7 Ecommerce Product Video Mistakes Your Videographer Doesn’t Want You To Know (and How to Fix Them)

It seems simple enough.

You'll hire a videographer to produce a professional product video for your online store.

After contacting a few highly-recommended freelance video experts…

Your inbox swells with production quotes between $1,500 to $10,000 for one 3-minute video.

With over 300+ SKUs in your store, you say to yourself…

What if I don’t want to spend up to $10K on a product video that might not work?

Am I doomed to fade into a black hole of online anonymity?

Of course, not.

No matter what size or type of ecommerce store — or how well funded you are — it's common to have real concerns about production costs and ROI when launching a new video marketing program.

Thankfully, you don't have to be a leading YouTube or Instagram influencer to make sure that your content is visually appealing and useful.

Just avoid these 7 critical video production and marketing mistakes before you shoot the first few frames of your store's next online video masterpiece.

1. Not setting proper business goals and planning for success

Yes, the entry into video marketing is much cheaper than it used to be.  In fact, 51% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI.

But there still is a significant cost to create high-quality videos.

If you are unsure what your videos are supposed to accomplish, the content will typically end up untargeted, confusing and expensive.

To avoid this problem, set clear goals for your videos, identify specific target personas and set quantifiable objectives.

For example:

1. Are you looking to promote your store's product pages and new product offerings?
2. Need to increase social shares, likes, followers, and comments on your social media pages?
3. Want to grow your subscriber base on your YouTube channel?
4. Looking to strengthen brand awareness and attract more traffic to the top of the funnel?

By mapping your video content creation to your store's conversion funnel, you'll have a dedicated content strategy to measure video views, likes, and sales.

Want to create a budget for your video that's based solely on ROI?

Use this free video lead generation ROI tool, before you hire your videographer or attempt to create a Spielberg-worthy concept for your store.

2. Not making search-engine-friendly video content

Because most people use the web to find answers to their most pressing problems, it is foolish to ignore search engine optimization practices when creating your videos.

But unlike the famous quote from the movie Field of Dreams just because you have built it, doesn’t guarantee that they’ll come.

To optimize your content for search, make sure that your video titles use H1 tags, your meta descriptions are highly optimized and that you use keyword optimized URLs.

Here are 4 tips to help your videos rank in the SERPs:

1. Create an engaging video thumbnail. The searcher will see the video thumbnail first when your video is indexed, so it needs to be beautiful, compelling, and click-worthy.
2. Perform proper keyword research. To target informational and buying keywords accurately, use free keyword tools like KeywordTool.io or Keyword Heaven's longtail keyword finder to find terms that people are actually searching for.
3. Include a video transcript below the video. The additional text on the page allows the search bots to view the content and will help your rank for more keyword queries.
4. Craft a magnetic video headline and description. According to Copyblogger,  8 out of 10 people will read the headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will consume the rest of the content. Just like a blog post title, an attention-grabbing headline sets the tone for the video and encourages the searcher to “click here.”

3. Using vague marketing messages

Are you thinking first about your company’s story instead of your customer’s needs?

What is the purpose of shooting a video if your target audience does not understand your message clearly?

If your video messaging is confusing, or you are ignoring your audience’s primary needs and wants, you are wasting your video marketing dollars and your customer’s time.

Or worse, you could lose the prospect’s interest and damage his or her impression of your brand.

Make sure that your videos are compelling and provide stories and offers that will help customers, not hinder them from buying your products.

Beauty Product Video Example: Josie Maran

This Josie Maran video introduces a multi-tasking product that helps customers hydrate their nails, skin, and hair.

Her “one and done” product message is clear and highlights the one ingredient consumers need to create dewy and moisturized skin.

This 90-second video does a great job of introducing a new product and creating desire – while showing its immediate benefits in action.

4. Putting more than one key message in the video

Most marketers have a lot of information to communicate to their customers.

That’s why they use blogs, newsletters, and social media to speak to their targeted demographic.  But, unlike newsletters and blog posts, a video is a brief medium for marketing.

Video marketing is most effective when you have one single message that you want to convey to a specific consumer group. If you present too many ideas in a short 2- to a 3-minute video, you may overwhelm your attention-starved audience.

If you have more than one message, create a short video series, instead of a 10-minute one, to engage and educate your customer base.

Fashion Product Video Example: Eloquii

Plus-size designer brand Eloquii created a video series “to help women turn their closet frowns upside-down.”

As if you are shopping with your best friend, this 3-minute video series combines storytelling and showcasing the products in an accessible and fun way.

Not only does the video show the product in action, but it also gives hints on how to style the clothes and how the garments fit on real women — not models.

5. Using poor camera techniques to shoot your video

Just like photography, shaky footage will make any professional video look like a bad home movie.

Shoddy camera work will also make your videos appear amateurish and distract from your video’s message.

If you've decided to ditch the pricey camera crew and shoot the video yourself,  you'll need to create high quality, professional-looking shots with your video camera. 

Before you shoot your first few frames, here are 4 simple steps to help you capture quality video footage.

1. Use proper camera height. – Place your video camera on a tripod to prevent shaky shots. If you don’t have a tripod in your studio, you can use any solid surface or a monopod to support your camera. Make sure that the camera is at the correct height so that you capture your products clearly. 
2. Light your product like a pro. – Underexposure will make it hard to see your product's details onscreen, and overexposure will wash out your shot. Adjust your camera's light settings to be sure that your products are well-light and beautiful on screen.
3. Don't forget to focus. – Out of focus images are very distracting and often difficult to watch. Zoom in closely to your products and make sure that your shot is in focus before starting to shoot.
4. Tweak your white balance settings. –Be sure to adjust your camera's white balance to avoid a yellow or blue tinge on your video. 

6. Ignoring the sound quality

Sound is an essential element in delivering your message, and you don’t want your viewers to stop viewing your video because of terrible audio.

People can watch your video without sound, but good quality audio is an essential component of the message you are sending, your story, and the mood you want to create.

To avoid any lousy sound situations make sure that you use high-quality recording equipment, your shooting space is quiet, and that the actors speak clearly and loudly.

The biggest sound mistakes include sound levels that are too soft, out-of-sync music and actors who mumble. To ensure that your video’s audio component is crisp and clear, set the audio level correctly to record the perfect sound quality for your video.

7. Making your videos too long and too boring

Around 2 minutes is typically the average length of time that the web consumer views video content before clicking away from the page.

A well-crafted video that is dull or lacks relevance seems boring at the 25-second mark. An excellent product marketing video, however, has no perfect length.

Since you only have only a few minutes, resist the urge to go too deep into your story, but make every second count.

You can make several short videos to promote a post or create a “how-to” video to showcase your products on Instagram or Facebook.

Conclusion

With over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, a simple product video just isn't enough to compete with your online competitors.

Whatever you choose to promote, a special offer, new service or product giveaway, make sure to focus on inspirational and fun content that compels prospects to follow your brand or shop at your store.

To create a video that delights your customers, avoid these 7 ecommerce product video mistakes to keep them interested and entertained until the very last frame.

Do these video marketing mistakes surprise you?  Do you have any additional thoughts on how to make your ecommerce product videos look great?  Drop your video link in the comments so I can see your latest and greatest video masterpiece!