How many times have you heard someone say “The internet is not like television” or, conversely, “Television is not like the internet”? The line between the two is starting to blur, but I think it is much too soon to really know what the final fusion will be like. In the meantime, we have to decide how to stylize our ecommerce videos for use on the internet using what we know from producing for television.
We all grew up watching television and are therefore used to seeing commercials. We all have also seen, at some time or another, an infomercial or longer-format video sales piece (such as on QVC or the Home Shopping Network). To us, these are the models which we begin to base our internet videos on. But if the internet isn’t like television, are we doing the right thing by imitating what we see on television? How should we format videos for use on the internet?
THE DIFFERENCES
When people visit one of our eCommerce sites, they are demonstrating their desire to view products and sales pitches. This is very different from the passive TV viewer who must endure commercial breaks during the more desirable programming. We don’t have to waste time drawing the consumer in – they’re already there. What we do have to do is provide them with what they’re looking for as quickly as possible.
We are also not bound by the time constraints of television. Our messages do not need to be packed into a 30 or 60 second capsule. Depending on the circumstances, you may only need 20 seconds of video to show a product in action. At the same time, we are finding out that people’s attention spans for online video are quite short – 3 minutes can be a long time. Ultimately, we don’t know where the consumer is viewing our site from and therefore we can’t assume that he or she has a lot of time to receive our message.
Then there is the matter of context. Someone sitting through a commercial needs a lot more information about the product or the brand than someone who actively seeks a video on your web site. A television viewer has no idea who the next commercial is going to be for whereas the person visiting your site not only knows where he or she is, but also has all the additional information on the page from which to make their purchasing decision.
And finally, of course, there is the proximity of the viewer to the purchase. Television commercials rely on many tricks…er….tools to enter your subconscious so that, the next time you are driving down the road and get a hunger twinge, you choose FastFood A instead of FastFood B. Someone watching a video on your product detail page is like the proverbial horse that has been brought to the water – now you just have to make her drink.
THE VERDICT
I think it’s clear that we are not bound by the rules of television commercial production. At the same time, we still need to follow time-honored marketing strategies. When it comes to how you are going to present your video(s), ask yourself, “What can I convey through video that I can’t convey in any other way?” Then, let marketing best practices guide your efforts in formatting the videos. Form will follow function. If you want to tell the consumer about your business, then perhaps a ‘talking head’ is what you need. If you want to feature several product types in your video, then maybe you should consider finding a host or personality to walk the consumer through the items. If time and money are a concern, you could try a video slide show with a simple narration.
At FansEdge, our largest product group is apparel and, of that, team jerseys are the most popular. Until recently, our product detail pages contained primary and alternate images of the product, as well as the product description. What was missing was showing how the item looked on a living, moving person. To achieve this, we hire models to spend the day demoing product. Each video is, on average, fifteen seconds long and shows the model making a complete turn and drawing attention to different product details. Each video is a standalone capsule with no intro, no music, and no graphics – just a smiling, attractive model accompanied by a voice over (“Get ready for the Big Game with this Replica NFL Jersey from Reebok!”).
Can you imagine THAT for a television commercial?
