5 Video Ideas for eCommerce Businesses for IGTV, Reels, and YouTube

How eCommerce Businesses Can Use Video To Increase Sales

The world of video is growing greatly every day. We see influencers quickly take on the latest video trends like Reels and Tiktok in a matter of weeks, but for businesses, the worth and time, and effort are harder to know right off the bat. 

We’re sharing 3 tips to make the most of video for your eCommerce business, and then sharing a few of our favorite video ideas. 

Get Comfortable with The Program

If you’re going to try out something like Instagram Reels, play with the platform a bit before deciding to commit to your first video. Rather than get everything ready for a video, just try out a video and what it looks like to add a song, captioning, etc. 

Here's what the platform looks like when you start your first reel. While there are intricacies to be aware of, it's as simple as picking a video (or a few!), finding a song to go along with it -- you can add filters if you'd like -- and then captioning and posting. Here's what each stage looks like. 

You should also take a second to look at examples to see what works, what doesn’t, and what videos tend to get the best feedback that you can follow suit of. 

Do Something That’s Worked Before

When you’re thinking of ideas of what to put on video it may seem intimidating, but remember to think about what has worked for your business before. When you think about the things that have had high engagement before, you’re more likely to come up with similar ideas in terms of video. The great thing about videos is that they’re the next step up from a photo and can really build the excitement of your customers. If they love a photo of your most popular product in use, think about how much they’d love a video of it!

Make Sure The Quality is Okay 

You read that right - quality is “okay,” not Oscar-winning cinematography. When it comes to things like Reels, IGTV, and Instagram stories, the purpose is to use your phone so users know that you’re shooting it from what’s likely your camera phone. 

That being said, here are a few tips to make it look a bit nicer: 

• Take a Portrait Mode photo for the “Cover” image
• Make sure you clean off your phone lens before you begin
• Remember your platform - if it’s Instagram then you’ll need it to be vertical. If it’s YouTube, you’ll need to film horizontally. 
• Try and keep it straight! Before you start filming, take one final look to make sure you’re lining things up in a straight line. 

Now that you’ve got some tips to get started, maybe you need a few ideas! While it may seem intimidating, there are so many great options and we promise that people aren’t that picky when it comes to content, so just try it and see what works. 

Video Ideas for eCommerce Businesses

1. Do An Educational Video About Your Product

Whether you sell something more complex like a specialty food item, or something more straightforward like luggage there’s a lot of opportunities to provide some education about your products. Show off the unique features of it, as well as some of your favorite parts. This can be an educational video featuring a person that talks through everything, or you can put together clips just showing off and highlighting each feature individually.

Our friends at Diono do a great job unboxing their products and showing off each of the pieces of their car seats individually and why they matter to their customers.

2. Answer Some FAQs About Your Business or Products

FAQs are a great place to start when you're making videos for your eCommerce business. While a video of frequently asked questions probably won't go viral, it'll give your brand a name and a face while ensuring that you won't have to answer the same questions over and over again for your customers. You can even embed your FAQ video into your FAQ page and refer customers to it whenever they ask you a question you've already answered. FAQ videos increase conversions because they eliminate confusion, which often prevents customers from making a purchase.

3. Show Your Product In Use

This one is so easy for almost any business and can help users imagine themselves with your product! Maybe you sell a food item; show off its finished product (ie how it’s made), or show it in use in a recipe like our friends a Picnik Creamer and Key to Teas!

If you sell something like clothing, you can put together an outfit of your clothing and show off your favorite combination of products (giving your users the idea to increase their average order value!)

4. Behind the Scenes

Pulling the curtain back on your business is a great way to put a face to your business and build up trust with your customers. While you obviously shouldn’t show everything, let users see a little bit extra so that they see value in following you. If you’re releasing a new product, do a teaser to show off product ideation or even a sneak peek of design. Maybe you had a big day where you’re shipping out a lot of orders - something as simple as a timelapse of packaging all of your products can be interesting to your customers. If you have larger production value like shooting a product photoshoot, give your customers a sneak peek to build excitement!

5. Just Get Creative

Remember that sometimes you can just make a fun or creative video. Maybe there’s a fun trend you’re seeing online that you can take part in. Maybe there’s a song that you can somehow apply to your business… maybe you’re just having fun at your business and document it. Whatever it is, if you’ve got any idea, go ahead and try it out and see what you can do.

Our friends at Compendium got creative by doing a reading of one of their books by its author - giving an up-close and intimate experience for their followers. 

Have you taken the plunge and tried video yet? If not, this is the perfect time to get started. Follow our tips and snag a few ideas and get ready for lights, camera, action!

Looking For More Ways to Build Revenue For Your eCommerce Website? 

Along with video, there are tons of great and effective digital marketing strategies and tactics your eCommerce business can use to grow your revenue. Not sure what's best for your business? We can help! Fill out the form below and our team can put together a custom strategy for your business needs, resources, and goals.