Video Styles that Attract and Convert Shoppers, for Ecommerce

In today’s marketing world, companies spend much time and money deciding how to create the most compelling content to promote their brands. One way to do this is with video.

There are many ways to create videos for your product or to drive traffic. Some require thousand-dollar investments, while others can be bootstrap productions that go viral. Here are some video styles you can try for your company.

Modeled Product

For most products on Zappos, someone will briefly describe the item in a video.

Some retailers include product videos that feature a model using or wearing the item. A great example of this is Zappos. For most of its products, you can click on the video and someone will briefly describe the item for you and then walk around in it to show you how it looks when you wear it. This is a smart option for items like shoes and clothing — the shopper can actually see them as they would look when worn, versus seeing the item on a mannequin or in one place.

Cinematic or Documentary

On L.L. Bean’s ecommerce site, you’ll often see a video of someone using a product, like fishing gear, in a real environment.

Some brands give serious thought to how they should present their products in online videos, and take a more cinematic approach. These videos often combine the artistic feel of a Hollywood movie with the practicality of talking about the product at the same time. A brand that does this well is L.L. Bean. You’ll often see someone using the product, like fishing gear, in a real environment. L.L. Bean uses wide and panning camera angles, and the video is narrated by someone from L.L. Bean talking about the integrity of the product. The video then switches between the people using the product and the narrator, along with shots of the item being made. This works for brands that really stand by their products, and want to highlight the quality of the materials they use and their craftsmanship.

Instructional or How-to

Advanced Auto Parts creates how-to videos that help its customers, and its brand.

A good way to create meaningful content for your customers is by making instructional videos. These allow you to give your customers all the information they need to effectively use your product without having to call customer service for help. Advanced Auto Parts does this well with its video channel, which provides how-tos on all kinds of topics, like how to change your own oil or how to install a new battery. What’s effective about the more generic videos, like changing your oil, is that anyone searching for oil change how-tos could come across the link to this video, which provides links to each product as it appears on the screen.

Third-party Reviews

A reviewer with a large following can help your product by having this person use it and give an honest opinion.

Collaborating with a third party to conduct a review of your product can be a good way for any size company to build lasting relationships and drive new traffic. Especially if you are a business and there isn’t a lot of awareness about your product, a third party reviewer with a large following can give your product some gravitas by having this person use it and give an honest opinion.

You’ll also reap the benefits from his followers, who will see the review and potentially convert to new customers. Popular styles of third-party reviews include product hauls, where someone tells you all the things they purchased on a particular shopping trip, or comparison videos, where they put two similar products, like an iPhone and a Galaxy S5, up against one another in a pros-cons style face-off.

Customer-submitted Video Reviews

Amazon does not let sellers upload a product video, but purchasers can upload a video review of the item.

Customer aggregated content is becoming increasingly popular, especially with the rise of tools that curate social media photos and hashtags to help companies find photos of their products being used in real life. Some websites, like Amazon, don’t let sellers upload a product video, but purchasers can upload a video review of the item. This is a good way to get a full view of your product on your page, and customer video reviewers often invest a significant amount of time into the review process.

360 Views

360-degree views are essentially 360 interactive videos of your product that an online shopper can click and drag to see all sides.

A lot of online retailers are now using 360 views to feature their products. This is what my company, Arqspin, does. These 360 views are essentially 360 interactive videos of your product that an online shopper can click and drag to see all sides of the item. The benefit of using 360 videos is not only that they engage customers and allow them to experience the product as if they were holding it in a store, but they’re also something you can create with the photo studio setup you’re already using. If you’re taking photos of your product on a white background for the image gallery, you can take a video of it in this same setup to create a 360 view.

Demo Videos

Demo videos are a good way to promote your product while also explaining what it does with some flair.

Demo videos are popular for startup businesses, and for businesses in the tech industry. This is because they’re a good way to promote your product while also explaining what it does with some flair. Demo videos are usually the kind that end up going viral or that you’ve likely seen on YouTube. A classic example of this is Dollar Shave Club. Its original demo video was inexpensive — and it went viral. A more extreme version of this kind of video is Blendtec’s “Will it Blend,” where host Tom Dickson blends items like iPads, iPhones, and Justin Bieber fan gear.

These are just a few examples of the kinds of videos you can produce for your company. Depending on your content goals, videos are a great way to be informative, engaging, or just fun.