyboard. The storyboard will illustrate the frames of your video in their respective order, creating an idea of what the finished product will look like.
Creating a storyboard is a great way to identify any possible problems in an early stage, allowing to make changes until you find the best way to communicate the benefits of your product.
Branding Your Video
You’re making a product video so that people will remember your product, but this will be of very little use if they don’t remember which company made that product. That’s why branding your video is so important!
The personality of your brand needs to have a strong presence in your video, from the music that you choose to the characters that are shown on screen, or the type of illustration and animation that you use.
So, while you’re showing the best features of your video, make sure to include a hint of what makes your company special.
Viewers want to know why they should choose your brand instead of the competition!
Let’s Review!
In the end, product videos remain as one of the best types of video content that you can include in your content strategy.
It helps you attract your target audience by spreading the word and the excitement around your product!
Now, are you ready to drive your sales up with a product video? It’s time to take all this information and start with the production!
Are you up for the challenge? Comment below.
This post has been written by our guest author – Victor Blasco.
Victor Blasco is an audiovisual designer, video marketing expert, and founder/CEO of the explainer video company Yum Yum Videos. Besides running the business, he’s a lifelong student of Chinese philosophy and a passionate geek for all things sci-fi..
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