I recently participated in a TP Talks podcast where we focused on live and video selling and how it can really drive sales in a new environment. Stephanie Millner, Executive Vice President and customer experience strategist at Teleperformance, was the host and together we explored this idea of presenting products to a live audience.
Even a few years ago live broadcasting was a complex business – it was something that only major broadcasters could achieve at great expense. Now most social media platforms offer a live broadcasting option. It’s free and easy for brands and influencers to create live events that are hosted on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Customers love these live experiences. It helps them to connect to brands and when they get a chance to interact with people they admire – like celebrity chefs broadcasting a live demonstration from the kitchen – they are very responsive. These experiences can feel so intimate because they are live, it’s almost like being there in person.
For brands this has several very specific benefits – not least a dramatically shorter buying cycle compared to traditional marketing methods. In the podcast I talked with Stephanie about some specific points, including:
- The benefits of using video to increase sales
- Tips and best practices for providing online engagement with live video
- Insights on implementing this with the right lines of business
- Increasing online conversion and reducing the abandonment rate
- Achieving higher ROI by selling more units
Brands focused on younger demographics really cannot afford to ignore this trend. Millennials and Gen Z have grown up with live video and constant connectivity as normal – selling something on video is just selling to these consumers, not something innovative.
Retailers exploring this area have noticed not only that they can achieve immediate purchases – integrating a purchase button into the social feed – but the average size of orders placed during live video events is much larger.
I also explained to Stephanie that the amounts involved are changing. If you are spending $40,000 on an important purchase – maybe a new car – then you probably want some personal service. If you are buying something for a few dollars then an online order is already completely normal.
The sweet spot for video is now going to be somewhere in-between – a few hundred dollars on a gift, a new outfit, or an insurance policy. All these purchases may have focused on in-store interactions in the past, but live video can get many of your customers past their reluctance to purchase online. It changes the nature of the online interaction when a real person is right there right now. It’s more personal.
Naturally, you need to plan for this. People need to be comfortable talking live on camera and capable of changing direction or covering mistakes. They need an engaging manner, but most of all they need to be enthusiastic, so this means that you probably can’t just have one person talking about all your products. The right person for each product is almost certainly a necessity. It requires preparation.
That’s a short overview, but we went into a lot more detail on the podcast so please follow the link above to listen again.
Michael oversees all of Teleperformance’s Global sales lines of business working with some of the world’s best brands along with many new business disruptors and unicorns’ companies. He has helped many of them lower their cost per acquisition, increase revenue per transaction and extend the lifetime value of each customer.
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