How to Add a Video to an Amazon Listing

Video can be a powerful addition to your Amazon listing. If you're a brand owner or have been selling on Amazon for at least three months, you can upload videos to your listing. Leverage video to showcase features and benefits to potential buyers, show the product being unboxed, or tell your brand story. You can also use Amazon listing videos to help troubleshoot issues for customers who already purchased the product.

Amazon recommends adding a video (alongside up to five images) to your listing to help it sell better and possibly even reduce returns. But, it emphasizes that videos must comply with certain policies. Read on to learn about those policies and how to add a video to Amazon.

Amazon Video Content Policy

Like everything on Amazon, the videos you upload to your listings must comply with the Community Guidelines. They're worth reviewing yourself, but some of the basics that apply to videos include:

• Videos may not contain profanity, harassment, or hate speech (expressions of hatred for people based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, etc.)
• Videos must not infringe on others' trademarks, copyrights, or intellectual property.
• Videos may not encourage illegal activity, such as underage drinking, illicit drug use, violence, child or animal abuse, or fraud.
• Although medical devices, medications, and supplements are allowed on Amazon, videos should not make any claims of preventing or curing serious diseases or symptoms.
• Although sexual health and sensuality products are allowed on Amazon, videos must not contain nudity or sexually explicit content.

In addition, Amazon says in its tips for creating a product video that videos must be descriptive, demonstrative, and product-focused. It provides helpful definitions and examples of these traits, but in summary: videos are there to help shoppers decide what product to purchase and understand how to use it. The video should answer the questions they are likely to ask and should answer those questions visually, by showing the product in action or displaying characteristics that don't appear well in static images.

Of course, this also means that the video and audio should be high-quality: easy to view clearly on mobile and desktop.

Amazon also recommends keeping your videos concise— between one and 12 minutes—and using a friendly, helpful tone.

Lastly, all statements in the videos must be trustworthy and accurate. This should be a no-brainer: a video that makes exaggerated claims might lead to more harm than good, in the form of higher returns and refunds, negative reviews, and knocks against your account health.

How to Add a Video to Amazon

To add videos to your listings, you'll need to log into Seller Central and go to Upload and Manage Videos or the Image Manager.

To upload a product video through Upload and Manage Videos:

1. Click Catalog and select Upload and Manage Videos.
2. On the Upload and Manage Videos page, click upload video.
3. On the Upload Videos page, click upload video and select the video you want to upload or drag and drop the video.
4. Fill in the required fields:
   • Title: This is the title displayed next to your video.
   • ASINs: Select the products relevant to your video.
   • Thumbnail: This is the preview image displayed to customers before they play the video. A thumbnail is automatically generated for you, but you may replace it with a high-quality image in either .jpg, .png, .gif, or .bmp format under 5GB.
5. Click submit.

To upload a product video through Image Manager:

1. Click Catalog and select upload images.
2. On the image manager tab, select the product for which you want to upload the video.
3. On the product detail pane on the right, click videos.
4. Click upload video and select the required video file.
5. Fill in the required fields (title and thumbnail, as in the instructions above).
6. Click submit.

Best Practices and Benefits

In a recent webinar with eComEngine, Rob Wiltsey of VideoFresh shared some common mistakes he sees sellers making with video and how to improve.

First mistake: not using video! "Video remains one of the most underappreciated and overlooked opportunities for brands to do so many things," said Rob.

He also shared that Amazon researched the use of video and found that listings with a video got an average of a 9.7% higher conversion rate than listings without a video.

And yet, only about 10% of listings have videos right now. "You're just leaving money on the table essentially," said Rob.

Of course, Rob suggests making your videos as high-quality as possible, attention-grabbing, and informative.

Different video lengths and types work in various settings on Amazon. According to Rob, some sellers use a good video in the wrong place along the buying journey.

A video you plan to use in a Sponsored Brands ad should be very short and eye-catching, and it should immediately show the potential buyer that your product corresponds to their search query. Rob also recommends making these videos work without audio since they are being shown to the user unexpectedly.

On the other hand, listing videos can be as long as necessary to convey all the information you're providing. For example, show how to set up the product and troubleshoot common issues, or demonstrate several features and benefits in action.

These can also leverage a voiceover or other audio because the shopper chooses to click on the video and play it, says Rob.

What Are You Waiting For?

If you aren't a whiz with the camera and editing software yourself, paying a professional to create your videos might be a great choice. Check out our partners page to find video professionals and other experts!

Creating or commissioning a good video takes an investment, sometimes hundreds of dollars. But if the product is good, the rest of the listing details and images are good, and there's demand for the product, this further investment is well worth it.

Remember that conversion boost of around 10%! A good video will pay for itself over time. Increased sales, reduced returns, and more loyal brand followers are all possible with good video content placed strategically in ads and listings.