The first-ad checklist: ten things to decide before you click Generate

Your first ad takes a few minutes to make and a little longer to think about. Most of the thinking is deciding, and most of the deciding can happen before you open the form. Here are the ten decisions that shape a Clipelle ad, in the order the form asks for them, with a recommendation for each if you just want a sensible default.

1. Which product

Pick one product. Not your bestseller necessarily, but the one that is easiest to explain in a sentence and that photographs well. A good first product has a clear problem it solves and a price you can say out loud without flinching.

If you run a shop with many products, resist the urge to make a brand video. A brand video has nothing to show except a logo. A product video has a product.

Default: the product with the clearest one-sentence benefit.

2. Which photo

The product clip is generated from one photo, with slow camera moves. Everything the clip shows is in that photo, so choose it with care: the product in focus, well lit, on a clean or simple background, filling a good part of the frame. A portrait or square photo suits the 9:16 frame better than a wide one.

If you have a product page, you can paste the link instead and Clipelle reads the name, description and large photos for you to check and tick. Only use pages and photos you own or have the rights to use. The full guide is product photos that make a good product clip.

Default: your main listing photo, if it is sharp and uncluttered.

3. What to say about it

The form asks for a product name and a description. Two or three sentences is enough: what it is, who it is for, what it does differently. This text is treated as information about the product, not as instructions, so write it as facts. "Stainless steel bottle, keeps drinks cold for a day, fits a car cup holder" gives the script more to work with than "amazing bottle, everyone loves it."

There is a short guide on writing a product description that makes a good script.

Default: three plain sentences, no adjectives you cannot back up.

4. How long

Lengths are 10, 20, 30, 45 or 60 seconds. The script has a word limit of about 2.5 words per second, so 10 seconds is 25 words, 30 is 75 and 60 is 150. Shorter is cheaper and harder to write; longer is easier to write and harder to keep interesting.

The form shows the estimate for each length in credits and dollars before you start. A Standard ad uses 2 credits per second of video, so the arithmetic is visible.

Default: 30 seconds. Enough for a hook, a problem, the product, two benefits and a call to action. See a spoken ad script in 75 words.

5. Standard or Premium

Standard is recommended. Premium gives more natural head and hand movement and the best lip-sync, and costs more per second. For a first ad, where the point is to see whether the message works, Standard is the right choice. Switch to Premium later for the ad you decide to put real budget behind. The guide Standard or Premium presenter compares them in more detail.

Default: Standard.

6. Presenter, language, voice, speed

Four choices that go together. The presenter is a portrait look; pick one that fits the product, not the one that catches your eye first. The language drives the script, the voice and the captions. Accent and voice are offered where voices exist for that language, and the voice list is filtered to match the presenter. Speed is slower, normal or faster.

Default: the preselected presenter, your customers' language, the presenter's own voice, normal speed. Change one thing at a time in later ads.

7. Tone, Offer and Direction

Tone is one of elegant, playful, direct or warm. It changes how the script sounds. Direct is the safe choice for most products; warm suits anything bought for other people; playful suits low-price impulse buys; elegant suits anything that costs more than the viewer expects.

The Offer line (up to 80 characters) is the only way a deal gets into the call to action. If you do not have a real, current deal, leave it empty; the call to action will simply tell people to buy.

The Direction field (up to 200 characters) tells the script who the viewer is and what to emphasize. "Audience: parents of toddlers. Emphasize: spill-proof, dishwasher-safe." This is the most useful field on the form for steering the result without writing the script yourself.

Default: direct tone, Offer empty unless you have one, Direction filled with one audience and one emphasis.

8. Background and brand style

The presenter can stand in front of their own background, a flat colour, or an image you upload. Brand style covers the accent colour (which highlights the word being spoken in the captions), the caption look, the font and an optional small logo in the top right. These can be saved as defaults in Settings so you set them once.

Remember what is not there: no music, no text cards, no end card, no button. The only text on screen is the captions of what the presenter says, plus your logo if you add one. That is a deliberate choice; captions are what people read with the sound off, and anything else competes with them.

Default: the presenter's own background; your brand colour as accent; logo on.

9. Review the script or let it run

"Review script first" pauses the run after the script is written. You see three hooks, pick one, and can edit every word before the product clip and presenter are generated. Without it, the first hook is used and the ad renders straight through.

For a first ad, turn it on. You learn what the script step does with your description, and you catch anything you phrased badly before paying for the render. You can also paste your own script instead; it is used as written, within the word limit.

Default: on, for the first few ads.

10. The estimate and the confirmation

Before anything starts, the summary panel shows your choices and the estimate in credits and dollars. Read it. Then the confirmation repeats the length, quality, language and the same number. Once you confirm, the project page shows each step (Waiting, Processing, Completed, Failed) and, when it is done, the real amount spent next to the estimate.

A typical ad is ready in minutes, and you can leave the page. If a step fails, the page shows a plain-language reason and a Retry button that resumes at the failed step, not from the start.

If you are on the free plan, your first 10-second Standard ad is free after e-mail verification, with no card. That is a fine way to run through this checklist once with nothing at stake.

The checklist in one place

• One product with a one-sentence benefit.
• One sharp photo, product in focus, simple background.
• Three plain sentences of description.
• 30 seconds.
• Standard quality.
• Preselected presenter, your customers' language, normal speed.
• Direct tone; Offer only if real; Direction with audience and emphasis.
• Own background; brand accent colour; logo on.
• Review script first: on.
• Read the estimate, confirm, let it run.

The image to video page walks through the same form from the product's point of view, and the guides go deeper on each decision. After the first ad, change one thing at a time and you will quickly learn which decisions matter for your product.