Turning a Product Page into a Launch Film

Your product page is already a script

A good product page answers the same questions a launch film has to answer: what is it, who is it for, why is it better, and what should I do next. The copywriting, the photos and the specifications were argued over for weeks. A launch film does not need a new story. It needs the story you already approved, cut down and put in motion.

Starting from the page has a second benefit. Everything in the film is already signed off by product, legal and marketing, so the review round is about the edit, not about the claims.

What to take from the page

Open the page and copy these into one document before you think about visuals:

• The headline and the one sentence under it: this becomes the opening line
• The three strongest benefits, in the words the page uses
• One proof point per benefit: a specification, a certificate, a measured number you can stand behind
• The product photos, especially any in-use or lifestyle shots
• The name of the product exactly as it appears on the box and in the shop
• The call to action on the page (buy, book a demo, find a retailer)

Cut it to one idea per scene

A launch film of 30 to 60 seconds usually has room for four to six scenes. A simple structure that works for most physical and software products:

• Scene 1: the problem or moment the product is for, in one line
• Scene 2: the product itself, clearly shown and named
• Scenes 3 to 5: one benefit each, with its proof on screen
• Scene 6: the name, the logo and one call to action

Show use, not just the object

Research on product videos points the same way: showing the product being used tends to help more than showing how it looks. In a 2022 study in Frontiers in Psychology, a product usage video had a stronger effect on purchase intention than a video of the product's appearance. So if the page has one photo of the product in someone's hands, build the film around that moment rather than around a slow turntable.

In a randomised field experiment on a fashion retailer's site, published in Management Science in 2015, adding videos was followed by a 14.5% increase in sales of the featured apparel. That is one retailer and one category, so treat it as a sign that video can move sales, not a forecast for yours.

Write for sound off

Many people will see the film muted, in a feed or on a product page that autoplays silently. Put the key line of every scene on screen as short text, and make sure the film makes sense with no voice at all. Captions for any voice-over should be the default, not an extra.

Keep on-screen lines to about six words. If a benefit needs a full sentence to make sense, it is probably two benefits, or it belongs in the page copy under the film rather than in the film itself. Read the lines aloud at normal speed: if you cannot finish a line before the scene changes, neither can the viewer.

Common mistakes

Launch films made from a product page tend to go wrong in the same few ways:

• Trying to fit every feature on the page into the film. Pick three; the page still carries the rest
• Opening with the logo for five seconds. Open with the problem or the product, and save the logo for the end
• Using a slightly different product name or colour than the shop and the packaging, so the film looks like a different product
• Adding claims in the film that are not on the page, which sends the film back to legal review
• Ending with three calls to action. Choose one: buy, book a demo, or find a retailer
• Making only a widescreen version, then cropping it badly for phones later

Where the film goes

Put the finished film at the top of the product page, next to or inside the image gallery. In Baymard Institute's product page testing, users looked for video where the product images are, and videos placed far down the page were sometimes missed. Then reuse the same film in the launch email, on social channels and in your sales deck, with a vertical cut for phones.

For search, give the film its own clear title and description on the page. Google's video guidelines recommend a page title and description unique to the video, and a valid thumbnail, and Google supports structured data to describe it.

Plan the launch week around the film rather than adding it at the end. If it is ready a few days before launch, sales and support can watch it too, and they will describe the product the same way the film does when the first questions come in.

Making it

You can brief an agency with the document above, edit it yourself from the product photos, or have it generated. For a brand or explainer film, nine.film, our sister product, makes one from your website, which is exactly the page you have just mined. A launch film sells the product; it does not teach anyone to build it. If the product needs assembling, the second film your customers need is the assembly film, and that one we make here from your PDF manual.

A quick checklist before launch

Before the film goes live, check:

• Every claim on screen is also on the product page
• The product name and colours match the page and the packaging
• It works muted, and captions are correct
• The last frame says exactly one thing to do next
• There is a widescreen version for the page and a vertical one for phones