Cover Story: From Soup to Nuts
4 Video Commerce Tips for 2014
As today's consumers increasingly expect to view product videos as part of the online shopping experience, retailers need to craft marketing strategies that leverage the medium's inherent storytelling strengths to engage shoppers and grow their top line. Here are four ways how:
1. Focus on quality content development, then scale. A July 2013 study from my company, Liveclicker, explored video production trends across 45 of the top 500 web retailers (by sales) and found that over 80 percent of videos produced are under 90 seconds in length and focus on demonstrating or explaining the features and benefits of products. With a few exceptions, these videos can be produced at semi-professional to professional-level quality at scale (15-plus per day) using inexpensive hardware totaling no more than $2,500 while featuring an on-camera host. Product videos may not be the best fit for every brand, but producing quality content and then scaling that content across more SKUs is a smart strategy to boost return on investment for most retailers.
2. Measure what matters. It may be important to your video program to understand that viewers watch, on average, 50 percent of your videos to completion. For most retailers, the majority of production efforts focus on transactional content, with higher-up-the-funnel videos focused on engagement rather than revenue accountability. To gauge your program's success, focus on what really matters. Looking at dollars per play and revenue per video as key performance metrics can greatly improve video's contribution to overall online marketing and site merchandising efforts.
3. A/B test video presentations. Running a video program on autopilot is dangerous. Without testing presentation of video on your site (A/B thumbnail testing) or videos across multiple attributes (e.g., host gender, presence of music, product orientation/presentation), it's easy to leave money on the table. The most successful video programs run audits quarterly, if not monthly. Such audits can be a valuable source of knowledge and deliver incremental program performance over time.
4. Open new video channels at low cost. Since video is the most persuasive storytelling medium, it makes sense to expose as many people as possible to your brand or product story. One oft-overlooked yet extremely low-cost channel is email. Embedded video in email drives, on average, 35 percent more video plays compared to video linked from email that plays on a retailer's website, according to VideoEmail.com. "In the first mailing that we launched using embedded video in email, our clickthrough rate doubled compared to prior video emails," said Marissa Oyadomari, senior digital marketing specialist at Bare Escentuals.
Justin Foster is the co-founder and vice president of market development at Liveclicker, a video commerce solutions provider. Justin can be reached at justin@liveclicker.com.
