The digital age has transformed the way we interact with customers and brands alike. The pandemic has driven companies to use innovative video technologies to remain connected with their audience. In today’s article, we look at how video commerce can increase customer engagement for your company.
What to expect:
- What is customer engagement?
- Why is customer engagement so important?
- How can we increase customer engagement?
- Why does video commerce increase customer engagement?
- Examples of video commerce increasing customer engagement
What is Customer Engagement?
Customer engagement is about all of the interactions between the customer and the brand – different brands will have different qualifying engagement interactions.
It’s also an estimate of the degree and depth of visitor interaction against company goals. These interactions are brand-focused, and to what degree these are played out, results in the quality of the engagement.
Customer engagement can be measured in the following ways:
- Interacting with content (blog, email, videos)
- Engaging on social media
- Posting online reviews
- Community forums
Customer interaction should be seen as an ongoing conversation. Brands provide the content, which customers will engage with. Companies are now investing heavily in their marketing strategy to deliver top quality content across email, web, social media and more.
That’s why companies should explore further opportunities to engage with their customers. Video commerce can help differentiate your brand from competitors whilst truly understanding the needs and wants of your customers.
Why is Customer Engagement Important?
It strengthens your customer bond
Through increasing customer engagement, it strengthens the emotional connection your company can have with customers – in turn, increasing both the Average Order Value and Conversion Rate. This also helps retain customers, growing your business at an exceeded pace.
Drive revenue
Ray Way of Constellation Research found that,
“companies who have improved engagement increase cross-sell by 22%, drive up-sell revenue from 13% to 51%, and also increase order sizes from 5% to 85%.”
It’s simple to see that there is a correlation between engagement and profitability. Brands are encouraged to put their customers’ needs at the forefront of their business in order to succeed in the digital society.
Emotional investment
The more engaged your customers are, the more they are emotionally invested in your brand and the product or service. Because of this emotional investment, they are less likely to shop with a similar company. By using video commerce, you are connecting customer engagement with customer loyalty. Currently, eCommerce platforms encourage self-service navigation, resulting in low conversion rates. Effective customer service can escalate a simple web search query to an individualised service, replicating the in-the-flesh experience once experienced in-store.
Why Video Commerce is Important
From a marketer’s perspective, video is a great investment for lead generation. 84% of video marketers say it has succeeded in generating leads, an increase of 1% from 2020.
More importantly, 94% of marketers agree videos enhance customer understanding of their product or service.
Video commerce adds immersion to products that once lived their story though static imagery.
Interactions like this develop a foundation of trust between the customer and company, providing them with transparency.
Here are some more statistics on why video commerce is great for customer engagement:
- Videos have a 16.9% conversion rate. Standard banners convert at 2.1%
- 58% of consumers trust brands who use video
- 96% of shoppers rely on product videos when making an informed decision
Online streaming is becoming a new norm for visual storytelling.
Customers still expect the same level of engagement and presence that they used to receive in-store prior to the pandemic.
The e-commerce field is becoming a battle of engagement – which companies can provide the best products and satisfy and customers simultaneously? Firstly, brands must invest in a digital strategy. Secondly, they must execute video commerce, well.
How do you Measure Video Engagement?
There are several metrics to focus on:
- Length of video
- Average viewing time on video
- Click through rate
- Conversion rate
- Social sharing
- View count
- Feedback
Tracking customer engagement with video commerce predicts future purchases and allows you to make suitable adjustment for segmented audiences.
For example, are the length of your video calls too short? If yes, then is it enough time to shift customer’s intention from awareness to point of purchase?
Video commerce has allowed engagement to rocket along with the surge of the digital world. Using video shopping to engage with customers accelerates consideration, satisfaction and overall enthusiasm.
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There are many types of ways that companies can using video commerce in order to increase engagement. Using these methods, companies are able to engage with their customers, which previously they weren’t able to do virtually.
One to One Engagement
This is the individualised and personalised shopping method. Firstly, an expert is matched with the customer, based on intelligent algorithm. Secondly, a one-to-one consultation can begin and identify the needs of the customer. Thirdly, the expert can make sound decisions on what the customer wants, whilst immersing them in products from their inventory. Subsequently, their needs are being met in real-time and a meaningful connection is established.
This personable experience means the expert can devote all attention to the customer, offering a VIP service that will drive conversions and increase AOV.
One to Many Engagement
This can be described as addressing grouped needs, where one expert is talking to multiple shoppers at once, advertising and demonstrating the products or service. The expert can instead, reply to ongoing comments from the live chat. This demonstrates a great level of authenticity has the expert has nowhere to hide. It is also more scalable as influencers can be used to promote products and drive higher sales.
Examples of Video Commerce Increasing Customer Engagement
Confer With has been working with beauty and LED specialist – Light Salon. By implementing a shoppable video experience on their platform, they can now reach customers on a personable level, despite temporary store closures due to COVID-19. Their customers can schedule appointments or have an immediate call, allowing a great level of flexibility.
They commented that customers were embracing the video call and did not shy away from the intimate experience. However, customers do have the option to block video and audio too. During the calls, the advisors have the entire product inventory at their grasp, meaning there is continuous product immersion.
An example of one-to-many is the behemoth, Amazon Live with comments saying it is the retailer’s “latest effort to take on QVC”. The layout is simple. Showing what live segments are happening now, along with a live chat. It also showcases future shows too. The variety of products is wide, anything from slippers, bath products to kitchen appliances.
Recap and Key Takeaways
Due to the connection that is provided through video commerce, companies are able to establish a relationship with the consumers. The pandemic has left a big hole in the retail industry, where consumers have moved majorly online, and are demanding the same needs they expect in person, to be met virtually.
Key Takeaways:
- Effective customer engagement drives conversions and emotional investment
- Video commerce drives consumer trust and people expect to see it
- Brands can engage with their consumers using one-to-one and one-to-many video formats
Through the integration of video commerce, customers’ needs are able to be met efficiently and effectively, whether that is through one-to-one video or one-to-many.
More From Us:
How Video Shopping Improves Conversion
One to One or One To Many In Video Shopping
What Trends Will We See In E-Commerce in 2021
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