Live Shopping has undoubtedly changed eCommerce for the better. As customers have already embraced this new way of buying, more and more companies are using live shopping to deliver engaging shopping experiences. If you have decided to adopt this innovative eCommerce sales channel, you’re on the right path. But it’s important to follow the live shopping best practices to create a successful session and maximize the benefits. During this article, we will tackle some of the key elements like going in-depth with your product presentations, working with influencers, engaging your audience, and incentivizing your customers to take action.
Table of content:
Explicit product demonstrations
Deliver the video on multiple platforms at once
Create a live shopping calendar
The scope of this article is not to mention all the best practices. That would be impossible as they may differ depending on your vertical and, of course, your audience. But rather to help you create the foundation of what will be your best-performing sales channel: live shopping.
Go in-depth with the product demonstrations
All in all, live shopping is a lot of fun, but customers use it to buy products online because it gives them a better understanding of what they are paying for. One of the most important benefits of it it’s that it reproduces the in-store shopping experience in a digital environment. So in order to reach success, make sure that you review products in detail. Show everything there is to show about a product. Even if it takes longer.
People have often questions before making an online product. And the fact that they can’t find answers is one of the main reasons for high abandonment rates. A live shopping experience should be built around the products you are looking to sell. And going in-depth will help your customers get a better understanding of your products. It will also answer unasked questions. Those that may stop them from buying.
Provide detailed explanations of your products. Starting from the features of your products, highlight the benefits. Do your best to provide exhaustive product presentations. This way, you will help your customers make informed purchases. Not only that you will drastically reduce returns, but you’ll also create better customer experiences.
Be present on all platforms – Multicast your live video session to your Social Media accounts
There are multiple platforms that you can use to deliver your live shopping event. And while a best practice is to host the session on your platform, you should not neglect your social media channels.
You will be able to engage your community on multiple platforms simultaneously, increasing the number of visitors to your site. Multicast means delivering video content simultaneously to a number of different platforms, using your live shopping software as the hub that keeps everything connected.
While the full experience takes place on your website, users from different platforms will be able to see the video show. Adding a direct link in the description will make it easy for them to jump to your site and benefit from the immersive experience you have put up for them.
Using this strategy will help you engage top-of-the-funnel potential customers as well. Live shopping is extremely efficient in converting, but it’s also great marketing. The video presentation of your products helps viewers understand how your products can be used to solve a specific issue. And although they may not be ready to buy, they get a better understanding of how you can help them.
Work with influencers to raise awareness of your live shopping sessions
The host of the live experience is one of the key elements. And while in the long run having somebody from your own team will help you create a deeper connection with your community and deliver authenticity, working with an influencer will help you raise awareness about your live shopping sessions.
By definition, an influencer is a person that has the power to influence the decisions of others. This power may come from the influencer’s authority on a particular subject or hers/his likeability. Having already established audiences, influencers will help you reach broader audiences that haven’t yet interacted with your products.
Successful collaborations start with good research. Find an influencer that has an engaged community and a good fit with your brand. The collaboration needs to be a natural one, so it’s always a good idea to opt for someone that has expertise in the same industry as you do.
P.s. Influencer marketing is expected to grow 10X in by the end of 2030. It’s currently evaluated as a $14.2 Billion industry that will reach $143.10 Billion by the end of 2030. Working with influencers should definitely be on your roadmap.
Engage your audience during the live session
Do you know why customers love live shopping? Because they can interact with the host in real time, ask questions, and get their desired answers on the spot. While traditional eCommerce offers a static shopping experience, live shopping leverages the human-to-human connection.
Unlike the traditional eCommerce experience, live shopping allows you to engage your customers in real-time. It’s one of the reasons that makes it so efficient. From the comfort of their homes, customers can benefit from a shopping experience similar to in-store. They can interact with the host, ask questions, and get the answers they are looking for.
Leverage the chat function and encourage customers to share their thoughts. Follow up on their questions to generate more UGC, as this is a sure way to make the most out of your session.
You can even use the chat option to gamify the whole experience. You can ask questions and your customers can answer in real-time. One way to create immersive experiences is to make your community feel part of the show. They are not simple viewers of the experience. They are your loyal fans that need to get their voices heard.
And while engaging your audience will make viewers feel part of the experience, an engaged audience will also help you better understand what your customers are looking for. Use their feedback and track the most relevant questions, the ones asked multiple times.
Live shopping best practices – video shopping
Live shopping is a great sales tool. It transforms eCommerce into an engaging experience, giving you the needed tools to engage customers in real-time. But a live shopping session will continue to drive sales long after the actual live is over.
Once a live video shopping session has finished, your content can be used for video shopping. One of the main bottlenecks for eCommerce is represented by the fact that customers find it difficult to get a fundamental understanding of the actual look and feel of your products. But you’ve just solved this issue with your live shopping sessions. Why not help other customers benefits from the same explicit product presentations?
Allow customers that haven’t had a chance to watch the live presentations still to benefit from the useful information you have shared with your community. Your video session will serve its purpose as long as your products are still available for purchase.
And having the product demonstrations embedded into your website will increase the time customers interact with your website, sending the right signals to all mighty to Google.
Incentivize your viewers to take actions
Want to drive more sales during the live show? Offer time-limited incentives during your live shopping event. An incentive is a reward you offer to your community. It’s a “thank you” from you to those that took from their spare time to join your session.
A live shopping session in an intimate experience, where customers feel part of your community. You can incentivize them to take action by rewarding them. A best practice for live shopping sessions is to create time-limited offers for your sessions. There are several benefits this will bring:
- Your viewers will feel part of a special community as you have created a special offer just for them
- Viewers will share the offer with people from their network, helping your reach broader audiences
- People will take action (buy your products) and not miss the time-limited offer
Over time, you can test multiple incentive types and see which one brings the best result. As different communities respond to different incentives, we strongly encourage you to not limit yourself to only one. Based on our past experiences, here are some incentives that perform best during live shopping sessions:
- Free gifts with purchase – you can offer a free item (with a lower value) for all sales placed during the live shopping session
- Discounts – probably the most used incentive is a special discount code, available just for the orders coming from your live shopping session
- Loyalty program enrollment – offer your loyal fans the chance to be part of an exclusive loyalty program
- Contest & prizes – encourage people to join a contest and nominate the winner during the live session
- Free shipping
Create a live shopping calendar
Live shopping is not a one-time shot. And regardless of how efficient one specific session may be, nothing beats consistency. Having a live shopping calendar will help you plan your future experiences and communicate them with your audience. Will also help you decide on what type of content you will create, helping you sketch your calendar for the rest of the year.
Having a calendar will allow you to have a plan for a longer period. It will help you also save precious time with your future work. You will know ahead of time what your next steps should be, helping you better prepare for them. Even if you are still unaware of the exact products that you will going to showcase during each show, you can still sketch something like this:
Late February:
Main shopping event: Spring collection showcase
Smaller event – March: In-depth look at specific shoes and accessories
Late May:
Main shopping event: Summer collection showcase
Smaller event – June: Showcase brand swimwear and beachwear
Late August:
Main shopping event: Fall collection showcase
Smaller event- September: How to wear layering pieces
Late November:
Main shopping event: Winter collection showcase
Smaller event – December: What to wear for New Year’s Eve and party dresses
Final words
By following these live shopping best practices, you can stay ahead of your competition while delivering the shopping experiences customers are looking for.
But we haven’t talked about one of the most important elements of live shopping: the software solution that serves your needs. At Streams.live, we’ve put our efforts into developing the easy-to-use live shopping platform that gets you going in no time. In order to create a frictionless shopping experience, you need to make sure that everything goes as planned
Brands from all over the world use it to create an engaging shopping experience. What’s stopping you?
