Shoppable Videos – What Are They and Why Are They Relevant for Your Marketing Campaign?

You are currently viewing Shoppable Videos – What Are They and Why Are They Relevant for Your Marketing Campaign?

We are living in a digital era. As video content continues to get more and more popular, with video-oriented social media platforms popping up and streaming services becoming a widespread commodity, people spend hours every day consuming various forms of video, some of which may influence their buying decisions. Marketers need to leverage this opportunity and find new ways of using this form of media to their advantage. Your usual video marketing campaign might not cut it anymore in this oversaturated online environment. Besides making your videos professional and entertaining, you also need to make them effective in making a purchase. What better way to do so than to offer the option of purchasing the product in question within the same interface? Here is what you should know about shoppable videos and how they could benefit your next marketing campaign.

What are shoppable videos?

Shoppable videos are a relatively new trend, but they have the potential to become the biggest one in e-commerce this year. Often referred to as “shoppertainment,” they combine entertaining video content with interactive backlinks that facilitate making a purchase, bringing together the best of both worlds. You have probably already met shoppable image posts on Instagram, for instance. Brands can showcase their products while in use, and customers can immediately find said products by tapping the photo. Links placed in Instagram Story posts work based on the same principle. But this social media site is not the only one that has implemented this feature. Side popups during Youtube videos are also an amazing way to drive sales. And while shoppable videos have already penetrated social media, there is a good reason to believe that soon, they will be everywhere.

Benefits of shoppable videos

Boosted engagement

Video content in itself is a hugely effective marketing tool. A well-produced video will grab your audience’s attention like no other form of media can. Also, it has the power to engage multiple senses and, thereby, remain more memorable in the viewer’s head. But what if you could add yet another element to this piece of multimedia content to make it even more effective?
Shoppable links do precisely that. Adding CTAs to your videos that your viewers can click on will make this piece of content even more engaging. They will not merely be passive viewers anymore, but they can interact with the content, and we all know how critical engagement is.

Blurring the lines between shopping and entertainment

People do many things on the internet, and most of the time, they also multitask. Shoppable videos have the power to blur the line between shopping and entertainment and allow your audience to shop seamlessly without having to navigate away from the piece of media they were in the middle of enjoying. As a result, you won’t ruin their experience, nor will your sales attempt come across as intrusive.

Shoppable links can turn many different videos into ads, or rather, something better than ads. For example, placing your product in a shoppable video that is entertaining is much more effective than expecting your viewers to watch your ad and then remember to look up the product by themselves. Simply put, you can be where your audience is. Tutorials, explainer videos, product showcases, cooking videos, etc., can all act as a perfect base.

Shorter sales funnel

Your video ad may be great and entertaining, but even after your viewer has watched it, the battle is still not won. The path from seeing a video and making a purchase can be long and full of obstacles. Your customer has to go to your website and look up the product themselves. If they cannot find it immediately, they will probably get frustrated, and their customer experience is already ruined. You might put a direct link to your product in your video description, but even then, they need to make an effort to find the link and click on it, then deal with additional waiting while the site loads.

A shoppable video effortlessly does away with all of these concerns and infinitely shortens the sales funnel. Your customer will never have to search for anything or navigate away from the video, as they will be presented with the opportunity to purchase the product on the spot. A short sales funnel is essential to leverage those impulse purchases that people may not think through before committing to. Allowing them to complete the purchase seamlessly will grant you purchases that might have been canceled down the sales funnel otherwise.

Tips for making effective shoppable videos

There are a few things to consider before jumping right in and making shoppable videos that might not bring you the desired result. First of all, make sure the quality is high or else your efforts will be wasted. Let video production experts bring your ideas to life and maximize your ROI. Secondly, don’t forget to tell your viewers that they are watching an interactive, shoppable video. It’s a good idea to draw their attention to a CTA right at the beginning to be aware of them for the rest of the video. Next, make sure you don’t overwhelm your viewers. Placing too many shoppable links in a single video will make it impossible for your viewers to give all the items the attention you wanted them to. So, instead of linking absolutely everything, choose a few items to highlight. Also, make sure the CTAs appear for an adequate length of time; otherwise, they will, once again, be frustrating for your audience. It’s also a good idea to include some text in your CTAs instead of just highlighting the item so that the audience knows what the item is about. However, please don’t put too much text as it will be difficult to read it within a short time. Finally, stay creative. Even though shoppable videos are relatively new, you don’t have to do exactly what others have done. Instead, put your twist on the trend and pique your audience’s interest in unexpected ways.

Your business needs to be on the cutting edge to stay afloat in the sea of others. So don’t lag in the marketing department but consider implementing shoppable videos to take your campaigns to the next level.

Shoppable Videos

Guest Post Submission SEO Digital Marketing Free Guest Posting US Sites

eCommerce FAQs

Passionate advocate for digital inclusivity, leading the charge at Understanding eCommerce to provide web accessibility solutions for businesses and organizations. Committed to making the online world accessible to all.