Where to place videos on your ecommerce store
There are so many options out there when it comes to on-site video for ecommerce. The question is, do you really need video content in every nook of your online store? Where do videos work best at converting shoppers?
In this post, we talk about video placement on ecommerce stores and how to optimize it for conversions.
Product video placements that make sense in ecommerce
When visitors land on your site you want to accomplish two main goals:
- get them to stay and explore your product offering, and
- hopefully, get them to place an order (or at the very least sign up for updates so they can stay in the loop about new offers on your store).
Content certainly plays a big role in accomplishing both of these goals. Having videos to accompany visitors on their journey can be a great way to create a connection with your brand.
However, scattering video content here and there won’t accomplish much. Video placement needs to be done strategically so as to guide visitors to key conversion points. The good ol’ retail mantra “location, location, location” is very much applicable to where and how the content (including videos) is placed on your online store. Here are some examples of where it make sense to place video on your ecommerce site.
Placing videos on the homepage
If you are frequenting ecommerce sites you’ve probably noticed the growing trend of video placement on homepages. What better way to greet shoppers than with larger-than-life videos that immediately draw attention?
We’re seeing more brands opting to feature videos early in the browsing journey, starting from the homepage. While this tactic is certainly attention-grabbing and can be very attractive visually, there are a few things to have in mind when it comes to optimizing a homepage.
First of all, it’s important to be very clear about why you want to have a video on your homepage.
What do you hope to accomplish?
The goal of a video placed on the homepage could be to make a powerful statement about the brand. For example, outdoor clothing company Arc’teryx uses video to introduce visitors to the brand’s values and its approach to activewear design. This tactic helps the brand create an emotional connection with the visitors.
There is a prominent play button that invites people to click and experience the brand through video. This is a clever micro-conversion element on its own and could reveal interesting insights about user behavior. You can learn how interaction with the video on the homepage subsequently affects visitor’s engagement with the rest of the site.
Homepage videos could also be used to creatively introduce new star products. For example, Lush.com uses a large gif as the background of its homepage to tickle visitors’ curiosity about the new product launch. There’s a call-to-action at the page fold that invites people to watch the video in full.
When clicking on the button, a large video overlay appears on the screen where the content is streamed from YouTube. It tells the story of the first mouthwash launched in space, which Lush lovers can immediately relate to, as the brand is well known for its quirky marketing.
Video placement on a homepage is also popular among ecommerce stores that focus on selling one distinct product. For example, Wacaco handheld espresso machine features videos that inspire visitors to brew fresh coffee and demonstrate how the machine works in different contexts (e.g. when camping, on the go or at the office).
It’s an excellent way to introduce novelty brand to customers and get them to navigate to “buy now” button.
Video placement on category pages
Once you’ve successfully introduced visitors to your site and what you’re brand is all about, you should give them a chance to get to know your selection up close and personal.
While videos on category pages are a rarity, some brands find clever ways to incorporate them. For example, Bellroy offers visitors who browse collections to get familiar with different items in each collection via videos. This way, they don’t have to leave the collection’s page in order to learn more about each product.
The subtle play buttons right next to “shop now” call-to-action allow shoppers to watch a short video that comes up in an overlay and to learn all about the wallet design, practicality, colors and even warranty in under 50 seconds. This is a nifty way to get shoppers to convert quickly without committing time to examine each product page individually.
Placing videos on product pages
There are several things that videos placed on product pages accomplish:
- give shoppers a close and more detailed look at product features and design
- help shoppers understand better how a product works
- demonstrate how a product is assembled or installed
- answer common concerns about a product
- show how other people are using a product in their everyday life.
Remember, 4 times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read lengthy descriptions.
The rule of thumb is to place product videos close to critical areas, such as next product images and descriptions that are in proximity to the “buy now” button. The further away videos are from the “hot” areas of the page, the less effective they will be at converting. When a video is prominently displayed, 88% of visitors stay longer and engage more with the site. Based on insights from Google, the highest viewability rates belongs to videos that are placed at the center of the screen and within 250 pixels of the top of the page.
For example, sporting goods store Team Sales features product videos from social media right underneath the hero product image and product detail card.
Video gallery is easy to spot and each video has a large play button, inviting shoppers to engage with the content. Notice that videos are neatly aligned with the rest of the content, so there is no awkward fitting (also important for conversions, because layout needs to inspire trust in shoppers).
Tagline “videos from social media” lets visitors know that what they’re about to watch are product review and unboxing videos created by experts and consumers. When clicked, the video is played in an overlay embedded via YouTube so as to avoid page load delays (also important for optimizing for engagement and conversions).
Shoppers don’t need to exit the product page to find out more information since videos cover all the details about the design and wearability. This is just as important for conversion optimization.
Other things to keep in mind when it comes to videos on product pages? Avoid placing videos at the bottom of the product page (after sections with reviews and related products), because visitor engagement tends to drop as the page scroll gets deeper. Also, try not to hide videos behind tabs, links or small icons that are difficult to spot — you want to make it easy for shoppers to identify relevant content.
Where not to add videos
The online shopping journey doesn’t end with shoppers clicking “add-to-cart” on a product page. They still have to go to the checkout, put their information and finally get a confirmation that their order was placed. Question is, why don’t ecommerce stores also use product videos in the checkout process to aide basket-to-checkout conversion?
If you worked in conversion optimization long enough, you know that the checkout process is sort of a sacred ground. It’s the most critical point in the shopping journey. Remember, up to 86% of online shopping carts are abandoned at checkout. This often happens when shoppers are overwhelmed with extra information (e.g. delivery, safety, cost etc), and their desire for owning the product dissolves under the pressure of uncertainty.
That’s why the checkout process should be sleek, functional and straightforward. Product videos are not necessary here because shoppers are already familiar with the items they chose to buy. In other words, at that stage, they don’t need to be sold on the product anymore. Instead, they should be guided to complete their order as painlessly as possible. Any friction in the final steps might play counter-productive for turning conversions into sales. At this stage, product videos will be a distraction.
What’s next
Having videos on your ecommerce site should always be driven by a clear goal. Don’t add videos just to appear trendy. You want your pages to be engaging and optimized for conversions.
It’s crucial to have clearly outlined expectations in terms of what the success of videos on various pages should be. Then you can A/B tests in order to determine whether the addition of video on the homepage achieves positive results.
Test also different types of videos. While single-product ecommerce sites might benefit from having a single demo video, sites with extensive product offering could benefit from having multiple videos about each product (e.g. review videos, unboxing videos, how-to videos etc).
If you’re ready to add videos to your ecommerce site, give Goodvidio a try.
Originally published on Goodvidio Blog
