Amazon Product Videos: Ultimate 2024 Guide For FBA Sellers

An Amazon listing with a product video will see an increase in sales. Facts. According to Adobe, shoppers who view a product video are 1.81 times more likely to purchase than non-viewers.

While engaging content, eye-catching images, and well-designed A+ content all help raise your conversions, nothing quite matches the power to increase buying intention than a video of your product.

Aside from having the physical product, a video is the best way to help customers form a connection with your product. Essentially, a product video bridges that gap from just another thing to consider buying online to something you can vividly imagine owning.

If you’re wondering how to take full advantage of Amazon product videos, this blog will give you the tools you need to get started.

Why Should I Use Amazon Product Videos?

You’ve probably heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” right? But can you guess how many words a video is worth? According to Researcher Dr. James McQuivey, a one-minute video is worth 1.8 million words. That’s a lot of words. And with all the information packed into such a small timeframe, a video can convert a casual browser into a credit card-waving buyer in minutes! Savvy brands have known about the power of video marketing for a long time. In fact, retailers report a 40 percent increase in purchases because of product videos! So, how can this translate to more sales for your Amazon listing?

Let’s have a look at a quick rundown of product video benefits on Amazon:

A video increases customer confidence. They get to see your product in use. More trust and confidence = more sales.
A video helps create a stronger connection to your product, helping customers visualize themselves using it.
A video can showcase different product angles, ensuring customers understand the dimensions and style.
A video lets you demonstrate your product’s benefits to customers, instantly raising its perceived value while boosting conversion rates.
A video is engaging! Customers who prefer visual learning will hang around on your listing to watch.
A video helps accurately convey your product to customers, reducing negative reviews and product returns.

Where does An Amazon product video appear on my listing?

Amazon places your video at the end of your main product image list section. This prominent placement with a large ‘Play’ icon ensures browsers can navigate to your Amazon video within seconds of clicking on your listing.

Once you click on the video thumbnail, an additional window will appear on your screen. This window acts as a video hub, showcasing the product video, related videos for the product, and customer review videos.

What are Amazon’s technical requirements for product videos?

While there are no technical limits on your video length, Amazon restricts your upload size to 5GB. The accepted file formats are are .MOV and .MP4. Your product video thumbnail should have a 16:9 aspect ratio with a preferred resolution of 1920×1080 pixels.

How do I upload an Amazon Product Video on my Seller Central Account?

First, click the 3 Lines in your Account’s top left-hand corner, and a drop-down menu will appear. Next, click ‘Catalog’ and ‘Upload and Manage Videos.’

Once you’ve completed the steps above, the following screen displays a button to ‘Upload Video.’

From here, you have the following options:

Brand or non-brand option: If you’re enrolled in Brand Registry, choose ‘brand,’ and you can enter up to 300 ASINs related to the product video. If you’re not enrolled in Brand Registry, choose ‘non-brand’ and add one ASIN related to the product video.
Use automatically-created thumbnails, or upload the thumbnail of your choice.
Track the review status of a video once submitted (it can take up to two days for Amazon to approve your video.)

Our 10 Top Tips for using videos for Amazon product listings

Now that we’ve covered the benefits of product videos and polished your technical skills, let’s move on to making videos that raise your conversion rates. The following ten tips help keep your product videos relevant, engaging, informative, and Amazon-friendly. Let’s dive in!

1. Pre-production & Planning Considerations

Following the famous words of Dale Carnegie, “An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing.” Before immersing yourself in video creation, now’s a good time to grab a coffee, sit down, and consider how you want to present your brand and product. The planning phase helps ensure your video resonates with your target audience and drives product listing engagement.

Here are some questions to help guide your planning process:

What is your primary goal for the video? Increase sales, brand awareness, product education, or something else?
Who is your ideal customer? Understanding your ideal customer’s demographics, interests, and online behavior helps tailor the video’s message.
What are your video’s key messages? Focus on 2-3 clear points you want viewers to remember about your product.
What shooting style will resonate with your audience? Consider options like live-action, animation, explainer video, image slides, testimonials, or a combination.
What tone and style will resonate with your audience? Informative, playful, humorous? Consider examples of successful product videos in your niche.
Do you have the skills and equipment to film and edit yourself, or will you outsource? Determine your resources for actors, animation, shooting location, etc.

2. Comply with Amazon Guidelines

Nothing is more disheartening than creating an incredible product video only to have Amazon reject it shortly after. If you’ve already uploaded your product listing and images, you’re probably familiar with navigating Amazon guidelines. And here’s the exciting part I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for: Amazon has another set of guidelines for videos! The pain of complying with guidelines aside, these are relatively straightforward.

Here are the Amazon’s video guidelines you need to know:

Your video must contain information like your brand name or logo, product shots, and a clear representation of the advertised product.
Provide only factual, accurate information about your product in your videos.
Do not make health claims, medical claims, or refer to medical conditions in your video (e.g., “This would be great for acne”) unless they are accurate.
Don’t infringe on any intellectual property rights of a third party. Only use music and images you have the right to use, and avoid wearing clothes or accessories with visible branding from another company.
Your video must not include any defamatory or derogatory statements.
Avoid all controversial, sensitive, or sexually suggestive content.
Avoid any mention of prices, promotion information, discount claims, or time-sensitive information (“limited availability,” “ending soon,” etc.)
Your video must not direct viewers away from Amazon’s page.

If you would like to learn more about Amazon video guidelines, check out Amazon’s video guidelines page. Here, you will find information regarding specific product niches and a more in-depth breakdown of various guidelines.

3. Keep Your Video Short

I get it. You love your product. You want to tell the whole world about its incredible benefits. But you want people to buy it too, right? Our attention spans are getting shorter. We’re much more likely to sit through a 30-second video than a several-minute one, especially on a platform like Amazon that caters to quick, emotional purchases rather than long, rational ones.

Bottom line: Aim to keep your product video under 45 seconds. Between 30-45 seconds is the sweet spot. This will help keep potential customers engaged and likely to watch the full video, fuelling their interest in your product and leading to more sales.

Here’s an example of a video we created for one of our clients. We kept it short (37 seconds) while utilizing jump cuts and short, relevant text to convey product benefits and tell viewers about the brand.

4. Add Relevant Text & Captions

Not all customers who view your view will have access to audio. While this point is especially crucial if you’re using a voiceover in your video, even if you’re only using background music in your product video, text and captions can help emphasize your product benefit and keep views engaged. This simple addition to your videos instantly increases accessibility.

Here’s what to do: keep your text or captions short, relevant, and straightforward. You don’t want to distract or confuse potential customers. Pick a few specific points you want potential customers to know about your product and add text to your video. The fewer the words, the better. A quick rule of thumb: Use the number of seconds in your video to guide your word count (example: 30-second video = 30 words.)

5. Choose Background Music Carefully

Epic Viking music for an anti-wrinkle face cream won’t resonate with many customers. But the same track on an outdoor survival kit would work wonders.

You want the music you select to compliment your product presentation. It shouldn’t distract viewers or make a narrator’s voice difficult to understand.

It’s also vital to consider where you get your music from. Avoid using copyrighted music without permission. Thankfully, many websites specializing in low-cost music for video soundtracks. Search for royalty-free music and find something that resonates with your brand, product, and target audience. Once you’ve found your ideal track, download it at the highest audio quality available.

Additionally, it’s essential to understand how your video will sound on different devices. Test your video audio on desktop, tablet, and mobile to ensure what you hear is what you want your customers to hear too.

6. Use a Compelling Thumbnail

Before customers decide to watch your video, your video will display a still thumbnail image. If you don’t choose a thumbnail for your video, Amazon will generate one automatically. The only problem? Amazon won’t consider the best image to represent your brand and product. Any still image from your video will do.

You and me? We don’t want to leave anything up to chance on Amazon. Instead, we’re going to choose a high-quality, engaging thumbnail that makes customers want to watch our product video.

Here are some Tips when Creating a Thumbnail for your video:

Select an image from your video that captures your product’s standout benefits.
Avoid blurry or low-resolution images that discourage potential customers from watching your video (aim for a 1920 x 1080 pixel image.)
Ensure any text you use in the thumbnail is relevant, short, and engaging.
Use bold contrasting colors to make your thumbnail stand out and attract attention.

Let’s look at an example. Two protein shake brands. Two videos. Two different outcomes.

Example of an Amazon-generated Thumbnail:

Example of a user-selected Thumbnail:

7. Utilise Jump Cuts

Using several quick jump cuts in your product video is a great way to maintain viewer attention. Unlike most edits that try to create a smooth flow, the jump cut is noticeable and disrupts the continuity of a video. This editing technique can be distracting if overdone, but, with strategic and well-timed use, jump cuts have the following advantages:

Increase pace and energy: Jump cuts can make the video feel fast-paced and exciting, helping grab attention and keep viewers engaged.

Focus on key features: By rapidly cutting between close-up shots of different product features, you can highlight them quickly without long explanations.

Create a sense of urgency: The choppy editing can imply there’s limited time to take advantage of a product deal.

Add humor: Jump cuts can be used for comedic effect, depending on your product and the overall tone of the video and brand.

8. Capture Product Close-ups

This tip has a two-fold advantage: first, it gives potential customers a better understanding of your product which, in turn, helps prevent bad reviews and returns. Not to mention the visual variety close-ups add to your video too!

When you capture close-up shots for your video, ensure the clips are clear and focused to help give customers a better sense of your product’s quality and design features.

If you’re unsure what close-ups will work best for your product, check customer reviews in your product category. Perhaps customers complain the competitors’ products have loose fittings or sharp edges – if you can boast a better product construction and finish, now’s the time to show it! Additionally, you can check what works for other top-performing videos in your product category to gather inspiration for your close-up shots.

9. Tell an Engaging Story

Did you know stories are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone? If you want to leave viewers entertained, engaged, and ready to click “Buy Now,” consider how your video can tell a story. The storytelling technique works much better than just listing your product’s features. Instead, create a compelling narrative that resonates with your target audience and evokes emotions. This could be a real-life example of how your product has helped a customer in their everyday lives or showcasing your product’s manufacturing journey until it arrives at your customer’s doorstep.

Let’s say you’re selling a makeup organizer, for example. The beginning of the video could showcase a messy bedroom desk with someone pulling out drawers as they try to find their favorite lipstick before running out the door late for work. The next clip could show the same person opening a gift (the makeup organizer), setting it up on their bedroom desk (ease of use), putting their lipstick on the next morning (practicability), and walking out the door looking and feeling confident (strong emotions).

10. Write an Effective Title

Before you publish your video, Amazon will require you to give your video a title. You have 60 characters to tell potential customers about your video and why they should watch it. Give your title some thought. A descriptive title providing a brief video overview can help build customer curiosity and reassure them that they’re in the right place. Your video title is also a great place to include one or two keywords that customers use to describe your product.

Start Creating Your Amazon Product Video Today

Product videos are a powerful tool for your Amazon listing. They improve customer experience. They increase engagement. And they boost your conversion rates. While they require some time planning and creating, the ROI on videos is huge!

I hope this guide gets your creative juices flowing and you feel more ready than ever to create top-performing product videos for your brand. If you want to ask us a question about Amazon product videos or you want to find out about our Amazon product video services, simply get in touch today.

Amazon Product Videos: Ultimate 2024 Guide for FBA Sellers