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Shoppable video for Shopify

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Start from a use case

One click fills in a typical set of clips and opens the plan. Then change the answers to match your own footage.

Your video plan

Pick a use case above. The layout that suits your clips, with advice on length, shape and captions, appears here, followed by the video widget itself.

The parts of a shoppable video section

A shoppable video on Shopify is a short clip with the products it shows tagged on it, so a shopper can add one to the cart or open its product page without leaving the video, and this tool picks the layout that suits your clips and previews the Nudgesmart widget in it.

Captions and pause controls follow WCAG 2.1 (success criteria 1.2.2 and 2.2.2), and the muted-start advice follows the autoplay policies browsers publish. No figure is quoted for what video does to sales. Every other store widget is in the widget gallery, and the shoppable video help guide covers uploading clips and tagging products step by step.

Four answers drive the plan above: how many clips, how long they run, how many products each one carries, and which way up they were filmed.

Row
Tall tiles in a line that shoppers swipe through. The natural home for vertical clips on a product or collection page.
Grid
Several tiles in view at once. Better than a row once there are enough clips that most would otherwise sit off screen.
Stories
Small round bubbles that open into a full-screen player, like the stories strip in a social app. Compact enough for a homepage; the tagged product appears inside the player, not on the bubble.
Hero
One large video leading the section. Suits a single wide brand or workshop film.
Product tag
The product attached to a clip. A single-variant product that is in stock can go straight into the cart from the video; a product with several variants links to its product page so the shopper can pick a size or colour.
Captions
Text of what is said, shown on the video. Needed for anyone watching with the sound off and for shoppers who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Nudgesmart adds widgets like this one to your store from the theme editor, in your theme’s fonts and colours by default, and is available on the Shopify App Store. See every widget layout or see what it costs.

Five video sets, and the layout each one gets

Invented stores. The layout, the second choice and every warning come from the same function the planner above runs.

Worked examples: a set of clips, the layout it gets, a second choice and any warning
ClipsLayoutAlso worksWhat the planner flags
Skincare brand, four vertical how-to clips, one product eachRowGridNothing to flag
Fashion store, six quick try-on clips for the homepageStoriesRowNothing to flag
Furniture maker, one wide workshop film tagging two piecesHero—Nothing to flag
Kitchenware, nine square recipe clips, full outfit of tools in eachGridRowFour or more products on one clip crowd the product tags. Split the clip, or tag only what is clearly on screen.
Outdoor gear, three old phone and camera clips, nothing tagged yetRow—Clips over a minute rarely get watched to the end while someone is shopping. Cut them down before uploading. Mixed shapes crop unevenly side by side, so one clip looks zoomed and the next looks letterboxed. With no product tagged, a clip has nothing to add to the cart. Tag at least the product that appears in it.
Row two gets stories because the clips are short, vertical and carry one product each; on that layout the product appears once a bubble is opened. Row five collects three warnings, and each one is cheaper to fix before upload than after.

Before you film or upload

Start muted, make sense muted

Browser autoplay policies only let a video start on its own when its sound is off. Plan every clip so the product and the point are clear in the first seconds with no audio at all.

Captions are an accessibility requirement, not a nicety

WCAG success criterion 1.2.2 asks for captions on prerecorded video with sound. Captions burned into the footage go wherever the clip goes and need nothing switched on.

Do not let a clip promise more than the product

A demo is an advertising claim. If the clip shows a result, such as a stain lifting or a crease falling out, the product should do that for a buyer under normal use, and anyone shown using it as a customer should be one or be labelled otherwise.

Creator clips carry a disclosure

If a creator was paid or gifted the product, the FTC Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255) expect that connection to be clear to the viewer. Ask for the original file with any disclosure intact, and add one to the caption if it is missing.

Rights to reuse

A clip a customer posted on social media is theirs. Get written permission before putting it on your store, and keep a record of it.

The plan does not see your footage

It works from your four answers. Watch each clip on a phone with the sound off before you upload, which catches most problems a planner cannot.

Shoppable video questions

How do I add shoppable video to a Shopify store?

In the Nudgesmart app, create a shoppable videos widget, upload your clips, tag the products in each one, pick a layout and publish. Add to store then opens your theme editor with the block already added, ready to save. You upload the clips in the app, so there is no separate video host to set up.

Which layout should I use?

Vertical clips suit a row on product pages, short vertical clips with one product each suit stories on the homepage, a single wide film suits the hero, and a large set of clips is easier to browse as a grid. The planner above weighs your answers and names one.

Can shoppers add to cart from the video?

Yes, for a tagged product with a single variant that is in stock. A product with several variants links to its product page instead, so the shopper can choose a size or colour there.

Do I need a paid plan?

Shoppable videos are on paid plans in Nudgesmart. You can try every layout, style and palette in the preview on this page first.

Vertical or horizontal footage?

Vertical for tiles and stories, because a tall tile fills a phone screen the way shoppers already hold it. Horizontal only for a hero spot. Keep one shape across a widget so clips line up.

Should the video play with sound?

Expect it to start silent. Browsers block autoplay with sound, so the clip has to work without audio, and captions carry any speech.

Get started

Video earns its place when a shopper can buy from it.

Nudgesmart shoppable videos carry the products tagged in them, and a single-variant product can go straight to the cart from the video. Shoppable videos are on paid plans.