The PEC Review: Animoto for Quick, Basic Product Videos

Product videos give shoppers a better idea of what they’re buying, slash return rates, and boost conversions. So it is little wonder that many online retailers are adding videos to their product detail pages.

But not all product videos are created equally, and not every product deserves the same level of video production.

For your best-selling, highest-margin, or most complicated items, you will almost certainly want to produce videos like those at Golfsmith or Williams-Sonoma.

Golfsmith offers demonstration videos from product experts.

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Williams-Sonoma’s video explains how to cut up a chicken.

These videos demonstrate how to use the product, explain why it is beneficial, and add a personal, human touch, making them very effective. Yet, they do cost more and take more time to produce.

Using simpler video slideshows like the ones at Ice.com may still improve conversion rates for the rest of your site’s products.

Ice.com’s slideshow offers a close-up view of a necklace.

Animoto is a quick and easy-to-use automatic video maker that can help you transform the product images you already have into video slideshows. What’s more, the service is reasonably priced and offers an API that could make it possible to produce videos for all of your products automatically. For giving online retailers an easy way to create product videos, I am awarding Animoto four and a half out of five stars in this, “The PEC Review”.

“The PEC Review” is my weekly column dedicated to introducing you to products or services that will help you improve your business. This week, I will explain why you should use Animoto.

Simplicity

First and foremost, Animoto is easy to use. In just a few minutes, I took three product images and a logo, uploaded them to Animoto, picked a song from its music library, and produced a product video similar in quality to what you could find on dozens of ecommerce sites.

Animoto’s user interface was clear and functional at each step. For example, I could upload all images simultaneously in a batch process. You can watch my sample Animoto video below. Notice that the video loops, which is another Animoto feature.

Shareable

Animoto also makes it very easy to distribute your new video. You can embed it, as I did above, export it to YouTube or SmugMug, post it to Twitter, Facebook, or several other social networking sites with just a couple of clicks, or download it for integration into your site with a Pro Account.

Video API

Animoto offers an application programming interface to make videos via your site or application.

There are a couple of ways this could benefit ecommerce sites.

First, the API should allow you to programmatically create an Animoto video for every product on your site. However, you may need a developer’s help to get the API working, which could mean investing money. Once in place, video production should be easy.

Second, you could use the Animoto API to let customers post or make videos of themselves using your products. These video testimonials may be fun for customers and good for business.

Price

I made my sample Animoto video using the company’s free plan, which lets you create 30-second or shorter films that end with the Animoto logo. The Pro Account costs $249 per year or $39 per month if paid in installments. It also provides access to Animoto’s commercially licensed music libraries.

Video Quality

I want to say just one more thing about video quality. The best ecommerce videos are the ones that demonstrate how to use the product, explain why the product is beneficial, and add a personal, human touch— as I mentioned above. While you can use Animoto to finish those sorts of videos, I believe it will be the most helpful with second-tier, slideshow-like videos that can be quickly produced for those products that don’t merit the cost or time associated with regular production.

Summing Up

Animoto is an excellent, automated solution that could help online retailers quickly produce product videos. The service is inexpensive and easy to use, and once the video is produced, users can easily share it. Animoto is worth the four and a half out of five stars I’ve awarded it in “The PEC Review.”