Plug it in, try it on: How product-review videos can boost e-commerce sales

The most compelling call to action button on the internet is a play button. And the data around video consumption seems to back this statement up, with Cisco now estimating 80% of the world’s internet traffic is video traffic.

If you’re in e-commerce, it means you’ve got to embrace video to stay relevant with your customers. Video consumption in a customer’s shopping journey is instrumental in increasing conversion rates. In fact, Hubspot has reported increases in conversion of more than 80% when a video is added to landing pages.

Below are four tips for e-commerce retailers on how to increase conversion rates through video.

Humanise your brand

The power of video for an e-commerce brand is it builds perpetual selling assets. The key to creating an emotional connection to your customers that will enable you to sell faster is to humanise your products by having a presenter or product expert explain the products that you are selling.

Whether you’re in a B2B or B2C industry, think H2H: human to human. We are hard-wired to connect with other human beings, so to increase the engagement of your video, have a potential customer connect to the person at the other end of the video.

Professional presenters are trained to connect with people via camera, so it’s always good to invest in them. If you need to use someone in-house, make sure they don’t come across awkward on camera, as it will be detrimental to your brand’s reputation and potentially hurt your sales.

Let it be seen

Producing a video review of your best-selling product is only half of the video journey. The other half involves you making that asset sweat — in making it work hard you will see the biggest returns on investment.

We’ve got irrefutable scientific evidence from our videos that show the more hours of a product-review video that is watched, the more units that product will sell.

So, if you want to increase sales, then it becomes an absolute no-brainer to have your video above the fold to maximise play rate. If possible, mask it behind your main hero image and just add a play button. (Remember what I said about it being the most compelling CTA button?) If you can’t have it that big, then at least have it on your carousel.

The biggest mistake you can make (and it’s worth mentioning as many companies still do this) is to have your video review sit at the bottom of a website.

Don’t neglect your thumbnail

If a video is a prelude to your customers buying from you, a video thumbnail is what embarks them on that journey.

It is a huge mistake to leave Youtube or Vimeo to randomly assign a thumbnail.

There is tonnes of data to show a smiling person featured on a thumbnail increases play rates. Think of a video thumbnail as a window display for your store. You really need to dress it up and make it as appealing as possible for people to watch. After all, they’ll be more likely to purchase from you after watching a video product review.

Another popular technique is to create a bespoke image for your thumbnail. High-converting thumbnails include ones with bold text and bright colours and ones where you create intrigue by highlighting faces showing emotion.

Show your product in all its glory

When creating product reviews it’s very important to demonstrate how it works.

You will never know all the questions that a customer may have about a product they are looking to buy. But the likelihood is that by plugging it in, trying it on or taking it out for a spin, and showcasing it at work, many of these questions will be answered.

Showing a product in action elicits trust in your company or brand, and that trust is the foundation block of conversion increases — so make your you’re honest and transparent when showcasing your product.

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