E-commerce short video pyramid creation method (Part 1)

Many Douyin merchants always face the dilemma of traffic and conversion when creating short videos for promoting products. The more interesting the video is, the higher the like rate and the worse the conversion rate. However, some disorganized mixed-cut videos from supermarkets have surprisingly good conversion effects.

This is actually closely related to the attributes of the product. We can divide Douyin e-commerce consumer products into the following four categories:

1. Low technical content and low brand awareness

Skinny dog ​​products: There is serious homogeneity, and price is the main decision-making factor.

2. Low technical content and high brand recognition

Cash cow products: create differentiated segmented tracks and tell brand stories.

3. High technical content, low brand awareness

Problem product: During the user accumulation period, seize the long tail of traffic.

4. High technical content and high brand recognition

Star products: shaping brand tone and playing with circle culture.

• Douyin merchants who mainly sell Category 1 consumer goods are suitable for "street fighting" in the sinking market - using "selling point voice-over + product shot mix". Because the price is low enough, it hits the pain points directly and does not give users time to make judgment. The main forms of expression include a combination of supermarket shouting and trial clips.
• There is fierce competition among Douyin merchants who mainly sell Category 2 consumer products. Due to low user stickiness, it is good at using "storytelling routines" to stimulate conversions.
• Douyin merchants who mainly sell Category 3 consumer goods have not yet opened up the market. They like to attract long-tail audiences through labeled creations, and their content has a certain degree of group specificity.
• Douyin merchants that mainly sell Category 4 consumer goods often occupy a larger market share and are good at using fan economy to maintain circle culture. Its e-commerce videos are often beautifully produced and highlight the brand tone.

In this issue, we focus on the short video creation method for the second category of consumer goods - how to use "storytelling routines" to improve product conversions in just 30-40 seconds of advertising time?

Next, I will introduce to you an efficient creative strategy: the "Pyramid Creation Method".

1. Basic structure of the pyramid

E-commerce short videos can be divided into "product planting type", "live streaming type" and "fun marketing type" according to their form of expression.

• The "product recommendation type" has a relatively simple picture, and usually uses oral broadcasting to directly state the selling points;
• "Live streaming traffic generation" is mainly used to create momentum for live streaming;
• The "fun marketing" type is novel in form and usually comes with strong entertainment value. It is also the most popular form of sales on content platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili, and Xiaohongshu.

The following figure shows the basic structure of the "pyramid creation method" for e-commerce short videos, which is divided into four layers:

• The bottom layer is made up of the “three basic sequences”, which is also what we often call the script structure;
• The middle level is plot strategy, covering the “seven plot effects”;
• The high level is the “storyboard”;
• The top layer is "lens language".

The common creative dynamic optimization technology (Dynamic Creative Optimization) on the market mainly works at the high level, such as short video intelligent fission, which belongs to the dynamic optimization at the script level.

2. Three basic sequences

The essence of e-commerce short video sequences is to create meaningful changes to daily lifestyles through the interaction between people and products, and to convey this through a series of values ​​and conflicts.

After analyzing the script structures of a large number of popular short videos, I found that almost all popular videos have these three sequences: "exploration", "sincerity" and "co-creation".

• "Exploration" refers to stimulating curiosity and imagination, and inducing the audience to seek knowledge;
• “Sincerity” means using pain points to trigger empathy and provide innovative solutions;
• “Co-creation” means creating a beautiful vision and calling for immediate change.

The dramatic conflicts across these three sequences can be divided into three parts: cognitive conflict, trust conflict and value conflict.

• Cognitive conflict exists in the exploration sequence stage, creating a cognitive gap and paving the way for building trust.
• Trust conflict exists in the stage of true feelings. By explaining the selling points, the trust threshold is lowered and user resonance is aroused.
• Value conflicts exist in the co-creation stage, which helps users overcome their final purchasing concerns, emphasize the unique value after purchase, and promote sales.

It should be noted that the user churn rate of the "exploration sequence" is very high, with 80% of users churned within the first 3 seconds.

Therefore, the exploration stage is also known as the "3 seconds to decide life or death" critical period, which requires quickly stimulating the audience's curiosity, focusing on the problem, and attracting users to stay.

How to create dramatic conflict in an e-commerce short video of no more than 40 seconds?

From the above figure, we can see that:

• The dramatic conflict of the exploration sequence arises from cognitive blind spots;
• In the true feelings sequence, when the selling point triggers a strong perception of pain points, we need to create a conflict between subjective probability and objective necessity, that is, to widen the gap between ideal and reality;
• In the co-creation sequence, dramatic conflict is reflected in the conflict between instantaneous decision-making and psychological values. Users often place purchase orders based on instant value judgments.

3. Seven plot effects

In film and television literature, plot is "the development of a series of life events in the relationship between characters, composed of a series of specific events that show the character of the characters and the relationship between characters and characters and the environment."

However, since e-commerce short videos are short in length, have single scenes, and their core narrative goal is product conversion, the "seven plot effects" mainly refer to narrative strategies.

We can divide it into anchoring effect, decoy effect, herd effect, norm effect, ownership effect, expectation effect and free effect. Next, let’s look at the strategies corresponding to these seven plot effects.

1. Anchoring effect: setting implicit judgment criteria

Cognitive conflicts in exploration sequences are often based on different judgment criteria. The purpose of "anchoring" is to gain control of the agenda, allowing the audience to break out of their inherent mindsets and accept a completely new knowledge model. This is also the main purpose of creating cognitive gap.

2. Decoy effect: using ineffective competitive products as a foil

In his book Influence, Robert Cialdini equates “free tactics” to laying out bait for potential customers. The "bait effect" here refers to ineffective competitors. Products with low technological content will inevitably encounter homogeneous competition, and mastering the discourse power in the segmented track is the key to a tactical breakthrough. Under the judgment criteria of the anchoring effect, no matter how many competing baits there are, they cannot gain an advantage in a segmented track.

3. Herd mentality: blindly following authority

In economics, the "herd effect" is used to describe the herd mentality of economic individuals. In the creation of e-commerce short videos, this strategy is suitable for brands with certain technical advantages. The herd effect can occur in the "exploration sequence" or the "truth sequence". In the exploration sequence, the use of the herd effect can serve as an authoritative endorsement for anchoring judgments. In the true feelings sequence, the herd effect is used to enhance the persuasiveness of selling points and overcome the trust bottleneck.

4. Normative effect: Make product concept a kind of contract

The normative effect is essentially a kind of "cognitive bias" and a consensus within a specific circle. For example, some people believe that "the secret recipe passed down by our ancestors is reliable", while others believe in "scientific formulas created with cutting-edge technology." How to create value standards for product selling points for users in the true sequence? The normative effect can consolidate the first-mover advantage.

5. Ownership effect: setting up exclusive groups

Emphasizing that the product serves a specific group of people can enhance the target customers' perception of pain points and lay a foundation of trust for conversion.

6. Expected Effect: Unique Vision of Effect

The anticipation effect strategy appears in the “co-creation stage”. At this point, users have basically understood the selling points, and the last step that hinders consumption decisions is "product value", especially for products in higher price ranges. Consumers will have doubts in three main aspects: Can the value of the product really meet psychological expectations? Can alternative products solve the same problem? Do you need to refer to other competing products? Using the expected effect strategy to create a vision of effects for users that cannot be met by competing products can help users overcome psychological barriers.

7. Free Effect: Extra Benefits and Purchase Time Limit

The free effect usually appears after the expected effect, serving as the final reminder to promote orders and emphasizing the timeliness of the discount. Unless it is during special marketing periods, such as 618 and Double 11, most short videos will only call for orders at the end without using any preferential means.

So far, we have understood the middle and bottom-level architecture of the short video pyramid script creation method. In the next issue, we will focus on learning the diversified script strategies and lens language of e-commerce short videos.

Author: Buy a small plane

Source: Buying Small Airplane