Lights, camera, sales!
Livestream selling continues to grow in popularity because it offers the best of online shopping combined with a more engaging experience for customers. Unlike watching product channels, consumers can interact with sellers during a livestream session, giving both parties a more one-on-one type of interaction.
This form of ecommerce sales gives both sellers and shoppers unique opportunities that other formats don’t.
This month, we have the honor of featuring the CEO of Lights, Camera, Live, Stephanie Liu Garcia, as we go over what you need to know about livestream selling to see if it is the right addition to your social media strategy.
“Livestream selling is not a passing fad or trend, but a powerful and rapidly growing industry that is likely to play an increasingly important role in the future of ecommerce.”
What is livestream selling?
First things first, we’ll start with the basics: what exactly is livestream selling? According to Shopify, live selling or live shopping “is the practice of retailers showcasing their products through livestreams (usually via social media), and allowing customers to buy products in real-time.” The content produced through live selling is often made to be informative about a product or service, along with being entertaining. Many creators do this via try-ons, demonstrations, tutorials, and more.
Livestream selling has continued to grow worldwide and it’s here to stay.
“The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of livestream selling,” Stephanie points out. The data agrees with her too–Mckinsey & Company found that up to 75% of U.S. consumers tried out new shopping methods during the pandemic years.
She continues, “The rise of social media and mobile devices has made it easier than ever for people to watch and participate in livestreams, helping to fuel industry growth. As a result, we are seeing more and more brands and retailers embrace livestream selling as a key part of their ecommerce strategy.”
Unique benefits that livestream selling offers
You may be debating if adding livestream selling for your ecommerce business is worth the effort. It helps to know what it can offer that other types of online selling just can’t provide. Stephanie provided us with three key perks that you may enjoy when you do live selling well.
- Better connection to potential customers. According to Stephanie, live selling makes it easier to get through the noise online and form a more meaningful connection with your customers. “The best benefit of live selling is the ability to create a personal connection with your audience,” she explains. “You have the opportunity to engage with your audience in real-time, answer their questions, and offer them personalized product recommendations.”
- Your product is shown at its best. Live selling gives you the ability to show your product at its full potential. As Stephanie puts it, “live selling allows you to showcase your products in a way that is authentic and engaging, providing your customers with a more immersive shopping experience. By demonstrating your products and sharing your expertise through live video, you can build trust with your audience and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.”
- You can learn as you go. No matter how you market your business, you will need to look at the data you collect and learn from it. Live selling is no different. This practice allows you to get valuable real-time feedback from your customers, which can help you improve your products or services. This, of course, helps you double down on improving your customers’ experience and continuing to increase their loyalty to your brand.
Additionally, you can enjoy knowing that purchases made because of your livestream are far less likely to be returned. Coresight Research estimated that returns from livestream purchases are up to 40% lower than those from other ecommerce channels.
Tips for kickstarting a livestream strategy
For those looking to get started with livestream selling, we have some tips to help you launch your strategy the right way:
- Figure out your target audience first. Any strategy needs to start with figuring out who you are marketing to. This can help you better determine what products you want to feature and what you want to do in the livestream. “It’s important to know who your target audience is and what they’re looking for in order to create content that resonates with them,” Stephanie emphasizes.
- Nail down your goals. Once you know who you are trying to market to, you’ll want to figure out what your goals are. Consider questions like if you want to increase sales, increase engagement, or build brand awareness. The answers will help you start building your strategy.
- Choose your platforms. You’ll need to determine where you are hosting your livestream. We expand more on livestreaming platforms next but it is good to remember, when you do choose, you opt for one that works well with your goals and reaches your audience effectively.
- Plan your content and prepare. Select the products you’ll feature and prepare your audio and visual equipment, take care of all things you need to that will help you get ready for your livestream.
When it comes to planning a livestream strategy, Stephanie points out that the best approach is to, well, plan ahead. “Overall, building a successful live shopping strategy requires careful planning, a deep understanding of your audience, and the right tools and resources to bring your vision to life,” she tells us. “By taking the time to carefully plan and execute your strategy, you can create engaging and effective live shopping experiences.”
Choosing a livestream platform
We touched briefly above about choosing your platform, but it helps to know what’s available to you.
A pretty clear route for anyone who already has a social media strategy is to leverage the platform you’re on for live selling too. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok all provide live stream functions. Some of these platforms also provide easy ways to link to the products featured in the stream. What’s more, making the most of the platforms you already have a following on makes it easy to engage your audience and increase brand awareness as you start producing new, engaging, and convenient content.
For those looking outside of social media platforms, Stephanie advises targeting the sites that integrate the checkout process because they provide a more seamless experience for customers.
“Platforms like Livescale.tv and Firework allow customers to make purchases directly from the live video, eliminating the need for them to navigate to a separate website or app to complete their purchase,” she explains. “By integrating the checkout process, these platforms provide retailers with a powerful tool to drive sales and increase conversion rates.”
The result? There is a stronger likelihood that your audience will buy! This is because checkout integration makes things far easier for the customers by allowing them to finish their purchase without having to navigate away from the video.
Retailers also have a chance to learn more about their customers’ behaviors and preferences by using these platforms because they can track purchase data and other metrics. This can help you optimize your strategy to improve the results of your livestream in the future.
The key to choosing: stream where your audience is most likely to watch and that best works with your budget.
Figuring out if your livestream sales approach works
Building a plan is just the first step. You need to figure out if what you’re doing works, too. As you move ahead with the livestream strategy that you put together, you will need to figure out the benchmarks to track that indicate if what you’re doing is successful.
“As social commerce continues to evolve, retailers who embrace live selling and leverage its benefits will be well-positioned to succeed in this dynamic and competitive landscape.”
Stephanie Liu
Probably the most obvious result to examine is going to be product sales. After all, this is livestream selling we’re talking about. If you’re using a platform that incorporates the checkout process along with hosting your livestream, make sure to track those sales! Set a goal for what you’d like to sell and see if you hit that mark or not. If not, look at what you may want to adjust for your next livestream or double-check that everything is working properly.
Along with that, you may want to check your follower count and engagement on your social media platforms to see if your live stream is helping to improve brand awareness.
Lastly, check your website to see how much organic traffic is coming in from the livestream site.
Ecommerce brands across the country are increasing their use of different tools to improve their business sales and engagement. If livestream selling is the right fit for your brand, we can help you make the most of it. Reach out to us to get the most out of livestream selling today.
Contact RM Creative Services by sending a message to rachael@rmcsofficial.com or visiting our Contact page.
Written by Brianna Fries, a California-based writer, editor, bookworm, and mother of two. You can contact her at brianna@rmcsofficial.com and discover more of her work at brigibbsis.wordpress.com.