Connor DeBruin is the Head of Performance Creative.
Ken Beemer is the Director of Retail Client Growth at Acadia.
Want to know the secret weapon to more sales and better performance on Amazon? It’s video.
According to Amazon’s own data, shoppers are 3.6x more likely to buy a product that has a video on its product page, and product videos can increase sales up to 9.7% on average across categories. Videos also get consumer attention: 40% of consumers watch videos on product pages, and 90% of those consumers watch the videos all the way through.
In fact, if you’re not using video to sell your products on Amazon, you’re already behind. It’s no longer just about including video at all, it’s about the quality as well. Here’s everything you need to know.
What’s Working
When making videos for Amazon, first figure out which products need specific videos – these are likely to be your best sellers – and how many videos you want to produce and where they’ll live. It’s also necessary to establish the vision and the production value required for the project.
Big budgets aren’t always necessary, and we can be creative in how we put video strategies and concepts together. You might be able to combine stock video, motion graphics, existing product footage, or a combination of the above to get the right effect; newly shot videos may also be necessary, especially for higher price points. User-generated content and creators can also be pivotal in getting customer point-of-view footage for video that acts like testimonials.
Depending on where your video is placed across your brand’s Amazon universe, it should serve a different function. For Acadia clients, a couple of formats have worked. On your Amazon storefront, one video highlighting your top best sellers can quickly introduce new customers to your brand’s most important products and drive them further down the funnel.
Once they’re on the product page, a video may sit alongside the photo spread and product infographics to offer better visuals and more angles of the product. These videos should show the product in its purest form, with the ability to see it clearly and understand dimensions, colorways, and other details.
Further down the product listing page, the customer is likely looking for more information and context. This is where more editorial videos again come in handy but with a focus on just that product. Show it in action, in the context of where your customer will use it.
More Confidence, Fewer Returns
Videos offer more context to a product listing: what does it look like in motion? At all angles? Is it easy to build? Customers deciding between a couple of versions of the same product decide what to purchase based on several factors – feeling confident about specs, shape, and quality thanks to video detail is one. This only becomes more important as we get to higher price points: the more consideration needed to purchase, the more legwork good video can do.
Seeing that a brand invested in video production for its product listing also helps to validate that brand. Amazon is full of sellers, and customers often don’t know which ones they can trust. Product listing details – including videos – can seal the sale when done well.
More information pre-purchase also means fewer returns and fewer returns means fewer negative reviews land on your product page. Showing customers exactly what they’re about to buy through a detailed product video can help avoid bad customer experiences. If your listing requires assembly, for instance, consider producing a video that shows how to build the piece with clear steps. That can not only drive purchases, but it’s also likely to mean more customers are able to get the assembly finished with fewer problems, and they’re less likely to leave a bad review. Once negative reviews start piling up, it’s a hard place to climb out of.
Don’t Cut Corners
This doesn’t require a massive upfront investment: videos that your brand has already shot can be used for Amazon listings. Optimizing existing brand video for Amazon is something that Acadia offers its clients so that they’re able to make the most out of the content they already have.
And video on Amazon can travel far: they live on product pages, page breaker ads, banner ads, in Sponsored Brand listings, Storefronts, and anywhere else that a customer may land on your brand or product. Depending on where the video is being used, we’re able to customize it and get creative so that it makes the most sense and is most effective across an array of placements.
With all of that in mind, it’s important to not cut corners. Shoddy footage, taken on an iPhone, say, or filmed by someone on the e-commerce team without the necessary production or marketing chops, can have the reverse effect on customers in terms of brand and purchase confidence. No video is better than badly shot video.
There’s also a higher return on investment when you have good video that can travel throughout Amazon and beyond. This content can be repurposed for paid social if done well, so it’s important not to cut corners.
The Bottom Line
Videos are table stakes today to be competitive on Amazon, especially across saturated categories like grocery. At Acadia, we have a bird’s eye view of what your competitors are doing, and how to keep your brand at the cutting edge. We’re able to work across budgets to make it make sense for you.