The 47 tips are grouped by “insight,” and these specifically caught my eye:
Product videos, y’all 
3 Likes
I’m still early in my 21st century procrastination.
5 Likes
Absolutely true, especially for younger potential customers. I did a deep dive into demographics of my sales and noticed I was getting very few sales from younger people. The Tiktok generation won’t take the time to read your bullet points. If you don’t have a video, they aren’t going to shop it.
I decided if my 15 year old nephews could make videos, I could probably figure it out. It took a while but I’ve gotten at least what I would call proficient at it. Not going to win any cinematic awards but I’m satisfied with what I’ve done.
I just used my existing phone to shoot the videos and it worked fine. You don’t need ultra high def as the files would be too large anyway. What kind of video you make is largely dependent on what products you sell.
I started by getting a rotating turntable (about $80 for a decent one) that would fit inside the photo box I already had (maybe $40 if you don’t have one). That allows you to do 360 views of your products. You can add music, voice (yours or digital), captions to your videos as you feel you need. I also bought a tripod for my phone ($40).
For editing I downloaded Capcut from Tiktok to my PC. My eyes are too old to try and do editing on the mobile itself. Capcut is pretty intuitive to use. It’ll take some time to figure things out but I found it easier than the other apps I tried. If it goes away, I would also suggest MS Clipchamp. It’s a little less intuitive but you can do more with it (at least at the free, basic levels for both).
Once I got basic proficiency, I started doing live, in use videos with the help of my ever patient wife. Again, no awards for cinematography but they are entertaining enough people watch them.
It’s too early to see any measurable difference in sales, but the videos are being watched. You can see a counter of views in seller central, catalog, upload and manage videos which also gives the view duration. If the duration was low, it was usually on longer videos or the more basic 360 view ones where people got bored and left. I went back and edited the longer ones down with a goal of under 30 seconds. Both views and duration of view went up on those, even on the basic 360 spins.
My point with this is give it a try. You don’t have to spend massive $$$ or pay a Pro to make your videos (you can if you want to of course). If I hadn’t bought the turntable, making my videos would have cost roughly $40 for a tripod outside of my time. I don’t have to sell much to recoup that and what I learned will certainly serve me well in the future.
Good Luck,
TJB
7 Likes
@TJB thanks for all of those tips!
And just to piggyback on what you’re saying–it doesn’t have to be great to be effective–I was on a call last night with some video-based content creators (not in the retail field, but still) who said that fancy gear and backgrounds are not worth the bother and expense; viewers want real-life authenticity.
So if your product works on a kitchen counter, film it on a kitchen counter. If your product is jewelry, make a quick video of your outfit or occasion when you wear it, or show it off in your jewelry box. Basically, you don’t need a Superbowl-quality commercial, you just need to show folks how it works IRL.
I found that very comforting.
And as a Buyer, personally I very much appreciate 360 views of products I’ve never used and haven’t seen in person.
2 Likes