What are the Best Practices for Instructional Product Videos?

When producing instructional product videos, the words that are used for the voice-over, and the visuals that are used to represent the product, as well as the instructions that are provided will all undeniably have their own place in the video. Each concept, how you introduce the product, how you instruct the viewer on the appropriate use of the product, and how you deliver the instructions visually and audibly, can play a key role in the success or failure of your video campaign. So, what are the best practices for instructional product videos, anyway?

This is a question that is likely to come up several times as you start the production of an instructional product video for your business. Of course you want to be sure that you’re abiding by the correct rules and underlying best practices when you produce any video for your business, but when there is no instruction manual to support your efforts, what’s a business owner turned video producer to do?

Know Your Audience

One of the most important considerations when producing instructional product videos or any kind of video content really is to take the time to get to know your audience, first. Knowing your audience is key for several reasons. This is how you can create content that will speak to your audience and that they can resonate with. It’s also how you will come up with ideas for your call to action and other important elements of your video. It all starts here!

Start with a Quality Script

Every great instructional product video is the result of a powerful script. This doesn’t mean that your script should be overly wordy or that it even needs to have a lot of words at all. What it means is, you need a script that is going to properly address your goals for your instructional product video and that’s it! Producing an instructional product video is almost always going to involve more visuals than words, so you need to be thinking about this when you write your script.

A top quality script is one that outlines the most essential topical coverage for the video, without going overboard or touching on anything unnecessary. You’re introducing your product, so the best person to write the script technically should be – YOU, the product owner! However, don’t be afraid to then allow an actual script writer to rework your script so that it’s not overly wordy, under-valuable, or otherwise lacking in the type of content that is to be expected from a professionally produced product video.

Keep it Short

Video content is more easily viewed than it is written, so you might struggle to get the ideas out in your script and that’s ok! One of the most important best practices for instructional product videos that we believe every creator must consider is that product video should be kept short. If you’ve produced footage that’s 10 minutes long, you need to shorten it to about 2 or less. If you’ve written a script that’s 5 pages long, you need that shortened too, to about 1-2 pages at most.

The same is true for each statement or major concept that you intend to cover with your product video. If you’ve got 5 concepts that you think are most important, consider narrowing that down to 3. Then make those 3 concepts absolutely the best features of your product. The point here is not to have any fluff! According to a recent study, 73% of all business videos are under two minutes long so there’s really no room for fluff. 

Approach Audience Pain Points

Every great instructional product video is going to touch on the key pain points that your audience has. This isn’t the time to produce a video that teaches your audience how to do things with your product that won’t help them. Think of the most important pain points that your audience struggles with and how your product can help – then produce a video that is going to touch on those important points.

If you’re producing a video that doesn’t touch the pain points, or otherwise resonate with your audience, you’re not going to keep their interest. In order to attract the audience, engage them, and make them feel satisfied with your video content you need to approach their unique pain points with the instructional content that you deliver.

Always Compel with a CTA

It’s surprising how often, when we think of the best practices for instructional product videos, it turns out that people miss out on the most important concepts of professional marketing video production. You’re creating a video that you want to use to market your product to your audience. That means you need to compel your audience to take action – with a call to action.

You always want to include a compelling call to action in your instructional product videos. If you’re not sure how you can compel your audience to take action, you need to start over and get back to the drawing board because you’ve missed the very first best practice which is to know your audience!