Why and How You Should Use Animated Videos on Your Ecommerce Site
Video is big! How big? According to Cisco, consumer video internet traffic will be 80% of all consumer internet traffic by 2019, up from 64% in 2014, and over half of all content delivered across networks will be in the form of video by 2019.
Video helps SEO efforts, too. Google loves video so much that it’s likely to favor and prioritize sites that include video for their products in their site listings.
Still not convinced that video is right for you? BigCommerce Blog writes that pages with video increase time on site by potential customers by an average of over two minutes. In addition, consumers are 45% more likely to return to a site with videos for other purchases than sites without videos. Further, Big Commerce Blog indicates that over 50% of people have shared a product video within recent months and over 20% have shared 5 or more videos.
The bottom line: Videos will help your business. All you need to do is get one up there.
Making a video, however, can be like going to do the dentist. You know you have to go, but you think it will be painful, and probably expensive, so you keep putting it off.
Free, Animated Videos
Never fear! We’ve found a great, free resource that can help you make videos, using animation. The beauty of Powtoon is this: if you can create a slide deck in PowerPoint, you can create professional quality animated videos with PowToon.
PowToon is a web based, animated video production site. Don’t let the notion of an animated video change your mind about its effectiveness. In some cases, animated videos are more effective at getting the product or service across to potential customers than a traditional video. The Huffington Post writes that animated videos can increase conversions in five different ways. They can:
- Show the business’ formation
- Provide a human touch
- Tell stories
- Are entertaining
- Are simple, in the sense that viewers see only what they really need to see
Ecommerce Animated Video Examples
Powtoon offers many examples of companies creating Product Demos, Explainer Videos, promotional videos, videos to use on social media, behind-the-scenes video, and more.
Here are some examples of Powtoon videos from product companies:
Uncle D’s BBQ Sauce:
[youtube id=”M8EUL_fGkkk”]
and
Wacky Wakeups:
[youtube id=”ZwOP2GrkSUg”]
How to Create the Videos
Sure, it sounds easy, but is it? There are all kinds of tips and tutorials on Powtoon. Some typical suggestions include:
- Write a script for your target market that helps them solve a problem
- Create videos no longer than two or three minutes, and preferably less
- Hire professional voice-over talent; often recommended is using Fiverr.com to find one inexpensively
In addition to the Powtoon website, you can get more great tips in this useful article. You can get step-by-step instructions on creating a Powtoon video in this tutorial.
Just Do It!
Whether you use Powtoon or choose another way to create videos, you need to just do it! Videos are here to stay, and they can make or break your business success.
Just take a look at how we used animation in our “What Is ShipStation?” video, produced by the wonderfully talented Sharp Eye Animation:
[youtube id=”xl_L5-Q09EY”]