How to Use Short-Form Videos to Grow Your E-commerce Business

Do people really have the attention span of a goldfish? We’re not convinced. But what we are convinced of is that short-form videos can be highly effective for growing your E-commerce business. Here’s why, and how, to use them.

Why short-form videos?

So we’re not convinced people have the attention span of a goldfish. But why risk testing the hypothesis?

Investing in video isn’t always cheap, either in time or money. Short-form video doesn’t risk losing the subject’s attention, because it’s short. You’ve just got to grab their attention, not hold it for a possibly inordinate (to the viewer) amount of time.

By the way, if you’re already convinced that you need short-form videos for marketing but don’t know where to start, get in touch with us. We’ll be happy to help.

All right, so you’ve got an attention-grabbing short-form video. Why else should you invest in short-form?

More Cost-effective

Shorter videos are usually less pricey and time-intensive to make. You or an employee can use your smartphone camera and low-cost or even free editing software. Short-form video content also has a higher chance for engagement and increased sales, giving you a greater ROI for your efforts.

Greater Likelihood of Increased Engagement

Regardless of length, any video with a good hook, strong visuals, good sound quality, and engaging content can grab someone’s attention. But shorter videos increase the chance of your viewer watching the entire thing. This makes the algorithms happy and will have a long-term, positive effect on your engagement metrics.

Builds Emotional Connection

Engaging content and visual storytelling hits on all the right emotional appeals and dopamine receptors in your viewer’s brain. A short video makes it easier for you to achieve these metrics, building a stronger emotional connection with your brand.

Increased Conversion Rates

In most instances, higher engagement means higher conversions. Since shorter video content can make it easier for you to hit high engagement metrics, it makes it easier for you to get viewers to take your call to action after watching the video.

Best Ways to Use Shorter Videos

For E-commerce businesses, visual demos of your products is a great way to use short-form videos to build awareness. Plus, a short-form video series can give you a greater catalog of valuable content that you can share across multiple channels.

Consider:

• A visual demonstration of how your product works
• A series of videos explaining key product features
• Video series of different scenarios where your product offers specific benefits or solves particular problems
• Videos that answer a single common question your target customer may have

Another effective way to use short-form video content is to showcase customer testimonials and reviews.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for how to do that.

How to create short-form videos showcasing customer testimonials.

Source authentic testimonials

• Contact happy customers — Identify and reach out to satisfied buyers who like your products. Bonus points for personalization if you can refer to the customer by name in your messages.
• Encourage participation — You’ll need to incentivize them to participate. Offer a discount, freebie, etc. to share their review.

Create engaging questions

• Simplify it — Ask open-ended, short questions that are easy for people to answer and share their personal anecdotes.
• Focus on impacts — Ensure your questions are designed to elicit answers that illuminate the customer’s experience, i.e., customer service and satisfaction when interacting with your business.

Now that you have an idea of what type of video subject is going to be most effective, let’s get into the top tips for creating short videos.

Top 5 short video tips

#1. Keep it short

Sounds redundant and obvious, but what we mean by short is about 15 to 60 seconds long. Shorter than that and it can be harder to get your point across, while longer risks losing attention and engagement.

#2. Use high-quality visuals

Strong visuals are a must for getting the viewer’s attention and stopping the doom scroll. Text overlays, B-roll, and clear, close-up images of the product make for engaging visuals.

#3. Include a strong CTA

A strong call to action clearly states what you want the viewer to do, whether it’s share your video, follow you on social, visit your site, buy your product, subscribe to your newsletter, etc.

#4. Use trending music

Including popular music or sounds can help your videos resonate with viewers and increase engagement with your content.

#5. Track performance

Despite what the gurus say, marketing is difficult. While there are many best practices in marketing and for sharing video content specifically, you’re engaging with people and people aren’t always predictable. Plus, you’ve got those pesky and fickle algorithms to consider.

So, you’ll need to track video performance and make adjustments to improve future content.

For example, you may notice trends in your data that certain types of content perform better, like reviews over product demo videos. Or you may find that longer videos are more effective for your brand and product line.

Always be testing, always be improving, and don’t fall in love with it.

Quick tips to make your video high-quality:

• Good lighting
• Clear audio
• Stable shots
• Simple backgrounds

Where to share your videos

Depends on your audience, but TikTok and Instagram Reels are ideal for short-form content and they also have a large user base. Sharing on YouTube shorts can help you reach an even broader user base and it has the added benefit of improving your SEO.

And of course, don’t forget your website. Embed those reviews, testimonials, and product demo videos directly on your product pages. Consider creating a dedicated testimonial page on your site to house your testimonial videos too.

Lights, Camera, Action?

If you’re ready to start making and sharing short videos, our E-commerce marketing team is on standby. We’ve got over a decade of experience in global eCommerce marketing.

Reach out to us today and let’s start the conversation.