I’m exploring the idea of creating video content for products and marketing events. There are loads of tools or subscription out there, like synthesia, heygen for avatars, product explainers, pcitory, invideo for scripting, runway, midjourney for generating content, and script for editing if that’s compatible.
Wondering what tools or subscriptions you folks think is easy to use (I don’t mind a lil learning curve) and worth paying for?
Hi @WingSpan
It seems like AI videos are at the height of their power. One of which being Google VEO 3 in Google Gemini. It’s probably the most advanced option we’ve seen so far, with ultra-realistic video generation and strong control over prompts.
The catch is that it’s still limited access, but once it’s rolled out more broadly it could become a game changer compared to today’s tools.
That just my experience! Hope this helps!
A few more options beyond Google Veo, include:
Hi **WingSpan**Merchant,
For AI-generated videos, popular tools include Runway and Pika Labs for text-to-video, Synthesia and HeyGen for talking avatars, and Lumen5 or Fliki for quick explainer or social videos. The best tool depends on your goal—cinematic clips, realistic presenters, or fast content creation. Do you know that you don’t necessarily need any code to embed YouTube videos. You can just paste a YouTube link in your blog and make it italic and it will into a video. Thanks to EmbedAny Shopify app. It works not just for YouTube but for 800+ sites, including Instagram, TikTok etc.
Anyone has experience using the above apps or platforms? Real life examples or productions would be nice to compare and contrast 
that’s a smart list of tools! the market is wild right now, but you can simplify your choice based on your main goal.
if your primary goal is the ai avatar spokesperson, go with heygen or synthesia. heygen is usually a bit easier to start with.
if your goal is quick automation of full videos from scripts (using stock clips and voiceovers), go with invideo ai or pictory.
stick with one tool that covers most of your workflow—it saves immense time and learning effort.
p.s. speaking of structuring information visually, you might find symvol[dot]io interesting.
HeyGen seems to do a pretty good job of AI video creation. Use ChatGPT to create the framework and prompt for HeyGen. I was pleased with the results I got.
I’ve tried a few depending on the type of video. For short social clips and talking head style videos, tools like Runway and Pika work well. If I need avatars or presentation style videos, Synthesia is decent. For more control, I usually generate assets with AI first and then edit everything together in Premiere Pro or After Effects. It really depends on the end goal and how polished the final video needs to be.
Hey, for making product and marketing videos easily, start with InVideo for quick video creation, use HeyGen or Synthesia for clear product explainer, and add Descript only if you need simple editing. This setup is easy to use, saves time and is worth the cost.
Tried the Synthesia and HeyGen. Very unnatural looking avatar, voices that are not consistent. Will stick to creating my own videos.
I had tried Heygen, spent hours, each little change is implemented, but deleting previous parts that were established already. subscribed and cancelled a few hours later. Very disconnected results, no flow, not natural but obviously very artificial. will create my own video’s as these will at least be natural.
Tried it last week, with beautiful prompts, prompts were not followed. Very awkward results. Quit the subscription immediately as the app was not doing what it was supposed to do.
AI video tools generally fall into three categories: avatar presenters, generative scene creation, and automated social content. The right choice depends on your content goals and production workflow.
Synthesia and HeyGen work for avatars, Runway for edits, Midjourney for visuals, and Pikes AI for product-focused creative assets and creating bulk images.
"I’m using sceneo.io. It’s built for e-commerce sellers. The results don’t feel like AI
You already listed some solid tools. The main thing is not subscribing to too many at once but building a simple workflow.
A setup that works well for a lot of Shopify product videos is something like:
ChatGPT – scripting and hooks for the video
Midjourney – product/lifestyle visuals or backgrounds
Runway – turning those visuals into short cinematic clips
CapCut or Descript – final editing, captions, and pacing
If you want AI presenters, then HeyGen or Synthesia are good choices for product explainers or landing page videos.
If your goal is fast ad creatives, tools like InVideo or Pictory can generate videos quickly from scripts.
Personally I’d start with 3 tools max and expand once you know what type of videos work best for your products. The real value is less about the tool and more about the script and the hook in the first few seconds of the video.
I’ve tested a few of these tools for product content and ads, and honestly the best setup depends on what type of videos you want to produce.
For product explainers or talking-style content, tools like Synthesia or HeyGen work well because you can quickly generate avatar videos without filming. They’re useful for tutorials, announcements, or simple product intros.
For actual product marketing content (ads, social media clips, etc.), I’ve found it more effective to combine a few tools instead of relying on just one platform. For example: generating visuals with Midjourney or similar tools, then assembling everything in something like Runway or InVideo for editing and motion. That workflow gives you a lot more creative control.
Another option that’s working well for many Shopify brands right now is using AI to generate the scenes and scripts, then polishing the final video manually so it still feels authentic and brand-specific.
If your goal is fast product ads, focus on tools that help with visuals and editing. If it’s tutorials or explainers, avatar platforms make more sense.
Curious to hear what type of product videos you’re planning to create — ads, explainers, or event promos? The tool stack can change a lot depending on that.
My initial belief was that you need one AI video creation tool that can do everything. However, after producing product videos, I discovered that it is more of a pipeline than a tool.
My misconception that I had initially: script (ChatGPT), visuals (Midjourney/Runway), and composition (CapCut/Descript) are separately optimized by different tools, and trying to force one platform to do all three will give you an “AI stock footage” look rather than making your video consistent with your brand.
The problem: skipping the brand consistency step and ending up with clips that feel slightly off-brand because of the different lighting, different mood, and nothing matches the product photography.
Lost a week on testing “one-click” platforms and hoping to see the miracle. It is yet to come.
The actual solution was to connect the brand assets once rather than per clip, since ShopOS passes the information to Monica (Creative Director agent) which then pulls the generated scenes from the current style guide and then you just complete everything in the editor that you use, Runway or CapCut.
What’s breaking consistency for you currently visuals or scripts?
Yeah, this is a pretty common practice now, so you’re on the right track exploring it.
What makes it interesting is that you can generate tons of different actors and scenarios at scale without spending much. Definitely worth paying for once you find the right combo.
One thing worth trying beyond the usual avatar/explainer tools: we’ve been making short ads in the form of music videos. We use the automatic AI music video generation feature on One More Shot AI paired with an AI song made in Suno. Both are easy to pick up even if there’s a bit of a learning curve.
For what it’s worth, people seem to respond to these more positively than they do to regular ads.