What was the last product you bought without looking at it? Well, I don’t think you buy anything without seeing the product. Seeing is believing – that’s what they say.
Let’s show your customers the products or services you sell. So, what if they are hesitating to come to your shop? So, what if they find it difficult to understand the kind of service you offer that you can’t explain over phone? You have a solution, your sales machine that can reach out to your customers and explain the product or service in an attractive manner. The solution is nothing but a product video. My dear business owners and marketers, the time has come you should also make a product video.
It doesn’t matter whether you operate in a B2B or a B2C industry, a product video is the need of this time.
In this edition, we’ll know each and every detail about a product video – its contains, types, ideal length, distribution, etc.
Why there’s sudden rise in the product videos?
Humans are born with this incredible ability to survive in any condition. If Covid19 was a typhoon for the business owners around the world, there were a few silver linings too. Plenty of new opportunities were created in the online space. Even if people have their physical shops, they started to showcase their products on their websites and customers also started responding. The new trend post Covid19 has showed us that customers do watch a product video and make their buying decisions based on these videos.
It’s a good sign.
The world has turned upside down in the past 18 months and many beliefs in the past shattered to pieces. Earlier we would shake hands as we met. Who does that anymore? In the same fashion, earlier people would go out, touch and feel the things before buying. Today, they are scared. They wanted an alternative method to know about the products on their shopping list. If we speak about the buyers in India, they never believed in online shopping. But suddenly the market has seen rise in ordering online and this goes beyond electronic or books shopping. Indians are getting used to buying grocery, vegetable & fruits, chicken and meat on the online stores. Remember when the same people would not buy even coriander before checking. But they have started believing the sellers and their claims.
Smart marketers noticed this trend and designed innovative offers to attract the buyers like altering the return or exchange policy. Consumers couldn’t touch the products, but they should be able to see them and only a picture or text descriptions were not enough. That’s where a product video helps them a lot. A smart video answers all the questions in the minds of its audience.
Moreover, they have to give a few minutes of their time and they already know the product.
What is a product video?
In simple terms a product video goes by its name – a video that showcases your products or services. As I stated earlier whether you sell your products in the retail arena or you deal in institutional selling, all you need is to showcase your product.
It takes for a buyer a few minutes to know the complete information about a product and its features. No wonder, product videos are becoming popular. Customers don’t have to read through the brochures or a websites for each and every detail. Once they have a look at the product video and they like the product they may go to your website to check more details. Now, as a seller you don’t have to explain each and everything, every time.
What does a product video contain?
There’s no rocket science here. Before making a product video of any of your products, think of a simple incidence. This is not an imaginary or a fictional incidence. It’s a routine thing from your daily life. Imagine a customer enters through the door of your shop or calls you and enquires about a certain product, what will be your response. Just think how would you explain them the product they are enquiring about. Even though it’s a standard practice in sales worldwide, every business owner or marketer has their unique style. Well, here’s the base of your product video.
You can include following aspects in a product video:
- Product description
- Detailing of the product
- Key features
- Ease of application
- Variants (if any)
- Colours (if any)
- USPs over the competition
Throw in all those ingredients you explain to your customer about the product in your video. A beautiful blend of all of them is your product video. Don’t leave anything for their imagination except the offer. Rest everything can be present in your product video.
What are the types of a product video?
You can make a product video using various styles of filmmaking based on the demands of your product. There are five different ways of making a product video.
Live Action Video:
This is a classical way of making a video. A live action video is made by actual shooting a product and its features. You require a proper production set up to make this video. You have to prepare a script before shooting that becomes a roadmap for your production. A cameraman captures the product from various angles to enhance its features as per the guidelines given by the director. The environment is lit up properly by using shooting lights so that the product looks glamourous. You can use the location of application eg. If you are selling a water purifier, you can show a kitchen where the product is actually used. There’s one more way to doing it. You can give a neutral environment such as a black or a white background. It can also be done on a table top. If a product is small, you can also use a turn table to show the product from all sides.
After extensive shooting of the product, the footage is edited on the computer. Graphics and voice over are added to it. Then you get a complete video of your product. This video tells the story of your product in a couple of minutes. An engaging product video could leave a positive impact on the consumer’s mind and their buying decision.
Whiteboard Animation:
Imagine you are sitting in a classroom where your teacher is explaining you something. Boring, isn’t it? Nobody liked whiteboard and black marker during their college days. But now, imagine a bit more; your professor is an expert artist and they are drawing a story right in front of your eyes with the help of characters and figures. Wouldn’t it be interesting?
Whiteboard animation is that thirty-minute boring lecture depicted in the most interesting way in just two minutes. A hand with a marker pen goes on drawing the story that a narrator is narrating in the background. This story can have one or more characters, figures, charts, etc. Normally, it goes in the fast forward mode and it looks very attractive. You can also use subtitles in addition to the narrator’s voice.
A whiteboard animation can also be made in two ways –
A. Live Action Whiteboard Animation
B. Digital Whiteboard Animation
Live action whiteboard animation:
This is a more authentic way of making a whiteboard animation video. It requires an illustrator who is capable of drawing figures and characters. An artist draws the entire storyline on a white drawing paper put on a glass top which is well light from behind. The camera is put right at the 900 angle and it captures only the paper and the hand with a marker. The artist goes on drawing and the camera records everything. Further in the edit the whole footage is edited and then the speed is increased to fit it in two minutes. It takes an artist to finish all the pictures and scene well in advance to get the look and feel of the final product. Then they can just redraw over the pencil drawing which is already made. The whole process of drawing, shooting and editing can take days together and it’s very expensive too.
Digital Whiteboard animation:
This is a less complicated, comparatively easy and affordable way of whiteboard animation. The whole animation in this type of video is made on a computer. In some cases, an illustrator may draw pictures. But most of the animation is done using VFX, animation and editing software. A digital animation also requires a story and a strong script which is narrated in a good quality voice over. But most of the product takes place on a computer. This is a fast and cost-effective way of a Whiteboard animation video.
Digital or a live action, a Whiteboard Animation Product Video is ideal to explain a service-related product than a physical product. Services are intangible and they don’t have anything to show in a live action video. A Whiteboard Animation is very effective way to showcase the function of that service, its features and benefits.
Vector Animation:
By animation we’ve always seen the cartoon animations those come on television. It’s a common belief that they are ideal to engage children and not the grown-ups. But many of us still glue to the all-time favourite the Tom & Jerry show. Although animations are very engaging and entertaining, they take incredible amount of pain to make. With the digital age has democratised filmmaking and brought it in the reach of everyone. Thanks to this digital revolution even cartoon animations can also be made digitally and that is what is a vector animation.
These animations are made on a computer with the help of puppet animation in After Effects. You can get the vector either by drawing in Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw or buy them directly from various sources. Some of the sites also offer the royalty free vectors for free. But the only problem with the free vectors is that they are not exclusive. Anyone who has the access to the site can have these vector characters. They are 2D vectors and looks flat like Tom & Jerry. But they are relatively simple to make and they are very effective in storytelling.
Like all the videos, you need a proper story and a strong narration for such kind of videos too. Further it is divided into scenes and the animators move the characters accordingly. You can also add dialogues to it to make it more interesting.
3D animation:
As the name suggests, it is a type of video that is made in a three-dimensional animation. This is a very effective way of making a product video. In many cases where a product is very small or it is made with advanced technology, but you can’t capture the essence in the pictures or videos, you can go for 3D animation.
3D animation is purely made on a computer. The entire product is simulated with the help of high-end 3D animation software. The image on the computer looks and feels exact the same as the actual product. You can move and rotate the way you want. The best part is that it is made by taking the actual dimensions of the product and therefore, you can show the internal parts as well.
For example, you are selling a wrist watch and you want to show the interior of the watch to show how it actually functions with the help of intricate mechanism, it’s quite possible in 3D animation. It looks quite effective. This way you can show all the features, colours and benefits of the product you want to sell.
But 3D animation is a very expensive way of making a video. The charges vary from animator to animator and they are depending upon how complex or easy a product is or how much one needs to show. Each piece that you show on the screen of a product is a treated as a separated model. For example, a key or a hand of a watch is a separate model and it affects the cost. You must have seen the product videos made by iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.
But 3D animated product videos are most effective.
Motion graphic animation:
A motion graphic animation is a nice blend of pictures, texts and graphics along with a narrator’s voice and music. One needs product pictures to showcase along with its features and benefits.
This type of video is also a digital video. Only pictures of a product that are physically shot. Rest everything is created on a computer with the help of software like Adobe After Effects. Though a Motion Graphic Animation doesn’t have a fictional storyline like a Whiteboard or a Vector animation, it surely requires an engaging script that is narrated in an impactful voice. Music plays a great role in such videos. Visual effects are given to create movements of images and graphics on the beats of the music. A motion graphic product video is a 100% informative video. It’s made in very less time and coveys the important part about your products in no time to the consumers.
This is a very cost effective medium too.
Blend of different types:
A product video has to be engaging and it should pass on the information about the product to the audience. It’s made to give the feel of the product to the consumers. This is the reason there are no thumb rules of making a product video in a particular type. While making a product video for your business, you can go with any of the type or mix two of them or more. For example, it’s perfectly fine if you select a live action video to tell a story and include 3D animation to showcase your product and its features or if you start your video with a motion graphic video and include a live action product application.
The purpose of this blog is to let you know about different types of eh video. As long as it serves the purpose, it doesn’t matter what type of video you make.
What should be the ideal length of a product video?
These days whenever some asks this question, the instant answer that every expert comes up with is as short as possible. I am sure some even say ‘5 seconds’. Sincerely, you are trying to sell a product or a service here. A person who’s going to watch this video, needs some knowledge out of it. They are not watching this video for their entertainment (if the video entertains them, it’s a big plus point). You have to showcase your product and all about it like features, benefits, applications, etc. How can someone think of a video that would cover all of these in just a few seconds?
My suggestion for an ideal length of a product video is 60 seconds to 120 seconds. In short, 1 to 2 minutes. That’s the ideal time for your product video to engage and educate your customer.
We have been making such kind of videos for many years now. If you are in doubt and stuck somewhere in the process, please feel free to get in touch with us. We'll be happy to help you.