Create a powerful live shopping strategy with short videos

Date: April 19, 2022

When you stream live shopping videos, you’re enabling your customers to log in and share the experience from the comfort of their couches. But ease of purchase is just one of the reasons why live shopping is so successful. Here are a few more:

Shorter purchase journey: Customers are more likely to indulge in impulse buying when they have been part of the selling experience. The ease of adding to cart and clicking to make a purchase – all without even leaving the video – makes it very tempting for a customer to buy.
Inspires confidence: When viewers see products being opened and get real-time answers to questions, they consider the brand more trustworthy and are more open to trying new brands or products.
Makes your brand more accessible: Video shopping bridges the gap between the offline experience of buying in store and the more anonymous experience of buying online from an eCommerce website. When viewers can see the human face behind the brand, they instantly become more open to listening and trusting.

In today’s hyper-stimulating world of social media, it’s easy to forget a brand, even after buying from it. But with video content as one of your main strategies, customers spend more time engaging with the brand and the host, thereby increasing brand recall.

Find out more about how live video shopping can help increase sales.

How to add video to your live shopping strategy with Swirl

With Swirl, it’s easy to make shoppable videos a part of your eCommerce marketing strategy. The app gives you access to a range of features and tools that allow you to create and share hyper-engaging live shopping videos of different formats, depending on what your brand needs.

Here are a few options you can try:

One-to-Many live video shopping: Create shoppable videos and share with thousands of viewers simultaneously. Find out more here.
One-to-One virtual shopping: Offer private video shopping sessions, exclusive styling appointments, or private consultations for customers. Find out more here.
Short video stories: Create TikTok-style snackable videos to improve engagement on social media and embellish product pages. Find out more here.

With Swirl’s easy-to-integrate app, you don’t need to have any technical know-how. Just download, follow a few simple steps, and you can start using live video shopping for your brand.

Creating a robust short video strategy

Before you begin to create short videos, these strategy basics will help you design an effective strategy that works for you.

Live Video Shopping Basics 1: Deploy sales associates as hosts

Influencers can be a great way to inspire trust and gain eyeballs for your live shopping events. However they can be expensive, especially for newer brands. If you are considering planning to add live video to your sales strategy, you should consider turning your sales staff into hosts.

Here’s why:

Your sales associates know as much about the products as you do and are possibly even more aware of what an audience is looking for, because they interact daily with your customers
They are comfortable talking to new people and are able to cross-sell and up-sell
They understand the product range and are aware of any discounts or special offers

It’s not hard to train your sales associates to host live shopping sessions for your brand. If they are comfortable using smartphones and social media, they can host a livestream session.

Read our blog on Turning Sales Staff into Influencers for some great tips and case studies.

Live Video Shopping Basics 2: Mix video content themes

When you make a content plan for your livestream video events, add a mix of different types of themes so that your customers remain interested and engaged.

Here are some options:

Advice and tips: Most customers appreciate tips from brands on different ways to style or use their products. Through your live shopping videos, you can showcase the product’s versatility and explain how it offers great value.
Demos and tutorials: Demos and tutorials can be made for all kinds of products, from make-up and fashion to home and lifestyle brands. Viewers enjoy watching a product being used in real-time, and appreciate tips on combining, styling, and multi-tasking with it.
Unboxing, hauls etc: Unboxing and haul videos are a great way for brands to showcase multiple products and packaging that is unique (pretty, eco-friendly, luxurious).
Behind the scenes: Customers develop a deeper bond with brands that they have a personal connection with. Using your livestream event to showcase moments from behind the scenes can be a good way to establish those connections. Try videos of products being packed for shipping, timelapses of production, exclusive footage of special events, and friendly chats with founders or team members.

No matter what your brand sells, there is a livestream strategy that can be deployed. Check out our blog on How Brands are Using Livestream Across Industries for inspiration.

Live Video Shopping Basics 3: Simulcast to maximize social media followers

If you have a significant social media fan base, you should try out Swirl’s Simulcast feature. With this, you can share a live shopping event on Instagram, Meta (Facebook), YouTube, and an exclusive link for those who don’t follow you yet, and all in real-time.

There are multiple benefits to using simulcast live shopping videos:

It offers you a chance to optimize your social media following, which is already predisposed to liking your brand
On social media, your content becomes eminently more shareable and likeable, improving your organic reach and bringing in free new followers.

With Swirl’s simulcast feature, you can host on Instagram, which most live shopping apps cannot offer due to Instagram’s closed settings.

Read our blog to find out how Swirl’s simulcasting can work for you.

Live Video Shopping Basics 4: Create a calendar for promos, product planning, and event

To host a truly successful live shopping event that optimizes your ROI and gives you a boost, you have to plan for it well in advance.

A successfully planned live event covers three major areas:

Products: Choose the products that are going to be featured in the event. Make sure they are in stock, available on your website, and appropriately priced. If you have special offers or discounts, make sure the information is available to customers and to the host. Ensure that you have the space and time to showcase each product and give the host time to explore the products and understand them completely.
Event: Pick a date and time that will work for the majority of your customers. Ensure that your social media channels do not have scheduled posts that conflict with the live event. Plan the space and set-up where you’ll be recording the event, and test connectivity, lighting, and sound well in advance. It’s a good idea for the host to rehearse in the space a few hours or days before the event so that any layout problems can be fixed.
Promotion: Give yourself adequate time to design creatives and captions and share them across all your customer channels to notify viewers about an upcoming event. Plan a series of communications across SMS, Whatsapp, emailer, social media, and any other platform you use to interact with customers. Send out reminders a day before and a few hours before the event so you do not lose viewers who are interested.

This client case study demonstrates how StyleNook successfully planned a promotion strategy before the event.

Live Video Shopping Basics 5: Add to product pages

Live video events make for great watching even after the session is over. New customers can learn a lot from them and will be more likely to attend your next session.

By skillfully repurposing the video, you can use it in multiple ways:

Share on social media and save in easy-to-find spots like Instagram Highlights or Facebook albums.
Embed on product pages on your website
Create a landing page on your brand website to store all live events and offer updates about the next session

To read more, check out our blogs, The Definitive Guide to Live Commerce, Five Things to Know Before You Start Live Streaming, and Top Live Shopping Trends for 2022.

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.