Adding Stories to Your Product Pages: Best Practices That Actually Work

Let's face it - the e-commerce landscape is more competitive than ever. If you are an ecommerce brand that is looking to make your product pages stand out from the rest while building trust, consider embedding stories! These not only feature your products in a unique and engaging manner, but when curated the right way can, significantly, boost your conversions. The best part, is that they tap into the way Gen Z consumers, actually enjoy shopping in an immersive and engaging manner.

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Join us as we explore the 8 easy ways through which you can master this strategy:

1. Find The Right Content Quality for eCommerce Product Pages

Nothing pushes consumers away like a poor quality video. In order to engage audiences effectively, target a 1280x720 resolution. This is seen to be the sweet spot for most of the devices, specially since most of the today's shoppers prefer to browse using their mobile phones. Tools like Vidjet or VEED can help you design and compress videos without making them look like they were shot on a phone.

Remember to look for the ideal balance between high performing videos backed by high quality, this means they should look professional, without taking forever to load.

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2. Don't Host Videos on Your Main Server

Did you know that hosting videos, directly on your website, is asking for trouble? As an ecommerce brand, consider using alternative hosting services in or to carry out the heavy lifting for you. Built exactly for these purposes, tools like AWS, Google Cloud, Vidjet are built to ensure that your video streams are smooth and clear, without bringing load times to its knees. Look at it this way, it's like hiring a professional delivery service partner rather than having to deliver everything yourself, making it more effective in the longer run.

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3. Understand and Embrace CDNs

Think of Contend Delivery Networks, as your designed content's personal delivery service. With the strategic implementation of storing your videos on worldwide servers, you have the ability to provide your consumers with lightning-fast access regardless of the region they are shopping from. When it comes to ecommerce brands that are targetting, global audiences, CDN's can be pivotal. Have you ever felt the frustration of waiting for the video to buffer? If so, then you know why this matters. Customers don't tend to wait, they simply just move on to another site, which could have adverse effects on your conversions.

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4. Use Browser Caching to Increase Your Advantage

Why should you make your browser work more than it needs to? Enure that proper caching is set up in order to promote faster load times, leading to reduced bounce rates and increased engagement rates. This can be extremely crucial for those ecommerce brands that are displaying a range of stories and carousel on their product pages. While this might sound tasking and technical, most modern day ecommerce platforms make these processes fairly simple and straight forward to implement.

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5. Load Smart, Not Hard to Improve Site Speed

When it comes to websites that have a large amount of content that needs to be displayed, focus on implementing lazy loading. Videos that tend to load on the top half of the front page are commonly referred to as above the fold videos. These videos are often the first visual segment on the page and can have a negative impact on your ecommerce store's loading times. By utilising lazy loading, you have the ability to change this, by only loading videos as and when your customer is about to see them. Look at it as an executive assistant who brings out the products only when your customers walk into the relevant section of your ecommerce store. This leads to reduced bounce rates, and faster browsing experiences. The best part? Modern browsers support this natively, making implementation easier than ever.

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6. Make Your Video Player Play Nice with Different Devices

Considering that 80% of consumers browse on mobile devices, your video player must be as adaptable to details. Your content should look fantastic on all screen sizes, regardless of whether it is square, vertical, or horizontal. No uncomfortable cropping, no squinting. Take into account tablets, laptops, and even smart TVs in addition to various phone models. Your stories ought to be seen worldwide.

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7. Make Those Thumbnails Work Harder

If you've made it this far, it means you're looking to understand, how to boost your conversion rates. In order to do so, strategically placed calls to action on your thumbnails can be significantly effective. By utilising features such as "Quick Shop", creates room for your customers to interact with your products, and add the to the cart directly, without having to navigate to different pages. This means fewer clicks between the thoughts, "I want this" and "purchased." By reducing the friction in the shoppers buying journey, your brand can increase conversion rates significantly, while promoting transparency and building trust.

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8. Add Interactive Elements That Make Viewers Want to Buy

Most importantly, focus on converting those passive viewers, into active shoppers by ensuring that your videos aren't just engaging but interactive! Utilise clickable hotspots, sections and overlays that allow for customers to explore products and product details while watching the videos, giving them the ability to make a purchase without having to leave the video at all. Don't overdo it, but utilise only those interactive elements that you believe serve a clear purpose towards enhancing your shoppers experiences.

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The Bottom Line

Utilising stories on your product pages, is not about just ticking of the boxes on a checklist, but rather about creating and delivering an experience that feels smooth and natural to your viewers, in return driving results. These are not just theoretical tips and tricks, but rather A/B tested approaches that can boost your ecommerce site's performance, making your brand stand out in an overly crowded market.

Remember, it's all about creating an experience that provides customers with engagement, that keeps them coming back for more. Start by implementing these best practices, and monitor the results in order to be able to refine your approach, and drive up conversion rates. So what are you waiting for? The world of ecommerce waits for no one! Strengthen your foundations, and you'll be well-equipped to keep pace and even lead the pack.

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