Product videos increase purchase satisfaction

If satisfaction is the difference between expectation and service received, then there are a whole lot of unsatisfied online shoppers in the U.K. at present.

by Helen Leggatt

Research by online video specialists vzaar.com found that many British consumers have been faced with disappointment on receipt of purchases they made online. In fact, a staggering 46 percent found that the items they had bought were nothing like as they had expected.

The main reason, concludes vzaar.com, is that consumers aren’t able to properly visualize products from static images and text. Not a surprising comment from an online video specialist, but nonetheless over half, 52 percent, of the 2,314 consumers surveyed said they were more likely to buy from a site where they could view a product on video. The survey also found that 1 in 5 of those surveyed would pay a 10 percent premium to see a product on video first.

“In the busy Christmas period, innovative use of video could really help sites to stand out from the competition, encourage trust amongst customers and maximize their profits,” said Adrian Sevitz, chief technologist at Vzaar.com. “The rise in popularity of video sharing sites is one of the main pillars of Web 2.0, but retailers have yet to embrace its power.”