Amazon shoppable videos – worth your time?

Last week I bought the award-winning collaborative board game Pandemic created by Matt Leacock and published 2008 by Z-Man Games, well ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. How did I find out about it and what convinced me to buy it? Online videos, like those by Rodney Smith from the Watch it Played channel, that review the game and explain how it works. Amazon shoppable videos are similar.

The Pandemic game review videos played an important role in my purchase decision and Amazon knows this. Google research shows that 55% of consumers use online videos for shopping research and a staggering 93% of consumers said watching a video is helpful when purchasing a product according to an Animoto survey from 2021. Brands know this as US video ad spend is forecasted to grow to $9.26BN by 2024 according to Statista.

Amazon has invested heavily into its livestreaming platform while simultaneously encouraging content creators to upload shoppable videos and images. This article will explore if creating shoppable videos should be part of an influencer’s content creation strategy.

First of all, what are they?

Shoppable videos are short, product-focused videos designed to help Amazon customers make more confident purchasing decisions. Themes include buying guides, product reviews, comparison, and unboxings. To many educators and directors delight, videos are advised to use the show and tell philosophy, or as Amazon describes it, demonstrative and descriptive content features. You must make sure to show the product in action while also providing key information to the viewers.

For more information visit Amazon’s Video Best Practice for Influencers guide.

Why make them?

Earn commissions

Just like purchases made by your livestream audience you earn commissions on sales by video viewers.

Always available

Unlike you and I who need to sleep, the videos are always accessible to be seen at any time.

Re-use content

Some influencers re-appropriate content from their livestreams into smaller chunks that fit perfectly with the shoppable video format.

Easy to digest

Some don’t find the time to watch a whole livestream to find the product they look for. Shoppable videos let you access those busy consumers when they most value your guidance.

High return on investment (ROI)

A video may only be a few minutes, sometimes shorter, but give you permanent product page exposure making them more significantly more valuable to the streamer than much of the fresh (live) content.

For these reasons, we recommend to our influencers to always create shoppable videos of the products featured in their livestreams. Because livestreams are interactive and communicate discounts, while videos do not, we see the two mediums as valuable parts of any successful streamer's service portfolio.

How to make them?

First, use your favorite video production product tool adding voice and music either during the production or after, making sure not to violate any music copyright in the process.

Next, visit your influencer profile page where you click on the ‘create content’ button below your channel profile picture and name. Click on the 3rd option which is the ‘video button’ which pops up.

This brings you to the page below where you can upload the video, add a thumbnail picture, the relevant ASIN(s), and a short video description.

Finally, after submitting the videos there is a review process which may take up to 2 days before the video is published.

If you are hungry for more insights about how to make videos visit Getting Started with Video Shorts on Amazon page.

Where do they appear?

All videos will appear on your storefront. Other placements will depend on your influencer rank, video quality, and in some cases number of ASINS tagged, provided that you’ve uploaded at least 3 videos that meet Amazon’s quality standards.

They may appear on product detail pages at the top next to the main product image and below the product details widget, in search results, and on the home page.

For a detailed look at video placement and factors visit Where do videos live on Amazon page.

Final recommendations

It’s good practice to upload all shoppable videos to YouTube which can help to protect them against copyright violations. Some influencers mentioned finding their videos on YouTube with thousands of views uploaded by others before they discovered them and got them removed. In addition to increasing your commissions, properly tagged and uploaded videos can help to generate more traffic to your Amazon storefront.

Read more about shoppable videos on Amazon and if you want to learn about the benefits of working with Beanepic, and how we can help you create epic livestreams, apply to our influencer program on our influencer page.