When interactive video players stepped onto the scene, eCommerce experienced a major boost. These kinds of videos allow consumers to step through their computer screen and into the world of their favorite brands.
Interactive videos take passive viewership and transform it into an interactive experience. With the simple click of an on-screen tag, consumers are able to take notice of their favorite products and instantly make them their own.
These videos are quickly making normal video players seem boring and blasé. Many online retailers, teachers, trainers, and more are using interactive video players with clickable elements in lieu of the standard videos we currently see out on YouTube, Vimeo, and other platforms.
Some of these retailers include Estée Lauder, Sunglass Hut, Ray Ban, Lidl, and United Colors of Benetton. Together, let’s explore the world of opportunity that presents itself when you choose to add interactive video players to your marketing plan.
What Are Interactive Video Players?
Interactive video players have the unique ability to make online shopping (and learning) fully immersive. It allows future leads and current customers to step into a video and become a part of its virtual reality.
Interactive videos, when dealing with eCommerce, are sometimes called shoppable videos. Brands often place these videos on landing pages or central web pages. They can also be posted to their YouTube channels and shared throughout social media.
Shoppable videos are far more interactive than standard video players because consumers can view products throughout a commercial-style video, click on them, and add them straight to their shopping cart.
Better yet, they can even finalize purchases while still enjoying the video. This is accomplished through small tags, also known as hotspots, that are placed upon sellable items.
With one click, prospective buyers are sent to a page with further information or, of course, they can drop it straight into their shopping cart. This provides customers with something we all enjoy – instant satisfaction.
Benefits of Interactive Video Players
Interactive video players offer wave upon wave of opportunity. Brands of every shape and size can benefit from these kinds of videos.
Let’s draw open the curtain and take a closer look at how any company – small, medium, or large – can boost their bottom line with interactive videos.
1. They’re Evergreen
Video is always going to be around. Even when further developments are made in the realm of virtual reality, video content will still be a staple.
If a shoppable video needs to be updated with new tags, or hotspots, that’s one thing. But, the basic storytelling that comes from a brand’s marketing videos can live on forever.
One of the most powerful things a brand can do is demonstrate their products “out in the real world.” This is what video accomplishes. It shows women how that classic trench coat, for example, will pair well with everything in their closet.
It shows men why they need that straight edge, vintage-style razor sitting atop their bathroom counter. A company’s brand comes to life with shoppable video and consumers’ dreams for bigger, better products are realized. Best of all, the video can live on for as long as the products are sellable.
2. They Provide Instant Satisfaction
Do you remember when Amazon instituted the “Buy Now” button on their platform? Talk about shopping made easy.
To no surprise, they did this to fulfill consumers’ desire for instant gratification. Interactive videos pair with online marketing in an explosive way. Formerly, when people took notice of an item they liked online, they had to hunt around for it.
Now, with shoppable videos, people will see something they like, click the tag, and make the decision to either learn more or purchase the product. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
As an aside, this satisfaction is a two-way street. While your customers enjoy instant satisfaction, there’s also a nice perk for you, too, as the marketer.
An impressive interactive video is likely to persuade the prospective customer to make an instant purchase before they even have time to change their mind.
3. They Boost Retention Rates
To no surprise, most people are more likely to sit around and watch video snippets in lieu of lengthy articles. Given a video’s engaging nature, it can instantly increase customer retention.
Aside from being engaged, customers are also likely to be pleased with the seamless, simple process of checking out at your store. Don’t be surprised if they become repeat customers who come back for more.
4. They Build Brand Loyalty
We can liken this to a pleasurable in-store experience. Have you ever walked into a brick-and-mortar store where the clerk was pleasant and had all the right answers/products to meet your needs?
You probably walked out of there with several bags and a resolution to return the next time you needed more of the same product. The same feeling can be achieved through interactive videos.
Customers are able to enjoy outtakes of real-life scenarios containing a certain product or service. This adds value not only to the products, but also to your brand. An enjoyable video, paired with a pleasurable shopping experience is likely to leave customers thinking, “That was easy.”
Consider what happens whenever we’re interested in buying a new product. No matter what we’re interested in (e.g., a new pair of shoes, a new tablet, or new earbuds), our online research will always lead to an array of brands to choose from.
But, if your company can create a more pleasurable shopping experience than all the rest, you’re well on your way to building solid brand loyalty.
5. They Decrease Bounce Rates
High bounce rates are a major cause for concern when brands are looking to convert leads into customers. Sure, studies say people only have an eight-second attention span. But, there has to be a way to keep people on your website for more than eight seconds.
This is where interactive video enters the scene. With the right, engaging video (which, again, customers don’t even have to stop playing to make a purchase) dwell time can increase to, at least, the length of the video.
6. They Improve Your Conversion Rates
With everything we’ve covered, you’ve probably already considered the benefit these videos will have to your conversion rates.
Consider how social media marketing has boosted conversion rates. Well-edited photos that pop up in people’s news feeds have the ability to make people stop scrolling, click, and investigate further.
Short videos took this enjoyable experience up a notch. Short snippets along a newsfeed are a great way to get noticed. Shoppable videos draw the consumer even closer to your company and boost brand awareness.
Indeed, interactive videos maximize this propensity for increased dwell times, decreased bounce rates, and increased conversion rates. Turning a casual browser into an instant customer (because they’re one click away from making an easy purchase) is a surefire way to boost conversion rates.
In fact, marketers who are already using this marketing tactic report that interactive video content generates two times more conversions than passive content. How’s that for a wonderful return on investment and an encouraging boost to your bottom line?
7. They Blend Promotion and Commerce
Interactive videos are kind of like the brain children of online promotion and eCommerce. They seamlessly remove the gap between digital marketing and making a purchase. Or, another way of looking at it is they reduce the sales funnel.
When shoppable features are integrated into a commercial-style video, it removes the hoops people have to jump through to make a purchase. There’s no searching the site for the product, or reading video captions in search of a product link.
8. They Boost Sales
You’ve probably already drawn this conclusion by now. But, all this customer retention adds up to one thing: increased sales.
When consumers can decrease their investment in time, it can increase your sales (given the easy, seamless shopping experience you’re offering them).
Consider this: eight out of ten people have purchased a piece of software or an app after watching a video about the product. And those videos don’t even necessarily contain interactive elements.
So, if generic video boosts sales, it’s a pretty sure guarantee interactive videos will usher people through to the finish line, too.
9. They Provide Opportunities to Upsell
But, there’s another component we haven’t touched upon yet. Interactive videos also provide the opportunity to upsell other products. Let’s use the example of the classic trench coat that every woman needs in her closet again.
With a simple tag on the model’s black patent leather stilettos, you’ve just created an opportunity to upsell other products in your line. It’s not uncommon for consumers to want to “get the look.”
They might like the trench coat. But, they might also like the stilettos and colorful, silk scarf that you’ve dressed the model in. With, again, an easy click or two, you’ve just upsold one product and ushered through the sale of any number of additional products.
10. They’re Fun
We saved the best for last. Have you ever been conducting online research, only to go down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos or online quizzes?
Well, interactive videos are, simply put, fun! They’re fun for the creators because they can drag and drop so many elements into each clip. But, they’re also fun for online shoppers because they draw them into the experience.
We hear the term “user experience” (UX) used a lot in digital marketing. It’s not a passive thing; it’s active. It fully engages the consumer, drawing them into a video as they watch the products they’re interested in being used in everyday life.
Examples of Interactive Video
Seeing is believing, right? Come see for yourself how interactive videos are twice as compelling and an easy opportunity to upsell other products. Here are some brands that are really doing it right.
Zeb
When this fashion house started a new line called Foudre, they integrated interactive video into their marketing plan.
They found a way to create an immersive experience that would guide their fans through a seamless purchasing path to many of their new products.
Glossier
Glossier is a beauty brand that markets themselves as “inspired by real life.” They’ve created essential, easy-to-use skincare and makeup products with clean packaging and powerful ingredients.
They, too, integrated tags, or hotspots, into one of their ad campaigns and showed customers how easy “one stop shopping” can truly be. It was like going shopping in someone’s bathroom vanity and taking whatever you needed. It couldn’t have been any easier.
United Colors of Benetton
United Colors of Benetton was very savvy with one of their online campaigns. They managed to fill the gap between the time when a brand organizes a fashion show and when the clothing becomes available to the public.
They featured an interactive video, highlighting one of their fashion shows, that allowed people to click on an outfit and leave their email address to be notified when it became available. This generated a slew of new leads for Benetton and allowed consumers to be first in line for next season’s fashion.
Upgrade Your Content Today
The moment you consider interactive video players in your marketing plan, you’re setting your brand up for a major increase. All kinds of possibilities arise, from new leads, to greater retention, to major profit.
We have no doubt that this is the future of eCommerce. Customers don’t want to have to hunt around a website to find the product they’re interested in. Rather, they’d like to know more about it the instant they see it.
So, set aside all your content that’s not converting and turn it into an interactive video that will make shopping easy and enjoyable.
Here at Spott, we offer marketing solutions that allow users to get more value out of their published content by making it actionable and measurable in a multichannel environment.
Come check out our many solutions. You’ll find they’re easy to use and intuitive, opening the door to a whole new world of conversions and sales.
