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UGC Spotlight Video

A single tall, phone-shaped customer video in the UGC Spotlight carousel. It shows a still image with a play button until someone taps it, then loads and plays the video in place.

There are two ways to supply the video, and they are not equivalent — see the caution below.

Setting What it does
Video An uploaded video file. Takes priority over the YouTube URL below.
Video poster The still image shown before playback. Falls back to the frame Shopify generates from the video.
Video title Not shown on screen. Used for SEO and search engine video results.
Video description Not shown on screen. Used for SEO and search engine video results.
Video URL A YouTube URL, used only when no video file is uploaded.
Video thumbnail The still image for the YouTube version.

In the UGC Spotlight section, which arranges the videos as a swipeable carousel. Add one block per video.

  • Shoot vertical. The frame is a tall phone shape and the video is cropped to fill it. Landscape footage loses most of its width.
  • Always set a poster image. The auto-generated frame is whatever moment Shopify happened to grab — often a blur or a closed mouth. A chosen still is what makes someone tap.
  • Keep files small. The video only downloads once someone presses play, so a large file won’t slow the page — but it will make the wait after the tap long enough that people give up.
  • Get permission before posting customer content. These are real people’s faces on a health product’s marketing.