How to Create a Product Video Your Customers Will Love
Advertisements and promotions are a huge part of your product’s success. But for people to spend their money on your product, they need to know what it’s about and why it’s so great.
If you’ve been looking for ideas on how to show your product to the world, a product video might be just what you need. We put together this guide to help you figure that out.
In this post, we'll help you learn when exactly you need a product video and what kind is best for your needs. We've also included pro tips and real-life examples of product videos to learn from.
Let's get started!
Table of Contents
What is a Product Video?
Types of Product Videos & When to Use Them
12 Tips for Creating a High-Converting Product Video
21 Amazing Product Video Examples to Learn From
What is a Product Video?
A product video is a video that shows off your product’s features and how it works. It's a great tactic to use for product marketing. Even though a physical product is what you’d most likely think of in a product video, you can also create product videos for services and SaaS products.
You've spent time creating a great product design, and now it's time to show it off.
Product videos are excellent marketing tools and can be shared on social media, embedded on blogs and landing pages, or sent to clients via email during a sales pitch.
The main objective of a product video is to build trust with customers and drive more sales. A good product video does exactly that by showing customers how the product will benefit them or add value to their lives.
Now, there are three main types of product videos and they also have specific use cases. Let’s take a look at each one in more detail.
Types of Product Videos & When to Use Them
An easy way to differentiate the three types is by locating their place in the sales funnel and also the emotional factor tied to them. Some product videos are only one type, but many fall into two or more categories, as you’ll see in the section further below with the examples.
1. Teaser/Promo
Most TV commercials, or advertisements that promote a product, are teasers. They tap into the viewers’ emotions and perceptions of beauty, wealth, prestige and even hunger.
Take, for example, chocolate commercials that show the raw chocolate swirling and pouring and mixing with other ingredients to make a perfect final product, and then someone eats it happily. Or, the videos for perfumes with the bottles lit with seemingly magically lighting and beautiful people looking grandiose.
Let’s not forget the product videos for all Apple products, phones and computers floating in a gravity-free environment showing off how sleek they are. All of these are examples of teasers, or promo videos.
Teaser product videos are both the top of the funnel and the bottom. New customers will feel intrigued and mesmerized wanting more, while loyal customers will feel like they are part of that magic and will keep buying the new and better versions of the product.
TV commercials usually involve professional camera footage and expert special effects. But you can also shoot your product in creative ways using your phone and some tricks of the trade. There are plenty of how-to videos on YouTube for shooting product clips.
2. Explainer
Explainer videos answer the "what" behind your product. They showcase your product in its best light while explaining what it is and what problem it solves.
This type of product video is usually found halfway down the marketing funnel when a customer has already gone past the awareness stage and is at the consideration stage.
An explainer video gives much more information about a product than a teaser; it reels the customer in by relating to their actual problems and pain points. An explainer video is not about glamour, but more about practicality.
3. Demo
A demo product video is more about how a product works in detail than a video to convince people to buy.
In some cases, however, a product demo is just what people at the top of the funnel need to be drawn in — it all depends on the type of product you're selling.
Product videos that are demos go step by step showing how to use the product or service for a specific task or to solve a specific problem. They must be detailed and well-narrated.
SaaS product companies could easily have a whole array of demo product videos, each one showing how to perform a specific action, use a specific feature or achieve a specific goal.
12 Tips for Creating a High-Converting Product Video
Creating a product video for the first time isn’t always easy, especially if you’re now at it. More so if you’re doing it yourself. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 12 pro-tips to help you start, create and distribute your product video.
Let’s take a look.
1. Tell a story.
The first tip is valid for any type of content you create, not just a product video. Always look for the opportunity to tell a story with your video. Even product teaser videos with minimal narration can tell a story, the trick is to find the angle and go with it.
In a general sense, stories have a beginning and an end. But when it comes to short videos, the story can be a snippet of something that isn’t fully said, like opening a window into a bigger story.
2. Show how it solves a problem.
This tip is a little tricky when it comes to teasers, but pretty obvious to explainers and demos. The difference is that for a teaser, the problem being solved is not a practical one, but actually an emotional one.
An explainer video needs to use storytelling techniques to explain how a pain point is solved by using the product, and a demo shows exactly what to do with the product to get something done.
A teaser makes the viewer feel like they need the product they are seeing; in other words, it triggers an emotional response to an emotional pain point. This is where advertisers take advantage of emotional cues to drive an idea home.
3. Keep it short.
Product videos, regardless of their style, should be relatively short. So, anything between 30 and 90 seconds is good. Sometimes, however, a product video can be longer — even up to 5 min.
A longer product video, however, wouldn’t be good to use as a TV commercial or a YouTube ad but would be more like entertainment material.
If in doubt, just keep it short.
4. Be conversational.
It’s important to be relatable to your audience. Nobody likes an outright sales pitch that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Even if your product fits inside a serious niche like health or law, you can still be conversational in your narration.
Think of it like this; you’re talking to a person that represents a larger section of the population. You’re conversing with them about how your product solves their problem. So, be human and be honest.
5. Use high-quality footage.
Product videos for physical products will need high-quality footage that showcases the product at every angle.
Professional product videographers use tools like rotating tables, high-speed cameras, directed lighting, mirrors, water and air to create magical experiences. You can be sure that the majority of these are highly enhanced, especially when it comes to food and hair products.
For SaaS products, use well-recorded screen grabs or create a more stylized representation of your tool in action. If you need help learning how to shoot high-quality product footage, there are plenty of resources on YouTube.
6. Get visually creative.
Getting visually creative is key to making your product video appealing and interesting. Look for creative ways to showcase your products. For example, f your product is edible, you can use the ingredients as supporting visuals.
For drinking products that are best when cold, you can use ice or a condensation effect on the bottle to trigger feelings of thirst and the need to quench it.
Getting creative basically means not to fall for the same overused styling of products. You don’t want your product turned into a meme — unless you’re into that kind of publicity.
7. Don’t keep them guessing.
Product videos aren’t meant to be mysterious— although some brands have used this angle — so, even if you’re making a teaser product video, make sure the audience can tell what your product is in the end.
Consider adding textual cues along with the footage to really drive the message home.
8. Include calls-to-action.
Regardless of the style of product video you create, make sure you include a call-to-action (CTA.) Your CTA could be anything that triggers the desired action from the customer watching your video.
For example, you might want customers to:
Visit your website
Visit your store
Scan a QR code
Make a booking
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