With dwindling attention spans and an increased demand for personalized experiences, brands need new ways to engage their audiences. Enter live shopping. Livestream social commerce has been popular for years and continues to increase in the West. A successful live event requires careful planning and preparation.
Increased Conversion Rates
With dwindling attention spans and higher expectations for personalized experiences, live shopping can increase engagement rates and drive sales. The live-video format offers the immersive thrill of real-time product showcases and two-way conversations, allowing viewers to buy instantly.
While some brands rely on influencers to host and promote their live-commerce events, many have discovered that owned interfaces (like the websites of direct-to-consumer brands) are increasingly popular for launching new products and driving sales acceleration.
Owned interfaces also benefit from shorter and more streamlined conversion paths, which can reduce friction for consumers as they move through macro and micro conversion goals. Compared to social-media-based platforms, which typically redirect customers to external e-commerce sites and apps for checkout—thereby lengthening their journeys—branded interfaces offer a more seamless experience.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
The rise of live streaming as entertainment has created an opportunity for brands to combine shopping and entertainment. As home shopping channels have worked, influencers can showcase products and interact with viewers during a live stream, and shoppers can purchase products directly from the host.
While it is essential to remember that only some brands will see the same level of success with live commerce, there are ways to increase your chances for success by incorporating the right features into your event. For example, virtual try-ons and visuals of how products would look in a customer’s home can help consumers make informed purchases.
VR and AR can also give users a more personalized experience with your product by showing it in different color options or sizes, for example. Your brand must outline its goals before hosting a live stream to maximize conversions. This will allow you to select the products that have the highest potential to sell and how to incorporate them into the event.
For example, if you want to boost sales of a new product, it is a good idea to feature this product first and highlight its benefits. Additionally, it would be best to remind shoppers about the product at regular intervals throughout the event and not only when it is nearing the end of the broadcast.
Increased Customer Loyalty
As brands hone best practices and explore new opportunities for leveraging live shopping, it’s important to remember that customer loyalty is critical. Loyal customers spend more, shop more often, and resist competitors’ offers.
To foster loyalty, brands need to deliver personalized experiences that are relevant and engaging to their audience. Live shopping enables brands to do just that. By allowing audiences to interact with products dynamically and engagingly and offering real-time engagement, brands can create more meaningful relationships with consumers and drive higher conversion rates.
During live shopping shows, brands can offer exclusive discounts and promotions that only last for the duration of the event. This encourages viewers to act quickly and creates a sense of urgency that drives sales.
Additionally, brands can feature influencers to promote their live shopping events. This strategy attracts and engages existing followers and can expand a brand’s reach to new audiences. As social media platforms continue to evolve their e-commerce capabilities, owned interfaces like websites and apps are growing in popularity as destinations for live shopping. This shift is driven by the need for more robust data and a smoother, more frictionless experience.
Increased Product Awareness
Live shopping has become a must-have for brands of all sizes. Moreover, the opportunity to showcase high-end products and offer a human-first digital experience is especially appealing for luxury goods retailers.
Companies report 30% conversion rates during live shopping events, compared to convention e-commerce’s 2.8% in 2021. The success of this new sales strategy lies in the impulsive buying power fueled by limited deals, social contagion, and vicarious experience. To tap into this conversion superpower, marketers should consider leveraging an interactive livestream platform that can help them create and manage a shoppable video experience.
A scalable and easy-to-use platform provides everything from the tools to build a shoppable video to a robust analytics suite that allows brands to understand better what content formats drive conversions.
Similarly, brands should use live shopping sessions for underperforming products to boost their profile amongst potential buyers. By highlighting the benefits of a new product, brands can help viewers see themselves as trendsetters rather than just followers.
Furthermore, incorporating a sense of urgency into the event will pique shoppers’ interest and boost conversions. Lastly, by fielding user questions during the event, brands can back up product performance claims and increase consumer confidence in online purchases.
