Mary-Lisa Goodrum
Product videos are a great way to give online shoppers a feel for how your products look and move in a real-world setting. But incorporating videos into your product detail page (PDP) may not be as simple as you think.
Here are some questions to consider that will help you plan and implement the best product videos experience for your brand!
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- Since not all eCommerce platforms support video hosting natively, you may need to set up an account with an external video streaming provider. YouTube and Vimeo are two of the more popular video streaming hosts.
- Do your research – not all video streaming hosts provide the same user experience. For example, depending on the provider you may not have control over recommended videos that will display after your product video ends.
Should full video player controls be present or not?
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- Do you want your users to be able to play, pause, and/or stop the video?
- Will the video play on a loop unprompted or just once through?
Should the video play in place or as a modal?
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- Product videos are commonly seen in line with the alternate view images on the PDP, but there are two options for how these videos are typically played:
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- Video plays in place on the PDP.
- Video opens in a modal and then plays.
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- Think about the user experience you’re trying to achieve, the size of the video on the PDP versus in a modal
Will the videos have sound?
- If you are working with product videos that include sound, you will need to consider whether you want to give users the ability mute and/or unmute the videos.
Will there be a single video per product or could there be multiple?
- Understanding how many videos you plan to include for a single product will be important for assessing the complexity of your implementation with your development team.
- This is an important question to think through up front since thumbnail retrieval may require additional development work.