Growth-hack your brand with livestream commerce
Between 2019 and 2020, live commerce grew from $66 billion to $150 billion in China. In the US, the livestream shopping market is projected to hit $25 billion by 2023, according to Coresight Research.
While it’s hard to match the experience of going shopping in person, live stream commerce is fast becoming a preferred choice amongst shoppers today, thanks to the sheer convenience and range of options it provides. Why go out when you can stay home with your loved ones and shop at your own pace?
Livestreaming or live video selling establishes a great two-way communication, enabling shoppers to purchase featured products directly from within the video. The livestream selling trend that started in China has spread worldwide and is revolutionizing the ecommerce industry today.
There are several benefits that livestream shopping offers, including increased customer engagement and higher conversions. Across verticals, retail brands have found live video streaming to be a successful growth hack for selling products online.
In this article, we’re going to discuss five of the top brand problems that can be solved by live commerce.
1. Low customer engagement
Just like you put up posters and signboards in physical stores, it’s important for you to capture the customer’s attention in the online retail space too. With so many competitors vying for your customer’s attention, you have to innovate to engage and retain them.
Whether you’re offering benefits, great prices, loyalty programs, or other incentives, your customers don’t know this and are easily distracted by other advertisements when online. With live shopping events, you can offer information about new arrivals, latest promotions, and product recommendations.
Livestreaming allows brands to connect directly with their audiences online and interact with them in real-time. Businesses today are successfully attracting customers and boosting sales by integrating live video selling on their website, social media channels, and other platforms.
Read more on How to Boost Your e-Commerce Sales Using Live Events.
2. Low brand recall/awareness
Brand awareness or recall is a customer’s ability to recognize or recall the name of the brand when given a signal. If a customer remembers your brand, it’s considered a clear indication of any brand’s competitive market performance. It’s safe to say that brand awareness has a direct link to consumer purchasing decisions.
One way to compete for brand awareness is to expose customers to promotional information about your brand and make it easy and exciting for them to make a purchase.
When you live stream, it reduces the number of searches and decisions your customers have to make, and offers them a list of available products, curated catalogues, and new launches, as well as special prices. This convenience helps increase your brand recall value and incentivizes customers to try your brand out.
3. Positioning your brand in the industry
Brand positioning is more than just a fancy logo or tagline. A good brand position defines the company’s image and offerings and creates a specific place in the mind of the target market.
Livestream commerce can help level up your brand positioning and allow your brand to differentiate itself from competitors. This differentiation will help your business increase brand awareness and communicate value.
Livestream allows you to deploy a convenience-based positioning strategy. This convenience can be based on things like easy check-in, curated collection, informative guides, and more. Besides, livestream shopping allows you to connect with your audience on a human level, building trust before they make any purchase.
To build trust, you can choose to have influencers or celebrities host your livestream, or take it a step further and show the real faces behind the brand – your retail staff. When customers are able to interact with a real human instead of an algorithm, it builds a positive reputation.
Learn more on: Turn Your Sales Staff Into Brand Influencers With These Easy Tips
4. Referrals and return customers
Livestream shopping allows customers to directly interact with the product expert, see the products in real time, and make more informed purchases. Shoppers may ask questions about how to use or style the product and ask to see various sizes and colors. This instills confidence in them to make an immediate purchase.
Not only does live video selling reduce cart abandonment rate, but research shows that it lowers return by 50% as compared to traditional ecommerce channels.
And when customers are happy with their shopping experience, they’re more likely to refer your brand to their friends and family. One tactic that works well is to give out referral codes in the livestream for your customers to share with their friends, so that both get a discount on their next purchase.
5. Low social media followers and low engagement
For brands who are aiming to build a bigger social media following, livestream events offer one of the fastest ways to generate engagement. Video is currently the largest slice in the social media pie, and putting up any video content is a surefire way to bring in more viewers and followers.
With live video shopping, the success rate doubles. Your brand can foster a sense of community and trust among its target audience, offer an engaging and interesting view into the brand identity, and get direct feedback and interactions from potential customers.
In some cases, a brand may have amassed a large social media following but does not receive the corresponding rate of engagement. This usually happens when the brand has had large social media marketing campaigns in the past. These campaigns usually draw followers who are not exactly the target audience and not keen on interacting with the brand. Engagement rates drop naturally and the platform algorithms reduce the visibility of your brand.
With a few live video events, engagement goes up in the existing community and new (more specifically targeted) followers are attracted to the brand. As engagement increases, the social media platform is more likely to show your brand to new users.
In conclusion
Live video selling is fast becoming the most successful way of selling products and services online. By leveraging live streaming, retailers and ecommerce brands can stay ahead of the curve.
SWIRL is a premier enterprise-grade Live Shopping SaaS platform that empowers brands with storytelling and hyper engagement to boost sales and shorten purchase paths. Leverage the power of interactive videos and watch your business sales skyrocket.
SWIRL is a full funnel live commerce solution that helps marketers attract, engage and convert more customers. Enable your website or app with the power of shoppable content to increase AOV, boost conversions and retain customers. If you’re looking for a live commerce solution and want to discuss options, get in touch.