Videos establish an understanding with customers faster than any other form of marketing, so it makes sense to use them on Amazon, the world’s largest eCommerce website. But how can you ensure that your videos pop? Allow us to explain with this guide for nailing video on Amazon, plus a few brands already creating excellent videos. If you’d like to chat with the Small Films team about video production, then do get in touch.

In a nutshell: how can you use video on Amazon?

There are a few different ways you can use video on Amazon to draw attention to your products and to help them sell. These include adverts that would appear on someone’s search result, videos on your product page, videos for your brand store page and videos that your customers can leave when they review your product. Let’s dive into these in more detail.

Amazon Ads

We’ve covered the nuts and bolts of Amazon Video Ads in more depth in another article. But to summarise, they are video advertisements appearing in the same place as traditional Sponsored Products advertising, roughly around halfway down the Amazon search page.

These adverts act like the top of your funnel when it comes to marketing on Amazon. You should assume that customers searching for products like yours aren’t aware of your brand, products or the value you bring. You are trying to grab their attention and give them a great reason to click on your sponsored post and visit your product page to find out more. Ensure your customers are engaged and interested in your products with short and snappy videos.

The type of ad you decide to run depends on what you want to achieve. You can use them to tell your brand story, provide information about a specific product, or just about anything else you believe will catch the eye of audiences.

Video specifications for sponsored content

Your Amazon Video Should also meet specific requirements from a technical perspective. These include:

  • File resolution of 1920 x 1080px, 1280 x 720px, or 3840 x 2160px
  • File sizes should be smaller than 500MB
  • File format needs to be MP4 or MOV
  • Display aspect ratio of 16:9
  • Video duration between typically between 6 and 30 seconds long but can be longer
  • Minimum audio bit rate of 96 kbps

 

Product Videos

When your customers click through to your product page, you need to provide them with a quick and simple way of understanding your product and what makes it different. This is particularly popular with brands selling on Amazon, as it gives customers a detailed look at a product in action. Whether it’s a product demonstration/unboxing, seeing it live or creating a lifestyle video where you see the product in action, product videos can capture the imagination better than digital stills.

Your products are also more likely to sell if you make a video of them. They prompt more purchases, with research from HubSpot finding that 73% of people who watched a product video then went on to buy the item.

>> Read more about our product video service and how we can help you.

Filming people

Using people to provide a customer testimonial is a great way to take advantage of video on Amazon. There’s nothing quite like a peer review when it comes to products – they hold more weight than any other form of advertising.

Therefore, you should consider finding customers happy to be filmed and use either your product page or your brand store page to create video reviews. Customers can talk about why they love your product while highlighting how they use it and the pain points it solves. Doing so will offer more validity than written reviews or any catchy slogan you can think up.

Comparison videos

A comparison video is a great way to show your product against competing items. If you feel your offering fares well against competitors and beats them in certain areas, a comparison video can highlight its strengths. Just remember that you can’t mention competitors by name.

Professional versus user-generated

User-generated content (UGC) is big business and gives customers a taste of being brand ambassadors. That alone can be reason enough to make UGC, as it builds stronger connections with brands. This type of content also resonates with Millennials and Generation Z, who are 70% more likely to make a purchase decision after viewing user-generated content.

On the other hand, there’s nothing quite like a sleekly-presented professional video to give your product some gloss. If you’re trying to create a feeling of desire for your products, professional videos can be the way to go. Before deciding, it’s worth looking at your target audience and choosing the type of content you believe will resonate with them the most.

Video reviews

Encourage your customers to leave video reviews on your product page where they film your product with a smartphone and talk about why they like it. Testimonials like this from your real customers will look rough and ready but they are great for building trust and offering unequivocal proof that your product does what it says on the tin.

Should you live film or use motion graphics?

Again, there’s no right or wrong option here, and it really boils down to your products and branding. However, most people on Amazon are looking to make purchase decisions, which is why live film can be more helpful – especially if it’s focused on your products.

There’s also the cost factor to consider. Live filming tends to be more expensive than motion graphics, and you don’t have as much creative freedom either. Ultimately, live-action is probably better suited to Amazon, but that’s not to say you can’t have success with motion graphics.

Amazon Video Ads Best Practices

There are a few factors you need to consider when making Amazon Videos as there are some guidelines you need to follow, as well as general advice that can boost the chances of your video’s success.

  • Use on-screen text – most people scroll Amazon with the sound off, especially if it’s on their mobile. Therefore, you should use on-screen text so they have the option of watching without sound
  • Product-focused – where there are testimonials or live shots of your product, you should aim to keep the videos centred around the items you have for sale
  • Video loop – ensuring that your video restarts seamlessly once it’s finished will allow the viewer to rewatch it again without needing to restart the video
  • Optimise media – keep things like logos, captions and other important information in the safe area of the video so nothing gets cut off

The Best Amazon Video Ads

AND1 LED Light Up Basketball

Sports brand AND1 keeps it simple with a 45-second video highlighting its luminous basketballs. Why would you need basketballs that light up? To play in the dark, that’s why. And with this ad we see the youth pumping up their ball and playing some hoops late at night.

HP

Hewlett Packard sells a tonne of items on Amazon, from printers to photo machines. Its video product video for HP Sprocket Studio Photo Printer shows a mum capturing the best moments from her daughter’s birthday party on her smartphone before using it to download high-quality pictures in real-time. The ad keeps it simple, playing on our emotions with a family as the captions tell us about the HP Sprocket Studio Photo Printer’s features, from printing photos on the fly to editing them moments after snapping the first picture.

Waterdrop

Waterdrop includes two videos on its Amazon product page, one showing the instructions for how its water faucet works and the other showcasing how to install its water osmosis system. There’s nothing flashy about either of these videos, but they do take a complicated concept and simplify things for customers looking at water filtration systems.

Blink Mini

The smart indoor security system from Blink Mini gets the video treatment on Amazon with a short and snappy introduction. The 35-second video informs customers about the core features of the security system, so they can make an informed buying decision. What would take a few minutes to read is essentially wrapped up in just a few seconds.

Final thoughts: nailing your Amazon Video strategy

Amazon is a hyper-competitive marketplace, so you need to use every trick in the book to succeed. With video marketing, you can show your products in a more dynamic light and give people an immersive experience through the use of video.

Small Films is a video production company in London. We’ve created product videos for the likes of Aldi, Charlie Bigham’s and Nextbase and know exactly how to bring your product to life with film. Drop us a line if you’d like support with your video production project.