Imagine you are watching a merchandise-related video by your favorite brand. You suddenly like a winter coat and would like to get more information about the product. How would you like it if you could click that item, find out more information right there and if you like it, add it to your cart? Shoppable video content helps you do exactly that.
More retail and ecommerce brands are incorporating shoppable videos as a powerful marketing tool. According to a new Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reportOpens a new window , the percentage of marketers using shoppable videos was expected to grow by 40% in 2020 from 33% in 2019 as advertisers look to increase direct sales. But what are these shoppable videos, and why create them? And how do you make and measure success with these videos?
Here, we provide you all the necessary details about shoppable videos — their benefits, a few examples of brands successfully implementing them, how to create engaging videos, and more.
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What Are Shoppable Videos?
A shoppable video is a video format that may be present either on your website’s landing page or social media channel. A shoppable video helps your customers explore the products while watching it. If they like any of them, they can click on it. Once they click on the product, they can see the product information on an overlay or be led to a separate page containing various information about the product. This information consists of details, such as product and purchase information, contact information, and product reviews.
The goal behind a shoppable video is to meet the customers’ desire to immediately gain product information and make a purchase after viewing the product. It can reduce the number of steps shoppers need to take from a brand’s content to their shopping cart. It also provides an immersive experience for shoppers minimizing distractions of external ads. Ecommerce brands can use shoppable videos to deliver instant and direct sales.
Here is an example of a shoppable video by Ikea.
In a shoppable video, icons are placed in strategic places and made clickable by embedding links. During the video, consumers can click on these hovering icons to obtain product information.
Several shoppable video platforms are available in the market today. Some of the popular ones include WirewaxOpens a new window , Kerv InteractiveOpens a new window , Rapt MediaOpens a new window , and HapYakOpens a new window .
Why Are Shoppable Videos Important?
There are multiple reasons why retail and ecommerce brands should consider shoppable video content besides the ones mentioned above. For starters, there is a massive audience for these videos. Video is the most popular content format among consumers. According to The State of Video Marketing 2020Opens a new window report by Wyzowl, 84% of consumers say that they are convinced about buying a brand’s product or service by watching their video.
Secondly, there are more than 3.8 billion users on social media platforms. Tools and platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok stand as a testimony to the popularity of videos on social media. Hence, brands can leverage this growing affinity toward videos to sell their products.
Further, audiences, especially on social media platforms, want to interact and have more immersive experiences from the brands they love. With the growth in technology, brands can now combine content with commerce. With shoppable videos, retailers can provide better and personalized user experiences. They can effectively inspire, engage, and assist consumers in making purchasing decisions.
Shoppable video content offers several other benefits. The following are a few:
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- Simplified shopping queue: With shoppable videos, visual content becomes immediately buyable, almost eliminating the shopping queue for the buyer. All consumers need to do is click the product, add it to their shopping cart and continue watching the video.
- Retargeting customers: Video is an excellent way to connect with consumers. Further, irrespective of what devices and platforms your consumers are, videos can follow them. Engaging the audience and customizing the video content can improve brand awareness, product selection, and cross-channel touchpoints.
- Valuable insights: Most platforms offering shoppable video solutions usually gather valuable real-time performance data. One example of such a platform is the Where to BuyOpens a new window solution by ChannelSight. The solution provides in-depth analytics, enabling brands to determine which elements of their campaign are working well — channel, content, creative, etc. You can also use such data to provide personalized offers to potential customers. Other platforms, such as WireWax and Kerv Interactive too, offer these analytics features.
- Improved conversions: Videos are already found to improve conversion rates. Shoppable videos allow you to offer a tool to shoppers to stay on your website for longer. Several brands that have implemented shoppable videos have seen a marked improvement in their click-through and conversion rates. The following are a few case studies of well-known brands reaping the benefits of shoppable videos.
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A Few Good Shoppable Video Examples
The following are a few examples of shoppable videos that are helping brands gain more customers and business.
1. Ted Baker boosts sales with shoppable video
Ted Baker is a luxury clothing and merchandise brand based out of London, U.K. The brand’s offerings entirely consist of exclusive and luxury items. The brand has already launched multiple shoppable video campaigns: Keeping up with the Bakers, #TEDPRESENTS, and Mission Impeccable. These campaigns are usually used to launch and promote the brand’s seasonal collections. That way, the videos act as a tool to drive more traffic to the brand’s shopping portal.
For example, the #TEDPRESENTSOpens a new window campaign was launched to promote the brand’s winter collection. The video showcased every item on offer and made it easy for shoppers to buy the product. According to WireWaxOpens a new window , the video gained 98,000 views, and the brand achieved over GBP 70,000 in sales in the first week on its portal.
2. Diesel celebrates 30 years in Tokyo
Another case study of a brand successfully using a shoppable video is Diesel, the Italian retail clothing company. The retail brand wanted to celebrate 30 years of its presence in Tokyo, Japan. Hence, the brand launched a shoppable video titled “Road to Tokyoâ€, directed by Alexandar Turvey, the award-winning film director, designer, and visual artist. The video had only music and featured a few Diesel models over which icons were placed to showcase the clothes they were wearing.
Shoppers could click on these icons. On clicking them, they got an option to save the item to a personal “Look Bookâ€. They could further follow a link to purchase the item instantly from the company’s online store. Following is the video the brand created.
3. Neiman Marcus boosts conversions
Neiman Marcus, the American luxury departmental store, teamed up with KERV Interactive, Mastercard, and Vogue to launch a holiday shoppable video in December 2019. Titled “A Night at Neiman’sâ€, the video features actress Taraji P. Henson. In the video, Henson gets locked inside a Neiman Marcus store for the night. While she is initially alarmed, she takes it positively and starts having fun like a kid at a museum, trying out various merchandise.
A clickable “Shop Now†button is placed at the right side of the screen throughout the video, continually encouraging the audience to browse and add the product to their cart. The video has more than 100 interaction points. The video is also available on YouTube, where clicking the video takes the audience to the brand’s landing page. The landing page showcases the products highlighted by Henson in the video, which are categorized for holiday shopping.
KERV Interactive worked with the brand to pick the products to activate. Besides providing brand engagement, the video also provided object-level consumer insights.
Within the first month of releasing the shoppable video, Neiman Marcus saw a click-through rate (CTR) of more than 3.25 and an interaction rate of 37%.
How To Create Shoppable Videos That Convert
Now that you know how shoppable videos can boost conversions, how do you create a video that converts? Here are a few techniques to get it right.
1. Provide clear audience education
To make a shoppable video successful, you should let your viewers know that it is interactive or shoppable in nature. Give them more information about your video by including a poster frame and calling out the interactive and shoppable features up-front. You may also have a representation of hotspots they should look out for in the video clip. Here is an example.
Calling out the interactive video feature
Source: Wirewax
Alternatively, you can also use a voiceover or narration to inform your audience. This way, you can also engage your audience and get timely feedback.
2. Provide detailed product information
Treat your shoppable video as if it is the first and only point your audience will reach and interact with before going to their shopping cart. Hence, you should include all the essential information, such as description, images, and price, to help your shoppers make a purchase decision. You can add an image gallery by uploading multiple photos to the overlay editor.
3. Linger your product shots
To create a successful shoppable video, ensure that your product shots linger for at least three seconds in the video. This will provide your viewers sufficient time to engage with the hotspot. If you are at the planning stage, keep this in mind before filming the video. Alternatively, if you intend to use existing content to make the video, look for clips that do not have fast cuts.
4. Keep your CTA clear
To make your video effective, it is necessary to convey a single unambiguous call to action (CTA) throughout the clip. For example, when Ted Baker came out with its #TEDPRESENTS campaign, the brand used individual product names on its hotspots throughout the video. However, they were unable to see immediate results in the form of sales. The brand then changed all the hotspots to read ‘Click To Shop’. This gave immediate results in the form of more than GBP 70,000 in the first week of making the change.
Having said that, using product names may still work. Hence, you should perform A/B testing to see what works. However, keep in mind that the CTA should be clear for the audience to act on.
5. Stick to your brand design
When you incorporate a shoppable video on your website or social media handles, strive to keep it in line with your brand designs as much as possible. This is essential as consumers recognize the video as something familiar and just as an extension of your shopping portal. You can use video overlays to keep the video close to your brand design guidelines. You can also customize your clickable hotspots to stay on-brand.
6. Use creativity to engage the audience
Be creative with your shoppable video. For example, if you plan to take a story-telling route, come up with a compelling storyline that relates to your products and customers. Further, create the video in such a way that people should not feel that they are watching an infomercial. Using creativity will boost video engagement and conversions.
7. Track your video’s performance
Measuring how your video and clickable hotspots are performing is necessary to see which parts of your video work and what needs to be improved. Understanding which hotspots are performing well can further help you learn about your audience preferences. This will help you provide personalized offerings to your customers.
Besides the points mentioned above, ensure that you also do the following:
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- While it is essential to be creative, make sure that your video is also fun to watch. This will boost the viewer experience.
- Avoid overburdening your audience with too many options on the video. If you have too many items to sell, select only a few items to showcase in the video to avoid sensory overload.
- Include clickable links within the first few seconds, as this will help you convert the audience with short attention spans.
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What Metrics Should You Measure?
As with any campaign, it is necessary to measure shoppable videos’ performance to determine their effectiveness. Here are a few critical metrics you should measure.
1. Video views
Video views are one of the basic and important metrics you need to measure for your video. This metric shows you how many times your audience has watched your video. Different video platforms measure this in different ways. For example, a 30-second playtime on YouTube is considered a ‘view’ while on Facebook, it is 3 seconds. Hence, you need to define what you consider a video view.
You can further measure different types of views, such as unique views, object views, and active viewers for your shoppable video.
2. Interactions
Interactions are the number of times your audience actively engaged with your video. Wherever you include a hotspot, clickable element, or a branching point, you are providing an opportunity to the viewer to interact with your video. Measuring your audience interactions helps you gauge your video’s ability to engage them actively. Interaction rate tells you what percentage of your viewers interacted with the video.
You can also gain insights into how many viewers interacted with individual hotspots and clickable points. You can attach a tag to each click point and understand which product is more enticing to your audience.
3. Dwell time and click-out
As part of your video engagement and interaction, it is necessary to measure how long your audience stays on your video. Your video dwell time can tell you how long your audience spent with elements of your video, such as overlays. For shoppable and interactive videos, you can go a step further to measure the time spent on a specific object or frame.
Another metric to measure is the click-out, which is a hotspot that directs to a URL. You can measure how many times a viewer was driven to the landing page you designated.
4. Click-through rate (CTR)
This is another important metric you need to measure for your video campaign. While some experts believe that marketers overly rely on this metric, it is still necessary to determine how many people have clicked on your CTA. This is one of the metrics to indicate your video’s ability to make an impact on the audience and generate conversions and sales.
5. Conversion rate
One of the most important metrics to measure for your shoppable video is its conversion rate. It measures the number of leads and customers your video was able to gain. In the context of ecommerce and shoppable videos, this would be the number of people who added your items to their shopping cart or made the purchase.
This is also one of the trickiest metrics to measure. Fortunately, most shoppable video platforms enable you to measure your video’s conversion rate.
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Time To Engage Your Audience Better
As consumers demand more immersive and engaging ways to interact with their favorite brands online, shoppable videos precisely achieve that. Besides engaging consumers, shoppable videos reduce the friction between marketing and purchasing and provide valuable insights into customer preferences. Most importantly, implementing entertaining, engaging, and informative shoppable videos reduces the path to purchase and improves conversions.
Hence, make the best use of these videos to engage your customers and boost sales for your retail business.
Which other shoppable video examples do you know? We would love to know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .