Call To… Action! Why You Should Use Video To Increase eCommerce Sales

If a picture paints a thousand words, then a video can convey a million.

Video content is becoming increasingly common place on eCommerce websites, and if you're not using video to promote your products then it's about time you got on board with this rapidly growing trend.

Let explore 6 reasons why using video can get you closer to building a successful online business:

1. Shake It Off On Social Media

Sharing videos is increasingly popular with consumers. Sites like Pinterest let consumers pin videos to their walls and videos are extremely popular on social media. Viral spread of a good video marketing campaign can introduce your product and brand to an absolutely staggering number of new consumers.

Billabong’s I Surf Because... show us exactly how it is done. Surfers choose a starting video, enter a statement, and then have the option of sharing it with their friends – all featuring Billabong branding.

Billabong’s interactive video lets surfers create an e-card statement and share it with friends

2. Climb The Google Wall

Video also helps with search engine optimisation. Google sets aside prominent space in search results for videos and, according to some SEO pundits, favours websites that feature video in its organic search results.

Perfect example of two online clothing stores ASOS and Boohoo, both organically listed on page 1 of Google search results for 'Red dress' - each product video has clearly worked a charm!

3. Grab Your Customers Attention On Any Device

Videos also encourage eCommerce conversions, especially on mobiles and tablets. With customer increasingly doing their online shopping whilst also watching television, video is a way for your website to grab the entirety of the consumer's attention. Video also scales well to smaller devices, such as phones, where users are comfortable with rotating their device to enjoy full screen video.

4. Say A 1000 Words With Just One Click

Videos are the perfect antidote to long and complex product pages. As we all strive to achieve better search rankings by providing more and more information in the text of the page about our products, video is a way to speak directly to the consumer and put across the key features and benefits of your product without compromising the depth of content in your text.

Dekke showcase their latest iPad stand - Slope, with a beautifully produced 33 second video. It captures the firm anchorage (tablet to table) is its hallmark along with its sleek design and quality build. Minimal. Elegant. Stunningly Effective.

5. Don’t Have A Fancy Camera? - Do It On A Budget

Creating an engaging product video doesn't have to cost a huge amount of money, either. Many websites are simply taking their existing product images and combining these, as an animated sideshow, with some background music and a voice-over. Whilst these may not be the most inspiring or creative videos in the marketplace today, they can still have a marked impact on conversion rates.

6. The Holy Grail Of All Videos

The "holy grail" of online content is user created videos - videos created by customers talking about your products. As with customer reviews, the average consumer will trust the information in a third party video more readily than they will the information that you are presenting to them on your website. If you have a loyal customer base that you can tap into, and find some budding film makers, then you could already be on your way to video success!

Meghan Rienks a popular YouTuber with over 200,000 subscribers gives a fun and enthusiastic product review of her latest fall fashion purchases!

Check out 6 Do's & 3 Don'ts To Generate Your Own PR & Drive Your Own Online Sales and send your products out for a review

7. Keep It Simple On Your Product Pages

Using video to describe your product is probably the most effective way to let your customers "touch" the detail from afar.
30 seconds is all you need to literally double your sale conversions.
Whether it's an unboxing video showing the contents of a product pack from start to finish or, a beautifully simple pirouette to show the drape of a dress, a close up of an earring, or, the brim of a hat its your window into your customer's heart - and Google will love you for it as well.

Hat's off to The Brim Label for executing the concept beautifully

Useful Resources:

Kissmetrics
A website about analytics, marketing and testing.

Get Elastic
A fanstastic blog which shares eCommerce best practices and better ways to manage your digital relationships

Comscore
A global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics.