6 Instagram Video Post Ideas for eCommerce Brands that Boost Sales

It’s proven that 65% of people are visual learners, so it’s no wonder that a visual app Instagram has become one of the most popular social media platforms in the last decade.

Instagram’s popularity is taking the world by storm. Social media marketing report claims that Instagram has 1 billion active users and 500 million of them use the platform daily.

The days when users only posted selfies and followed other people to keep in touch with their friends and family are long gone.

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Today, Instagram has become an important marketing channel for online shoppers as 70% of customers use Instagram for product discovery and the platform offers ecommerce solutions like product tags and in-app checkout.

Ecommerce brands seek out new creative ways to reach their potential customers on Instagram, spark their interest in products, and turn social media followers into customers.

The solution is simple: help your customers overcome their doubts and make the right purchase decision with Instagram video posts as they crave video content.

Why? According to Business Instagram, people spend 80% more time watching videos on Instagram and the number of videos produced per day on the platform has increased 4x each year.

What’s more, engagement also matters for growing an eCommerce business and video posts help to boost interactions in-app. As this guide from Boosted points out, followers engage more with content they love, and in-feed videos encourage users to interact more with your posts:

“There is a wealth of data that shows that videos generate more engagement than still images and text… Higher-ranking posts appear first on your followers’ feeds, and that makes the post more likely to reach more people.”

Now that you realize the power of videos on the platform, let’s find out the top reasons why Instagram video posts help to boost eCommerce sales.

Why Instagram Video Posts Help Ecommerce Brands Boost Sales?

The demand for video content is growing, so various companies use different social media videos on platforms.

When it comes to eCommerce brands with an Instagram presence, uploading Instagram videos can help to boost sales for the following reasons. With Instagram video posts you can:

  • Reach your audience and keep customers engaged: Most eCommerce businesses aim at attracting younger audiences which means Instagram is a perfect marketing channel. As specified in one report, 88% of people aged between 18 and 49 years use Instagram. What is more, videos are extremely popular among young people, and therefore using Instagram video posts helps to keep your potential customers hooked and improve customer engagement.
  • Show off products from different sides: Online shoppers can’t see or touch products before buying them, so dynamic video posts show items from different angles which helps to ease the worried minds of potential customers and convince them to buy a featured product.
  • Explain more about your company and products: Instagram video posts allow users to upload up to 60 seconds of video content which must be enough to tell about your products. Plus, the attention span is shrinking, so videos help to keep the audience engaged which also helps to deliver the brand message to your potential customers.

For a variety of reasons, creating Instagram video posts can be beneficial for your eCommerce brand. But if you’re still not convinced, check out this case study from Allbirds:

In 2020, when the company launched its spring collection, Allbirds created Instagram video ads with a variety of creative to reach a wider audience of potential customers and boost sales. The campaign resulted in a 48% lift in purchases and an 18% lift in an ad recall.

In short, Instagram video posts encourage customers to make the purchase decision faster. So, if you’re working on an Instagram video strategy for your e-store, here are 6 Instagram video post ideas for eCommerce brands that boost sales. Let’s dive in.

 1. New Product Announcement

Uploading an Instagram video post is a great way to tell your followers about new products and get more sales.

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When customers know about a new product launch in advance, it helps to drive awareness, spark interest in products, and find potential consumers. The more people know about your new product, the more customers you can acquire.

It also improves customer experience that leads to a higher satisfaction rate and more sales. One report on CX says that satisfied customers are 4.2x more likely to buy again, 7.2x more likely to try a new offering, and a good customer experience leads to 3.5x more sales.

Let’s take a look at an example from H&M. In honor of its new collection launch, the company created an Instagram video post that told viewers about the collaboration between H&M and one iconic British footwear retailer GoodNewsLondon. The company also wrote a short yet descriptive Instagram caption that included all information about the new products and  launch dates:

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There are many video types that help to announce a new product launch: teaser, commercial, or stop-motion videos allow marketers to add all important information about new products to spark interest and cause a buzz.

 2. Lookbook Videos

One of the best ways to boost eCommerce sales is to give your customers choices. Since all customers are different, their preferences, needs, and wants vary, too.

This means showing off your clothing line with video content can be a great way to spark interest and convince consumers to make the purchase.

Simply put, it’s a smart idea to create lookbook videos that show the variety of products, just like in the example from GAP:

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Moreover, showing off different products in a single video leads to more video views as social media followers are interested in catching all details, so they watch the same video over and over again.

And if you have a huge collection of products and a 60-second video isn’t enough for your lookbook, you can create a series of videos or upload an IGTV video, a long-form video that can last up to 60 minutes. Check out how Michael Kors did it:

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Want to know the best part? With IGTV content, you can include clickable links in the description and let your viewers get to the right website page.

Not only can it help potential buyers find out all relevant information about the products, but it also helps to drive website traffic that can lead to your eCommerce business growth.

 3. Video Tutorials with Niche Experts

Here comes the ugly truth: your customers bother much about neither your product nor brand unless it can solve their problems.

To convince customers to buy from you and therefore increase eCommerce sales, it’s important to prove to your customers that your product is right for them. Luckily, video content can help to do it.

The answer? Video tutorials! The popularity of e-learning is on its rise, so people pay close attention to educational content that can help them.

Although video tutorials have always been an important part of skincare marketing, more and more eCommerce companies jump on the bandwagon to create video tutorials that tell more about the product features and explain to viewers how to use products.

Let’s take a look at Sephora:

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Sephora introduced its beauty director Myiesha and it gave great results. When companies want to increase brand trust and reach a wider audience, they team up with niche influencers as people trust opinion leaders as much as their real-world friends.

What is more, one study found that 90% of social media users are persuaded to make a purchase after seeing social media content and 33% of these users find influencers as a trusted source of information.

 4. Unboxing Videos from Niche Influencers

The phenomenon of unboxing videos is gaining in popularity as modern customers crave authenticity. This Instagram video post idea shows in real life, so the viewers get a feel for featured products and therefore get excited.

But if you want to bring your eCommerce business to the next level and get more sales, it’s a good idea to work with niche influencers.

In the eCommerce world, more and more companies send their products to niche influencers who can create unboxing videos, share their thoughts on products, and reach a wider audience of potential buyers.

Check out the example below:

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Obviously, if you’re not a world-famous fashion brand like Hermes, it can be daunting to work with macro-influencers whose videos can generate almost 55k views.

However, you can still find an influencer for your brand as Instagram influencers come in all sizes and shapes. For example, nano-influencers–those with the small yet loyal following–have higher engagement rates which means they offer more options for emerging eCommerce brands on Instagram.

 5. Seasonal Sale & Special Offers

With a great variety of products on the market, modern customers always pay close attention to the best deals and offers that allow them to get their desired product for a reasonable price.

Thus, one of the most effective Instagram video post ideas for ecommerce brands that boost sales is a seasonal sale announcement or special offers. Customers love discounts and offers, so this video post idea can accelerate the sales funnel and turn prospects into customers fast.

ASOS uses this tactic to tell about its sales, just like in the example below:

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What is more, creating an Instagram video post that tells more about a seasonal sale or special offers can be a part of eCommerce remarketing, the process when you reach out to your website visitors who do not make the desired action. How? You can promote the post and reach these visitors who will be more likely to complete the purchase after seeing their favorite item on sale.

 6. Video Customer Testimonials

During the product discovery, potential customers take into account positive reviews they can find on the web. In fact, 93% of customers pay close attention to user-generated content when making a purchase decision.

To ease the worried minds of potential customers and convince them to buy from you, it’s a great idea to create video customer testimonials where your satisfied customers can share their thoughts on your products. Not only does it increase brand loyalty and trust, but it also shows the popularity of your products that help to acquire new customers and therefore boost sales.

For example, Brittany Cherelle made a short video to show the effect of Nam Vo products and wrote a short review:

 

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If your digital marketing team can collect these video testimonials from existing customers, that’s great. But if your customers don’t make videos for your eCommerce company, you can find out new ways to encourage them.

For example, you can create merch and send it to your customers as a brand freebie.

Getting extra attention from a company results in brand trust, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. Satisfied customers are more likely to share the good vibes, so they make videos with your brand logo.

Check out the following video from Jenna Michele:

 

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But if you still want to find another way to motivate your customers to make video testimonials for your company, consider referral marketing. When you give your existing customers an initiative (discounts, bonuses, exclusive offers, cash rewards) for promoting your company and acquiring new customers, they are motivated to find new ways to spread the word about their favorite products.

Conclusion

The popularity of Instagram shopping and video content is undeniable. Since customers use Instagram to discover and research new products, it’s important to know the variety of Instagram video post ideas that increase brand awareness and convince your followers to become customers.

Moreover, the days when only big companies could afford to create videos are far behind us. Today, you can rely on video marketing tools like Cincopa to create stunning Instagram video posts for your eCommerce business with ease.

So, do you use Instagram video marketing for growing your eCommerce business? What works best for you?

 

Originally published on April 13th, 2021, updated on April 15th, 2021
The Blog

6 Instagram Video Post Ideas for eCommerce Brands that Boost Sales

by Hugh Beaulac time to read: 8 min
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