A shoppable video is a TikTok, Instagram Reel, or YouTube Short where viewers can get a dose of entertainment and buy the coolest new products.
Take TikTokker Zach King’s Magic Ride video—the most-watched video ever on TikTok with over 2 billion views.
In those captivating 18 seconds, King appears to fly around a parking lot on a broomstick before revealing that he’s actually on a skateboard. He’s creating the illusion by using a mirror with a broom and some clever use of mirrors and props.
Or is he? Maybe not.
In any case, the video is a classic example of engaging content. It’s impressive, mysterious, and compulsively watchable.
Then there’s Leah Halton’s simple lip sync of a YG Marley song—no special effects, no overlays, just a single shot and perfectly done makeup.
Over 1.1 billion views. Somehow just as watchable.
That’s the magic of video content today: simple or elaborate, as long as it’s scroll-stopping, people will watch—and share.
Now, imagine if you paired that attention with your ecommerce products. What if those moments of engagement also offered a path to purchase, all with a single tap?
This is the power of shoppable video. Today, we’ll discuss why shoppable videos convert, how to create your own, and common mistakes to avoid.
What is a Shoppable Video, Exactly?
A shoppable video is a short-form or livestream video that lets viewers interact with products directly. They can tap, click, or hover to learn more or buy the products right then and there.
See this screenshot from a behind-the-scenes (BTS) TikTok video for MySmile? If you look where the arrow is pointing, you’ll see a link to buy the product directly from the brand’s TikTok Shop.
That’s shoppable content in action.
Traditional video content might make viewers want to buy a featured item, but they’ll have to go find and buy it later. If they remember. With shoppable videos, you bring the storefront into the video itself.
All using product tags, hotspots, or “Add to Cart” CTAs within the video.
You can find shoppable videos on platforms like:
- TikTok Shop, where creators can tag products directly in their videos.
- Instagram Reels, with tappable overlays that link to product pages.
- YouTube Shorts, which now supports clickable shopping links and in-video promotions.
- Amazon Live, where hosts can demo products and viewers can buy them in real-time.
For consumers, shoppable videos improve the customer experience by making it easier to buy products they fall in love with. There’s a much shorter gap between product discovery and purchase.
For brands, they drive impulse buying, boost brand visibility, and encourage in-the-moment conversions.
1. Choose Your Platform and Tools
Before you start producing your first shoppable video, decide where you want to publish it and what tools you’ll use.
Different shoppable content platforms offer different features. Consider:
- TikTok: Great for short-form content that invites plenty of engagement. Native shopping tools like TikTok Shop make it easy to tag products and enable in-app checkout.
- Instagram: Use Reels or Stories with shoppable tags to make discovering your products easy. Ideal for fashion, art, and lifestyle brands with a strong visual identity.
- YouTube Shorts: Google saw TikTok’s popularity and created this competing platform. Pair short-form video with links to your product pages in pinned comments and descriptions.
- Amazon Live: An excellent place to demo products in real-time and then link to them within the stream. Perfect for audiences that are already ready to buy.
- Foursixty (yep, that’s us!): Use our tool to add shoppable elements to video content on your social media feeds or website.
- Shopify + Firework: Host shoppable videos on your Shopify website with Firework’s live shopping videos, short-form video carousels, and powerful analytics.
While it’s tempting to want to pick multiple tools and platforms, don’t bite off more than you can chew. You can always start with one platform and expand from there.
Pro Tip: Use Foursixty to embed shoppable Instagram Reels or video UGC into your homepage or product pages.
2. Plan and Script Your Video
Shoppable videos should sell, yes, but they should also entertain or inform the viewer.
As you start planning your first video, think about how you’ll use storytelling to draw viewers in, show the product in action, and lead the audience naturally toward making a purchase.
This step is the place to plan content that converts without feeling like an ad.
Keep these core tips in mind.
Start out strong
The goal is to stop the scroll.
As in fiction writing, television, or cinema, you must hook the reader. Use movement, unexpected visuals, or a bold question immediately.
Study videos on your chosen platform and ask:
- Which ones get the most views and engagement?
- What do the first three seconds look like?
- How can you create a similar effect?
Naturally weave in product mentions
You’re not making an ad, so avoid the temptation to oversell your product.
A light feature is really all it needs. This could be part of a behind-the-scenes video like the MySmile example. Or, include it in get-ready-with-me (GRWM) content. (This is a perfect spot to bring on an influencer or encourage user-generated content!)
Just tell a compelling story, and let the product do its own talking.
Create a storyboard
Even the shortest videos can benefit from storyboarding. Break the video into a few key scenes—Hook, Problem, Product, Outcome, and CTA, for example.
Use Pinterest or Wonder Unit’s Storyboarder to create simple collections of images, or original diagrams, to help sketch out these scenes.
Write down timestamps and cue notes
Figure out the exact timestamps for when the products will appear and write them down.
Later, you can sync them with product tags or links. Take note of any visual cues or on-screen text you want to include (“Swipe up to shop” or “Tap to buy,” for example).
Learn the rhythm and culture of your chosen platform
TikTok is frenetic, offbeat, and raw.
Amazon Live is QVC-esque and informative.
Instagram Reels are aesthetic with music, text overlays, and an eye for cinematography.
Whatever platform you pick, make sure you fully understand what viewers expect to see. Then, match it.
Plan to repurpose content
Content repurposing is a great way to get a lot of use out of one well-planned video.
You can map out and edit a single video to be both a 15-second TikTok and a 30-second Reel. Or a 15-second TikTok and a short GIF to put in email newsletters—with a link to the full experience, of course.
With planning, your video can deliver plenty of ROI.
3. Tag Products and Integrate Your Checkout
Once you’ve scripted and filmed your video, it’s time to make it shoppable.
This is the step that transforms a passive viewing experience into an active one that, ideally, doesn’t push the reader out of the content experience.
Most video platforms will require you to sync external product catalogs or create on-platform shops.
TikTok, for example, has TikTok Shop, which lets brands tag products directly in videos, livestreams, and collaborations with creators.
On Instagram, you can add product stickers that link to your Instagram Shop catalog to Reels, Stories, and posts.
If you’re planning to post videos on your website, you can use tools like Foursixty to create an interactive experience. Embed videos with clickable hotspots, product cards, or floating CTAs that lead to checkout.
Pro tip: Check out Foursixty’s TikTok gallery integration feature to easily embed TikTok videos on your website.
Strategically place galleries on landing pages, product pages, or even in cart upsells to help drive conversions.
Make sure you keep your product information up-to-date across all platforms. Mismatched information—like listing two different prices for the same product on two different platforms—can be frustrating for viewers.
And finally, keep the friction as low as possible. The fewer the steps between a viewer seeing a product and buying it, the better.
Aim for three steps max: Tap, Add to cart, and Checkout.
Anything extra (Redirects! Extra logins! Reloads!) can drive customers away.
4. Publish and Promote
It’s time to publish that video. Hooray, you did it!
Once your video is live, use these tactics to extend its reach:
- Embed it on product pages, homepages, or blog content to help increase engagement.
- Send it out via email with GIF snippets or autoplay previews to help drive traffic to the full video.
- Repurpose the shoppable content by posting clips on Instagram Stories, TikTok, and even Pinterest.
- Use paid social ads to target audiences with a high intent, and retarget anyone who watched without converting the first time.
5. Track Performance and Iterate
Posting your video is exciting, but it’s not the end of the process.
You’ve got to be ready to track engagement metrics like watch time, clicks on product tags, conversion rate, and drop-off points.
If you don’t like what you see, start A/B testing different hooks, video thumbnails, product placements, and CTA timing.
Refine your shoppable content based on what gets more engagement.
Set a reminder to revisit and analyze each video every month or quarter to make sure it’s up-to-date, both product- and optimization-wise.
Best Practices for Creating High-Converting Shoppable Videos
Here’s what top-performing brands and creators consistently do when they make shoppable videos:
- Avoid being salesy. Keep the story central to your video format. Follow a simple, lightly or non-scripted story arc (show the problem, identify the solution, and reveal the transformation).
- Film with phones in mind. Most viewers will watch on their phones—with the sound off. So, film in 9:16 vertical format, use bold and add on-screen text to make it easy to understand without sound.
- Partner with influencers. Feature creators that reflect your audience’s lifestyle and let them speak freely, because authenticity is always better than perfection.
- Integrate UGC. Encourage web visitors to submit user-generated content (UGC) and tag products when you repost it.
- Keep videos short. Between 15 and 45 seconds is ideal.
- Design custom thumbnails. For YouTube shorts, Reels, or on-site embeds, custom thumbnails are like book covers. They should draw readers in and make them curious about what’s to come.
- Include compelling CTAs. Pair catchy CTA copy—“Shop the Look,” “Buy Now Before It’s Gone,” “Tap to Shop”—with visual cues like arrows and swipes.
Pro Tip: You can use Foursixty to collect and monetize user-submitted video content, including product unboxings, reviews, and how-tos. We’ll make sure you get the rights to use it and help you track how well it performs.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Making mistakes is part of any journey in this world as a human. But this list of 3 common shoppable video mistakes can help save you time, money, and energy:
- Over-tagging products. It might seem helpful to tag every item in the frame, but this can quickly overwhelm the viewer. Instead, keep it to 1-3 key products per video. You can always use a follow-up caption or comment to link to a larger collection.
- Low production quality. Distorted audio, bad lighting, and grainy footage can turn viewers off even the most engaging content. It ignites instant frustration. That’s not what you want for your viewers! Make sure you use good lighting, clear audio, and camera stabilizers so your product is easily visible.
- Weak CTAs. No one wants to navigate to a link in bio. Avoid vague phrases like these whenever possible. Instead, include concise product info—what the product is, who it’s for, and why it matters—and cap it off with a short, relevant, and powerful CTA.
Turn your TikToks and Reels into revenue with Foursixty
With Foursixty, you can tag products in your social videos and embed them into your Shopify store, product pages, and even emails. Whether it’s influencer clips, UGC, or branded content, Foursixty makes every view shoppable.
Start your free trial and see how we can help your videos convert.
FAQs
What is a shoppable video?
A shoppable video is an interactive video that lets viewers click on product links as they watch. This makes it easy for users to explore, learn, and buy without leaving the screen—or even the platform. It’s a key part of modern video commerce and a high-quality way to drive sales through engaging video content.
Can you create shoppable social media posts?
Yes! With platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, you can create shoppable video content that includes product tags and direct calls to action. These posts blend perfectly into your video marketing strategy and help boost customer engagement across multiple channels.
How do shoppable videos enhance the online shopping experience?
Shoppable videos combine entertainment with functionality. They show real use cases—like tutorials or influencer reviews—while allowing viewers to instantly shop what they see. This makes the experience more dynamic, engaging, and effective than traditional product pages. It also supports a more conversion-focused marketing strategy.
