Brands have realized that a product review, especially from an influencer, is very effective in increasing brand awareness and generating sales.
Product reviews are vital in building trust with customers, and not only do product reviews increase conversions on your eCommerce store, but they are great for SEO too!
In the United States, product ratings and review has grown to become a major factor that influences internet users when deciding where to shop online.
And the most effective type of product review? A video review. In today’s digital age, people prefer watching videos over reading.
A product review video adds more credibility than an advertising video. With YouTube being the most used platform to search for a product review.
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Why use YouTube for a product review?
If you aren’t already, you should be using product review videos as a lead generation tactic.
Not just on YouTube but Facebook and Instagram as well. But when it comes to videos, YouTube is definitely the leader of the pack with a high percentage of conversion rate.
How to generate sales through YouTube product review videos?
Use YouTube effectively for eCommerce sales. Start a YouTube marketing channel if you don’t have one and upload not just product reviews but also product explainer, marketing and branding videos for your eCommerce store.
Have a mix of unboxing videos and review videos in your repertoire. While you can record these videos yourself, getting an influencer will amp up your efforts.
An influencer is someone who actively uses social media and has a certain scope of interest. They could be celebrities, bloggers, vloggers or anybody with a considerable number of followers.
Influencers are great at creating content and have a loyal following.
The advantage of partnering with an influencer in your niche? Your videos will be viewed by their followers, who if your strategy is right will be your target audience.
Unboxing videos
Unboxing videos are the rage. What is an unboxing video? Exactly what the title suggests. Unboxing a product for the first time and shooting it in a vlog style format.
The focus is always the product with the reviewer talking through the process. Unboxing videos are exciting because they give viewers the first-impression of the product.
Unboxing videos tend to be casual and more personal, and a friendly speaker will keep viewers engaged.
Like this unboxing of the iPhone 12 by The Everyday Dad.
The casual style allows for low production costs and can easily be recorded on a smartphone. But that does not mean there is no art in creating these videos.
The product must always be the focus of these videos.
A simple set up like a table and a neutral table will work if you cannot rent a studio to shoot.
Use a tripod or steady-cam to ensure that the recording is stable and be mindful of audio quality as well.
Product review videos
Showing a product in action i.e. being used elicits trust from viewers aka your potential buyers.
When it is reviewed by an influencer that viewers trust and rely on for accurate information, the credibility of your brand and product is multiplied.
Product review videos are a great way to engage with your audience. Keep a few things in mind though. The video should focus on the product and not on the influencer, no matter how popular the influencer is.
The goal of the video should be to honestly give information about –
- What the product is.
- What the product does.
- The influencers personal results with the product.
- Their honest thoughts about the product.
While creating videos will drive lots of traffic and user engagement on YouTube, you can also use YouTube to generate sales by converting this traffic.
Here are a few things you can do to increase conversions through YouTube –
Optimize your YouTube channel
Google owns YouTube so video quality and content are important.
As YouTube has its own native search bar a few other ranking factors like the video length, watch time (the average time a user watches the video), engagement and the number of subscribers for your YouTube channel are all relevant.
To optimize your YouTube channel –
- Use a keyword in your YouTube channel name.
- Name your video files using a target keyword.
- Optimize your video titles with the target keyword.
- Fill out the ‘About Us’ page.
- Use keywords in your video script but don’t overdo it.
Link back to your website
Adding a website link to video description is one of the most commonly used lead generation tactics on YouTube.
The link should lead visitors to the product page for the product reviewed in the video.
For increased conversion, create a separate landing page for the product.
Ensure that the product page or the landing page is optimized for conversion.
Create calls-to-action
While adding traditional CTA buttons is not possible on YouTube videos, you still need to add compelling CTAs in the video.
What do you want the viewer to do after watching the product review? Click on the link and buy the product, right?
Experienced influencers will guide their viewers through your sales funnel very smoothly but if you are working with someone new, ensure they include CTAs in the video.
Upload a custom video thumbnail
The video thumbnail is the first image viewers see while scrolling on YouTube. Creating a custom thumbnail WILL increase views, clicks and eventually sales.
According to YouTube Creator Academy, 90% of the best performing videos on YouTube have a custom thumbnail.
Make your custom thumbnail compelling to boost your click-through-rate (CTR). How can you do this?
- Use high-resolution images
- Build excitement
- Maintain brand consistency
Be consistent
To increase your brands recall value and make it memorable, it is important to maintain consistency.
Be consistent in –
- Branding
- Recurring influencers
- Consistency in posting
It is generally considered good practice to upload a video at least once a week.
Thrice a week is ideal and if you can do it more often than that, great, but maintain the schedule and if you cannot convey that to your followers.
A brand that suddenly goes MIA is annoying and this also decreases the trustworthiness of the brand. Give your viewers a rough idea on when to expect product review videos.
You can also build up excitement by creating teaser videos especially if the influencer is really popular or the product to be reviewed much-awaited.
Conclusion
Product review video is a tried and tested lead generation strategy which will give you high-quality leads that convert. Provided you do it right.
Your reviews should not be too sales-oriented or push the product on the viewers.
Once you have partnered with a reputable influencer trust them to their job. They know their users best and know what engages them.
It is your job to showcase and use these videos strategically in your marketing. Optimize your YouTube channel and your product landing pages to gain conversion traction from these videos.
So go ahead and try these strategies and let us know what worked for you. We would love to hear from you. If you know of any more tactics share those in the comments too!
