Mastering Shoppable Video: 10 Must-Know Tips for Success

Let’s talk shoppable video: A revolutionary new way to connect with shoppers in a format they seriously love. Over 80% of global internet traffic comes from watching video, yet when you visit most ecommerce sites, video’s typically reserved for promotional features or if you’re lucky, a model showing a product IRL. 

Now think about all the places you use video in other parts of your life - from Zoom calls at work to Facetime with family to diving deep into social video content on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram. 

When you put it that way, video + ecommerce just makes sense. 

Enter shoppable video. Our free shoppable video platform is where content meets commerce, enabling you to serve up interactive video that customers actually want to watch and engage with, just like the video they consume on their favorite social channels. 

The difference, of course, is that instead of viewing the video on social and not being able to transact, they’re already on your site. This means they’re primed and ready to hit checkout without any of the friction of discovering products or collections on social. 

Intriguing, yes? Try shoppable video for yourself now and start offering an unforgettable ecommerce experience.

Want more info? We’ve gathered up 10 must-know points before you start creating shoppable video with Ghost!

#1: Shoppable video really and truly is free

When we say shoppable video is free, we mean it. There’s no paid plan for our shoppable video beta, and you can create as many shoppable videos as you like. So what are you waiting for? Get started with shoppable video for free right now.

#2: Create shoppable video using any video asset 

If you’re wondering how to get started with shoppable video, if you’ve got any kind of video already - including social assets or promo content - you can turn it into a shoppable video. As long as it’s an MP4, you’re good to go. 

And if you don’t already have a video at the ready, don’t sweat it. Shoppable video doesn’t have to require elaborate and expensive video shoots. Grab your phone and record an influencer-style video that talks through your favorite products, or demonstrate how to use a product. Use free editing software to trim it down, and boom! You’ve got a shoppable video asset, ready for product tagging.

Want some more inspiration? Check out our guide to 20+ different types of shoppable video you can create.

#3: Shoppable video can have one, or many, products featured

Tagging products couldn’t be simpler. Grab the product link, upload an image of your choice per product, and your featured products will be showcased as thumbnails on the video. Plus you can tag up to 10 products in a single video! 

The choice is yours: Dropping a new collection? Spotlight 8-10 products and give shoppers a good glimpse of everything you’ve got going on. Or keep it simple: Stick to a single product per video. 

#4: Embed shoppable videos anywhere on your site 

Shoppable videos can work on literally any page of your site. Here’s a few of our favorite placement ideas:

• Home page: Create a gallery of videos to direct shoppers to your latest product or collection drops, or help new shoppers find your bestsellers
• PDPs: Give customers an in-depth look at products by adding shoppable video to product pages. Show demos, give product walkthroughs, or answer questions. 
• Dedicated galleries: Let shoppers browse through an entire gallery of shoppable video based on what catches their eye. 
• Blogs and content pages: Create buying guides, walkthroughs, or product comparisons to help steer shoppers to the best product for them. 

Not only can you control where you place shoppable video, you can customize how it’s displayed. Display shoppable video in a static container, as a thumbnail image that can be expanded, or as part of a scrollable gallery.

#5: Video shopping = a whole new way to discover products

Most ecommerce sites are built around search. Whether a shopper clicks into a collection or searches for something specific, they have to have an idea of what they want - kind of the opposite of how we tend to shop in stores, where whatever catches our eye, catches our eye. 

Shoppable video brings back the magic of product discovery by providing digestible content. A customer might watch a video on a product category they weren’t even thinking about browsing, driving more sales. 

#6: Shoppers can watch and browse at the same time

See it. Want it. Buy it. Yup your shoppers can do all that without actually turning off your shoppable videos. Once a shopper clicks into a shoppable video, it’ll move into ‘picture-in-picture’ mode (just like a Y2K-era TV) and minimize into the corner of the screen while the shopper is taken to the product page they’re interested in. 

From there, shoppers can continue to browse the product page, or return back to the video at any time - perfect for longer-form videos you shoppers might want to have on in the ‘background’. 

#7: Shoppable video is mobile-friendly

Shoppable video is designed to be consumed as vertical video - AKA the main way more and more people are consuming both video and ecommerce. In fact, mobile retail ecommerce in 2022 doubled from 2019 in a pre-pandemic era. 

What does this mean? Shoppable video works just fine on both desktop and mobile. In fact, it’s tailor-made for mobile, replicating the vertical video customers are used to on social.

#8: Shoppable videos can be any length

Shoppable videos can be any length you imagine. Short snippets (under 30 seconds) work great for spotlighting a single product or dropping a key piece of information, while mid-length videos (2-5 minutes) can be helpful for a deep dive on a specific topic.

You can even take longer videos, like a livestream event, and turn those into evergreen shoppable video that lives in a livestream gallery or some other part of your site. 

#9: Shoppable video won’t slow down your site 

If you’re familiar with SEO, you’ll know that part of the concern comes down to site speed, particularly in relation to Google’s Lighthouse Score. The good news is, shoppable video is designed to be a lightweight integration on your site that should have little to no impact on your overall site performance and subsequent score. 

Is the impact zero? No - literally anything you add to a webpage will impact your score. But we’re in a new era of video, where high quality files can be presented at lower file sizes and easily streamed using higher fidelity data networks. 

#10: Shoppable videos are especially beloved by Gen Z and Millennials

If your key target audience is in the Gen Z or Millennial age range, you’ve GOT to add shoppable video to your site. These two demographics are particularly responsive to video content, and not having it is a huge missed opportunity. 

Gen Z in particular spends a whopping 12.4 hours a week on average devouring TikTok content, with YouTube trailing behind at 5.8 hours, Instagram at 3.8 hours, and Snapchat at 3.7. This is a video-first demographic, plain and simple - so give them a way to engage with video on your site. 

A final note on shoppable video

If there’s one thing you take away from this guide, it should be this: You’re in control when it comes to creating shoppable video. How you want to use it, where you place it, the style of shoppable videos you create - that’s totally up to you and how video works with your audience, goals, and overall brand. 

Our free shoppable video platform gives you the flexibility to take any video asset, tag products, and upload it to your site in any container you’d like. Ready to get started? Get shoppable video for free and start boosting engagement on your site.