Should You Be Using Autoplaying Video On Your Product Pages?

Video can play a huge role in ecommerce conversions, and with good reason too.

Being able to see a product or service demonstrated in video is far more impactful than viewing a few photos alone.

Autoplaying videos however, are usually only seen on core pages like homepages, with looping scenes to introduce the company or brand. Yet whilst trawling the web I’ve never come across individual autoplaying videos on product detail pages, until now.

Individual Videos Used On Every Product Page

Magda Butrym is a US fashion brand who are clearly very ‘video first’.

Their category pages have videos of their models parading the screen, showing off their fashion lines in motion. Additionally, each product page has a similar video that is the primary or featured image for the page.

This is what we are showcasing in this edition of Swipe & Deploy.

Ripping Up The Rule Book

Having a product video for each product is a common practice for many brands, but these are usually found a few images deep in the product image carousel or by scrolling down the page.

Yet, what Magda Butrym are doing is putting the video up front and centre in the hero and setting it to autoplay. This is the first thing users see to capture their attention, before they begin scrolling or interacting with the page at all.

Each video is a short clip of the model showing the product in near enough 360 degrees, so the user can see how the product looks from any angle. When they are ready to interact, the regular static image gallery follows the video.

So What’s To Swipe & Deploy?

You might wondering why I’m so excited? Really, it’s more for the marketing team and the brand to invest both time and budget into the creation of these videos.

Video can become costly to shoot, edit and publish. Having to do this for every page and product can certainly add up, but Magda Butrym have made it work. So today’s key takeaway is to be inspired by what they are doing and use their website as a reference when you are seeking larger marketing budgets from your board.

Consider how autoplaying video could be used effectively on your website on a product or service pages.

This isn’t limited ecommerce websites. A service or B2B product could also benefit here. Showcasing a short looping video that demonstrates your offering could work wonders.

Take Tiktok for example. Brands are achieving massive wins, demonstrating their products in short clips. This is the type of impact that you can inject into your product or service pages.

@newlook The denim skirt stays ON for cosy season #NewLook #ThatNewLookFeeling ♬ Originalton – ˚₊‧ 🎧 ‧₊˚

Before You Implement

Before you go ahead and add hefty video files to all of your product or service pages, don’t forget to consider performance and user experience.

Performance

Video can drastically impact website performance and page load speeds if not implemented correctly and optimised.

Before you go ahead and add video to every product or service page, talk to your developers and technical SEOs about ensuring the videos are implemented in a way that doesn’t tank your website’s speed.

Sound

Autoplaying videos are common place but autoplaying sound in videos can be incredibly annoying and intrusive for users.

Can you demonstrate your product or service without sound? If not, allow users to toggle sound on, don’t force it on them.

Accessibility

Make sure the videos you use aren’t likely to cause accessibility issues. Avoid flashing images and fast movement.

Also ensure that users who cannot view video aren’t losing out on important information. Does the video need audio descriptions and captioning?

Length

Short form video is best for this kind of placement in the hero.

That’s not to say you cannot use longer videos with audio further down the page, but these should generally not be autoplayed.

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That’s a wrap for Swipe & Deploy #54. Join me next month where I will share another insight or inspiration piece from around the web.