Website Magazine recently featured an article from Dr. Melody King on e-commerce video. Dr. King discusses how “e-commerce brands are seeing the real value that videos can bring to their SEO programs, social media campaigns, and mobile strategies.”
We already know that the online shopper is more engaged when having a video to watch rather than a static image to stare at. And today’s online shoppers also enjoy creating their multimedia to share with peers.
What’s so interesting about Dr. King’s article are the predictions she shares for video’s future impact on the e-commerce world.
Her forecast:
- Expect to see more merchants broadening their video use beyond their product pages. For example, they will be adding more videos on social networks and SEO landing pages, creating more robust YouTube and/or Vimeo channels and including video snapshots in email newsletters.
- Videos will gain in popularity in expanding e-commerce markets, such as Brazil’s e-commerce market (which is booming). Brazil’s e-commerce market grew 26 percent in 2011 with similar results projected for 2013. While China’s e-commerce sector is expected to triple in size over the next three years.
- Videos will replace product images. The space that still photos takes up on your product pages is valuable real estate, so what you place there should work harder. Even simple slideshows composed of still images are far more engaging and can impart more information to help close a sale.
- Mobile sites will exchange product pages with videos. Videos have become easier to watch on mobile screens, thanks to greater bandwidth and better compression technology. If executed well, a video will include all the details that a mobile shopper needs, such as price, color and size options and availability. E-commerce businesses will find it makes sense to offer videos, rather than product pages, to mobile customers.
- Brands will encourage user-generated videos. Since consumers trust their peers and want to hear their genuine opinions, videos created by customers will often have more impact than brand-made videos. YouTube is helping. In Dec. 2012, the website introduced its Capture app, which lets users share videos directly from their iPhone screens.
