How to Write an Award-Winning Product Video Script

72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video (Source). At the same time, on Facebook, users were found to only watch 4% of the complete video length.

There is clearly a gap here. While users want to watch more videos, brands are falling behind when it comes to producing quality videos.

In order to get the art of video making right, perfect execution of the first step, that is, writing the script, is critical.

Read on to find out how to write a product video script that makes the viewers stick.

5 Simple Steps To Write a Killer Brand Video Script

Find Your Focus

A video that speaks to everyone, does not speak to anyone. This is especially true when it comes to videos produced by brands. If your video is all over the place, it will not entice anyone.

When it comes to finding your focus for a product video, the first decision is to zero down on what kind of product video do you want to make. The most known categories are:

Marketing Product Videos

Product Overview Videos

Product Demonstration Videos

All these videos find their applications at different stages of the conversion funnel. That being said, in order to be effective, all of them need to have a focus. For instance, in the case of a video that is meant to sell a certain product, you need to know which features of the product you need to highlight.

In the case of overview and demonstrations, the focus is pretty clear, the product itself. However, since marketing videos are mostly meant for top-of-the-funnel audiences, they need to be short (more on this in the next section). Since they need to be short, finding a unique focus, a highlight that the audiences will relate to, is essential.

The most effective way to find this angle or focus is to have an in-depth understanding of your target audience. Don’t just limit your research to demographics. Instead, dive deeper. Understand their problems. Understand what makes them click, how they come to a purchase decision.

Once you understand their most salient problems, it will be easier to zero down on a focus that speaks directly about solving that problem.

Keep it short

Fact: Longer videos deter users.

Our attention spans are diminishing with each passing day.

In a study conducted by Animoto, this is how users responded to the different lengths of demonstration and overview videos:

Source

As you can see, the percentage of viewers that watched the full video diminishes as the video length increases.

The case with marketing videos, as mentioned earlier, is no different. In fact, top-of-the-funnel videos are talking to strangers, they need to be much shorter and to-the-point.

Think about it, if a customer is watching a demonstration video after making a purchase, they will be prepared to sit through at least a few minutes of video content in order to understand how they can make the most of the product.

However, when a prospect is contemplating a purchase, and your video does not entice them, they will probably bounce and find a competitor’s product video.

Thanks to the Animoto study mentioned above, we have data-backed insights on the ideal length of product demonstration and overview videos:

Product overview videos with a duration between 30 and 60 seconds drove 39.2% complete views.
Product demonstrations drove maximum views when the video length was between two and three minutes.

For explainer videos, 90 seconds has been found to be the sweet spot. However, this number may change. For instance, Hubspot found that ideal length of videos on Instagram is 30 seconds. On the other hand, on YouTube, 2 minutes is the golden number.

Bottom line, you cannot have a long product video unless it is a demonstration video. The exact length will depend on the type of the video, along with the choice of platform(s).

While you may be able to speak up to 200 words a minute, it is best to stick to 125-150 words per minute to make sure the viewers don’t miss out on any information.

Tell A Story

The importance of storytelling in marketing terms cannot be emphasised enough. Storytelling helps users relate to your content, regardless of the format. However, when stories are paired with visuals, the effects are amplified.

Even when we talk about product overviews or demonstrations, stories help brands position their products in real-life situations.

Once again, the art of storytelling goes back to understanding your ideal customer along with their most prominent pain points. If you have followed the previous steps correctly, telling a story with your script should not be a challenge.

Get To The Point

When making a product video, it is important to face the reality that the web is filled with some extraordinary content and watching a product video will rarely be a priority for anyone.

That being said, if the user does watch your video, make sure you get to the point within the first 30 seconds. Let’s face it, nobody likes beating around the bush.

Add to that, the diminishing attention spans of the average internet user, along with an ocean of interesting content just waiting to be consumed.

Point is, if you don’t get to the crux of your video in the first 30 seconds, viewers will bounce.

Conclusion

In order to be able to write a phenomenal product video script, the one thing you must get right is the understanding of your audience. Don’t just limit your research to what makes them click, or how they arrive at a purchase decision, but also understand how they interact with various content formats and collaterals.

A good script is one that speaks to its ideal audience in a language and manner that is comfortable and easy to understand.