Products have practical features. If you’re reading this, you probably have a product you’re trying to promote.
If the product design team has done their job properly, that product will have some stand-out features you’re keen for your potential customers to know all about.
You can sell the glitz and glamour of the product all you like, but if it doesn’t actually do anything, then you’ll quickly get found out.
Once your customers have consumed your marketing material and bought your product, knowing about the fantastic features it possesses, they might want some assistance on how to use it.
Yes, if it’s a physical product, you’ve shipped it with a black and white instruction manual featuring teeny tiny writing in 10 different languages, but who has ever enjoyed reading that?
That little pamphlet is either getting thrown straight in the bin, or being the cause of a very aggravating half-hour.
Customers want a video. So give them what they want.
Product videos can show exactly how your product works in a short and snappy piece of content. Physically show footage of the main parts of your product accompanied with on-screen text or a slick voiceover describing how to use it.
It’s a simple formula.
Get some real human beings in the video to show the human being, who actually bought the product, what they should be doing with it.
For good measure, splash your branding across it and place a CTA to your website and social media channels in there to ensure those future sales.
Now that’s miles better than that ink-stamped piece of tracing paper you stuffed in the box, isn’t it?
Now we’ve established that a product video is a much better way of demonstrating how to use your product to customers, let’s look at what to do with your videos once you’ve produced them.
We’ve established just how useful product demo and explainer videos can be for customers, but how can they effectively be used in your digital marketing campaigns?
Firstly, an absolute winner for this style of content is website landing pages. Research shows that landing pages can show an increase of over 86% in conversions when they include videos.
These landing pages can come in all shapes and sizes. They may include information about a range of different products, explore a certain style of products that feature heavily in your range or just provide more detailed information about one product in particular.
No matter the style, the main thing they have in common is that they are there to provide the customer with more detailed information about the product.
The customer should leave that landing page (hopefully onto a purchase button on your site) feeling like they have learned something relevant and helpful about the product or products in question.
This need to educate and inform the customer that makes product demo and explainer videos so potent.
At its very core, a product explainer video in this style provides detailed information about a product in a way that is visually appealing and easy to digest for the customer. It’s for this reason that product videos are so impactful on landing pages. They supplement the text and image-based content that the customer is already being provided in a way that is more engaging.
If you have an e-commerce site, each of your products will have its own page. This will feature written information about the product, images and maybe even the price.
But if you can provide the potential customer with even more information in order to give them full confidence that your product addresses the need that they have, then this can only help, right?
Maybe, a piece of content that isn’t just descriptive but contains genuinely informative information, in a format that is very visually clear (I think you can see where I’m going with this)?
If a potential customer is on the product page of an e-commerce website they are so close to actually buying that product. In many instances they are just one click away.
You don’t want to lose them at this point!
Making sure they have all the information they need and that the product looks the business all contribute to swaying their decision favourably towards buying.
Beyond just your own website, e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Etsy have their own specific requirements when it comes to product videos.
Amazon in particular love video content and want more of it on their website.
Clearly they realise it is the most useful piece of content for customers.
So if you can nail the format and produce versions of your e-commerce videos that the e-commerce platforms you’re selling on like, then not only will your potential customers be happy but the platforms themselves are more likely to look favourably on your listings.
You know that flimsy bit of white paper with tiny writing I referred to before? Well, you can finally replace that.
A simple QR code linking to an instructional video about your product is so much easier from a printing perspective, from a copywriting perspective and from a translation perspective.
Beyond the cost savings, your customer gains access to one or a series of slick, easy-to-understand videos to watch, telling them everything they need to know about the product.
From a very practical perspective, replacing your cumbersome instruction manual with instructional product videos is a win all round.
The very straightforward concept of the instructional video can be branched out into other useful videos that will help the customer.
Whether this be an FAQ video answering some of those classic questions on the website, suggestions of how to use the product or even wider engaging content that brings your customer closer to the brand.
Shipping your product with links to videos like this is more practical and useful than a printed guide.
Plus, it offers many more opportunities to engage your customers with the brand.
The uses listed above are all specific ways that product demo and product explainer videos can be useful to benefit you and your customers. The overarching point here is that no matter which approach you start off with, everything you produce contributes to your wider marketing campaigns.
If for instance, you are just producing videos with the view to put them on specific landing pages, don’t think you are solely limited to using the content for this purpose.
You can chop the videos into smaller clips for social media posts and even re-work them for social ads.
Make sure you’re re-purposing that content people!
Yes, an e-commerce-specific video may be a solution to help boost sales on your online store, but this piece of content could also be the ticket to enhancing a proposal to potential distributors and partners.
The video that describes all your product benefits in a snappy and understandable way could also be used to target that lead you’ve been warming up on LinkedIn to get a big deal over the line.
That’s the absolute beauty of this style of video content – It’s not limited to its initial purpose. Product videos aren’t just assets to hold on to; they are tools to achieve your business goals.
I’ve been banging on about the benefits and uses of product videos, but what do they actually look like? Here are a few examples.
This video quite simply shows in very easy steps how to assemble the product in question. This is a fantastic example of a piece of video content that could be linked to via a QR code shipped with the product. This would be instantly helpful to the customer as they have their initial interaction with the product.
Within 60 seconds the customer can see exactly what they need to do to assemble their new product. This bypasses the need for clunky printed instructions with difficult to see black and white sketchings.
The customer here is receiving a clear step by step guide of what they need to do as well as a clear visual of what the product should look like when they’ve finished assembling it.
It just makes sense all round!
There are so many products out there that are used in completely different ways. However, the principles of using video content to demonstrate how they are used stays the same.
This example shows a children’s boardgame, that at its core has very simple rules.
However, as with any board game the initial access to using the product and enjoying it is to understand the rules straight away. This can often be the barrier to the customer getting the most out of the product.
Unlike the previous example where the video shows the customer how to physically assemble the product, here the video is showing the customer how to use the product. With it being a children’s game, the visual nature of the video makes informative elements of the content even more effective.
What this highlights is that product explainer and demo videos can have various uses for your customer throughout their interaction with the product.
Here we’ve seen a physical setup demonstration and an explanation of how to use a product.
However, this can run through to aspects such as cleaning a product, understanding different specific elements, recycling the packaging etc. This list goes on and so does the uses for video content like this.
If you’re now hooked on the idea of producing some product videos and this super interesting article has convinced you on the merits of video content for product demos and explainers, then the next step is to actually produce them.
There are all sorts of different ways to produce product videos, but because it’s the way we know, I’m going to give you a quick rundown of the approaches we take.
There are three different styles of product videos we produce:
Videos shot in our studio
Videos shot on location
Animated videos
These are three distinctly different styles of videos that are produced in different ways and as a result, look different.
They each have their own purposes and merits, whether this be because it’s the most effective and efficient way to produce them or whether it be because the specific style each one gives is most appropriate for that project.
But the additional joy is that all three styles can be blended and often they are!
A very efficient way of filming product demo and explainer videos would be in our studio. Clients send us their projects, we work through the creative idea with them and then we film the videos in our own studio.
Studio filming often involves building a specific set for the shoot that aligns with the visuals we’ve decided on with the client.
The joy of filming in the studio is that all sorts of mini worlds can be built via the set design. Through the clever use of props and camera angles various different “locations” can be created without needing to leave the studio. Making it a pretty cost-effective way of filming.
Or, if that slick, minimalist studio look is what is most appropriate for the videos, then great, we’re already in a studio!
The main restriction that comes with studio filming is that no matter how great the set design is, you are always trying to emulate a real-world setting in an artificial setting.
Finding creative ways to make this work and use the studio setting to your advantage is what we’d always recommend, but if you are trying to create real life in a studio the set design costs can quickly add up and the cost benefits of filming in a studio over a real world setting can quickly be lost.
These videos are shot out there in the real world in whatever location is relevant to the shoot. Much more like regular video production and filmmaking where you are lining up locations to shoot each scene in, here we use the world and all the wonderful settings and backdrops it has to offer to create a gloriously looking product explainer video.
Firstly, this approach gives you the visual benefit of seeing the product in a real world setting. The video feels more natural and true to life and often has a more genuine feel to it.
This is great for products that really need to be seen in a real world setting such as outdoor products or ones that really benefit from multiple people interacting with them.
It also allows the possibility of lifestyle-focused footage to be interspersed. Giving extra depth and context to a demonstration of the product.
However, with all video products, filming on location can come with its challenges. Of course, outdoor filming is unpredictable with weather and lighting being constant contenders.
Furthermore, time and space (no this isn’t going to turn into an astrophysics lecture) can be inhibiting if locations are only available for a restricted amount of time. This all contributes to crew and location costs which can lift those overall production costs.
Especially with demo and explainer videos, detail is very important. After all the purpose of the content is to inform the viewer. Locations and environments that are hard to control may make it trickier to capture detailed shots of the product or even make the demo unclear if there are other distracting things going on.
Filming on location can unlock a whole different world of possibilities when it comes to visuals, however, it is worth bearing in mind the limitations and potential stumbling blocks that come with this and whether they would detract from the demonstration or explanation element of your video.
If you’re struggling to figure out which style your product videos would be best produced in, worry not, we don’t like to pigeon-hole projects here at Glacé Media.
The beauty of these videos is that they can contain a mixture of these different styles or even all of them.
For instance, animated text is very effective when overlaid on filmed footage. Whether this be shot in the studio or on location, animations can be added to the video to share more specific information, draw attention to key points or even include diagrams and models alongside the footage on screen.
You don’t have to choose just one of these styles, we’d actually recommend blending them to ensure the product is shown off in the best way possible and that all the necessary information is clear to the viewer.
Following this wonderfully in-depth piece of writing, hopefully you’re now fully sold on the benefits of product demo and explainer videos and are chomping at the bit to create your own.
We’d absolutely encourage you to dive in and create you’re own. However, if you do feel you need some assistance or want to ensure you lift the production to level to an even higher one, the Glacé team are on hand to help you with this process.
We just blummin’ love making product videos!
We’ll work with you from conception to delivery to ensure you end up with the product videos that do the best job of demonstrating and explaining your product.
Our video production service means that all we need from you to get the ball rolling is a written brief (no matter how abstract or top-line this may be) and we’ll begin the process of refining your ideas, produce a production plan and most importantly get them made.
We even have our own product video studio. If you do decide in-studio filming is the way to go for your demo and explainer videos all you need to do is send us your products.
You don’t even need to turn up on location (another sneaky reason why in-studio filming is great, just don’t mention it to the MD).
To top it all off, when we’ve finished editing your videos and you have a huge grin upon your face, we’ll advise you as to the best way to use your new content online.
We’ll of course be in discussion all the way through the production process to ensure the videos are optimised for the most relevant platforms, however, we don’t want to just send you out in the cold.
All the expertise we’ve developed over the years of video production will be shared with you in the form of our advice on where best to use your videos and how to optimise them to perform to the best of their ability online.
Sounds pretty good eh? Well, all you need to do is drop us a message and you’ll be sending your brand spanking new product demo and explainer videos out into the digital world in no time.