Creating product demo videos can help you to inform your audience about your various products, their features and how they can solve the problems your target audience has. The following are five tips that you should use in order to create an effective product demo video:

1. Always craft a script

You may know how your product works, and know all of its features inside and out, but explaining and demonstrating everything people need to know in front of a camera takes  organization and preparation. Your product demo videos need structure so that the information can be delivered in an effective way, and so nothing gets forgotten!

This means that you should begin with writing a script. By writing a script, you can determine ahead of time exactly what you need to go over in terms of your product’s functions and benefits. You’ll also want to determine the order that the information will be delivered in order to ensure your viewer can follow along.

The script will also help you create a thorough list of all of the shots that need to be filmed. It would be detrimental to your timeline and budget to get to the editing phase and not have all the right footage.

2. Keep it short

Video content is much more engaging than written copy, and a consumer is more likely to sit through a video than they are to read a page of text. However, that doesn’t mean that you have their undivided attention for as long as you need it. If you don’t get to the point quickly, you’ll lose them.

So how can you avoid losing your viewers? Keep your product demo videos short, or even shorter, depending on your audience.  If you’re showing a video to someone who has never heard of your product before, and wasn’t necessarily seeking your product out, you’ll want your video to grab their attention within 8 seconds and your entire video to be less than a minute long.

The best way to capture attention is to tap into the need, problem or fear they have. If you’re displaying your video to viewers that have used your products before or are seeking a more advanced level of knowledge, you can go a little bit longer since they already have some interest that drew them to the video. Still, it’s ideal to keep your video under two minutes, especially if you want it to be shared.

3. Don’t pack in too much information

You can probably shoot a 20-minute video on the ins and outs of your product, but again you need to keep the video short and sweet in order to retain your audience’s attention. The problem that many companies have is that they try to go over too much information within that limited amount of time.

Doing this will overwhelm the viewer and decrease their retention of your message. By trying to explain the dozens of features your one product may boast, you run the risk of muddling the actual purpose of the product and how it can help your viewers.

So how do you avoid this issue? First of all, concentrate on explaining one feature at a time. Make sure that the features you focus on provide a solution to the consumer’s needs.

Think of your product demo video as an introduction to your product and not a full-fledged explanation. You’re giving your audience a basic rundown in order to entice them – and hopefully, you’ll have generated enough interest so that they’ll continue to educate themselves about your products via your website or additional next-level videos that take them a step deeper.

4. Don’t try to create a viral video

Going viral is every marketer’s dream. A viral video is a video that is shared repeatedly by thousands of people, to the point where it gets national attention and is even posted on mainstream websites. Going viral is incredibly rare and it’s not something that you should aim to do with your product demo videos.

If your goal is to go viral, then your product demo videos are most likely going to fail. Companies that attempt to create viral videos will pour money into production values and often create content filled with humor or other elements that may not be appropriate to what your goal actually should be – to demonstrate the usefulness of your product.

Focus on the primary goal – to create a video that informs viewers about your product, what it does and how it can help them. If it happens to go viral, great – but otherwise, don’t sweat it. Out of all the types of video content out there, product demo videos are the least likely to go viral – so avoid making that one of your goals as it could end up hurting your video more than helping it.

5. Always include a call-to-action

So now your audience knows what your product is, what it does and how it can help them. Great, now what? Unless you tell them how to proceed next, they’re not going to take action. Your product demo videos should end on clear calls-to-action. The following are just a few examples of the types of calls-to-action that you can use:

• Encourage them to find out more about your product by providing a link to the product page (which you can either embed into your video or add in the description accompanying your video).
• Encourage them to purchase the product by linking to the product page on the e-commerce section of your site (if you have one).
• Encourage them to contact you for additional information by providing a your email address or a phone number to call.
• You can provide a link to a promotional offer, such as a coupon or discount code to the product, in order to encourage them to purchase or try the product.

These five tips will help ensure that your product demo videos are effective. However, to ensure that your product demo videos are of professional quality, you’ll want the assistance of a professional video production company.