New Marketing: Livestream eCommerce – how to use it to create online sales events (episode 060)
by April Buencamino-dyRobert is the founder of live stream commerce platform Korkuma, and a Forbes 30 under 30 to watch this year. For the last 7 years, he’s been fascinated with how humans and technology interact with each other, looking for innovative ways to make the experience better for both the user and the company behind the tech.
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About Robert
Robert considers himself a tech guy and four years ago, he began developing a video streaming platform for end-users, directly competing with YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
When the pandemic hit last year, he saw businesses struggling and trying to market and sell their products online, especially in the area of engaging with their target customers.
Seeing investors looking into Livestream eCommerce and with the huge success coming from Asia, he decided to bring to the market a solution that businesses can utilize to get into this new strategy.
What Is Livestream eCommerce?
Livestream eCommerce is a way to present, tell a story, or educate your customers about your product.
By going live, customers can engage with you in different ways and you can begin to build a good relationship with them.
Live eCommerce has three categories:
- One-to-one, which is similar to chat
- One-to-many, where business go live and sell to many customers at once
- Few-to-many, which Robert’s team is currently exploring
How Long Should These Livestreams Be?
It depends on the business and the story you want to tell but think of it as trying to achieve a typical, brick and mortar shopping experience as much as you can.
Fifteen minutes is the minimum, and how long it should be would depend on factors like using influencers and such.
How Often Should We Do Livestreams?
This depends on the size of the business and how many products you have.
You can use Livestream eCommerce when launching a new collection if you want to show how a product is made, or when you have a full warehouse and would like to sell as many items as you can in a shorter period of time.
The key is to start experimenting with live commerce and once you understand how your customers approach your website, you will find the right frequency for doing these livestreams.
Two Modes Of Livestreaming
Korkuma provides their customers 2 modes of live commerce to choose from:
- Full screen – to focus specifically on the streamer and the product being presented
- Picture-in-picture – if you want to browse the eCommerce website at the same time the livestream is happening
Consumers attending the Livestream can interact with the moderators and chat with them. They can also ‘like’ the video anytime using the heart icon people are familiar with.
Livestreams can be shared with other people so consumers actually help in promoting the business when they do that.
Promoting The Livestreams
Robert splits the process into three phases:
- Pre-livestream, where the business tries to invite and draw people in, asking them to sign up to get notifications about the event and a link to the event they can share with other people
- The actual event
- After the event, when the business can send an email to attendees and ask them to write reviews or inform them of special discounts for attending the live commerce
Last Notes
Livestream eCommerce is at an early stage and Robert’s advice to businesses is to try it out.
It can drive and grow sales, and at the same time, reduce returns because customers can see the products live and in real-time.
Insider Tips
If we’ve inspired someone to take their first step with livestreaming eCommerce – what do they need to know to give themselves the best chance of success?
Robert says that the more authentic a livestream is, the more successful you can be with live commerce.
There is no need for expensive equipment or hiring an entire production studio to do this. You can just grab your phone, tell your story to your audience in the most authentic way, and it will work.
Once you’ve started of course you’ve got to ‘keep optimising’! So what’s your favourite way to improve livestreaming eCommerce performance?
First is use the advance analytics Korkuma provides so you can see what works for your customers and what doesn’t.
The other thing is look at your Google analytics to check your web traffic and find out when customers visit your website to make a purchase. This gives you a better idea on the best time to do your live to make it successful.
If someone listening wants to learn more about livestreaming eCommerce is there one cheap/free resource you’d recommend?
Visit Korkuma’s blog to get the latest news in the world of Livestream eCommerce.
Crystal ball time – what’s coming up in the next 6-12 months that we should be getting ready for in livestreaming eCommerce?
More companies will get into live commerce, especially the big brands.
Small and medium-sized brands will hopefully begin to experiment with this, especially for the upcoming holidays. Since doing this can take time, start preparing for it now and by the time Christmas comes in, you will have a proper marketing campaign set up for your live commerce to succeed.
Interview Links
Robert on Social media:
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