Online shoppers are eager to get the job done quick. While purchasing a product is always their end goal, they also want to minimise risk, save time and even pick up a good deal along the way. Before they do so, they look extensively at a number of factors that could impact their decision making, through product research. They look to do their research swiftly and effortlessly, with minimal fuss.
So how can merchants help? Well, that’s where the product video comes in, a medium that effectively attracts and informs potential buyers. Video enhances the user experience, and also yields high return on investment. With video, the positive effects are huge; customers remember your brand, they also stay longer on your site and crucially they buy more products.
Research suggests that today’s consumers watch videos because they are the best way to see a product in action. Consider the fashion retail powerhouse, ASOS and we have a case in point. It regularly accompanies its product pictures with a video of a catwalk model, modelling the ensemble. Users are able to see the product in real-time and are regularly persuaded into purchasing the item, thanks to the added visualisation.
You may consider adopting a site platform which integrates content management systems, video and check out carts together, so you can enable your customers to purchase products through the videos themselves. This cuts out any additional navigation the customer may have to do after the video plays and means that they can make a decisive move through to the check out stage immediately.
To provide more interactivity and to allow your customers to see your products in a wider context you can even tag items. You might wish to tag, for example garments in a promotional video which when clicked on, will take the user through to the relevant product pages. You could even link to articles where the garments have been worn by celebrities, to add a further layer of appeal.
There are even more benefits to video content that you may not have considered. For example, product videos if done well give your customers a great deal of information about the products they are going to buy. This equips customers with information that will persuade them to make a purchase there and then, or if not at least they will be better placed to ask you more concise and to the point queries.
In addition, because you’ve provided your customers with a detailed description of the products before they have bought them, they’re more likely to get what they expect and less likely to return products. This means less admin for you the merchant and less drops in sales. Win, win.
What we are starting to see with video is content being created with a strong emphasis on brand association, i.e content composed of anything which in a customer’s mind relates to the brand. A quick YouTube search of any of your favourite brands shows that many are using their own studio spaces to showcase their products in further detail. Brands are creating videos that discuss their products in the wider context, demonstrate how the products can be used, but most importantly discuss key topics that relate to the products brand, that may be of interest of the consumers of these products. Take for example a brand like RedBull. While it is famed for its production of energy drinks, it is also associated with young, high risk, high adrenaline lifestyles. It’s no surprise that RedBulls YouTube channel includes footage of extreme sports, trips to the playboy mansion and hip hop tracks. All these videos, while they may not showcase the red bull product, they do reinforce the brands image by showcasing various attributes associated with it. This is powerful. As any marketer knows, heightened brand awareness pushes sales significantly.
