This is the final post in a series exploring interactive video integration online.  Read the full article here.

Experience Brand/Theme Pages

An experience page is a dedicated area of the site associated with a brand or theme. On this page consumers get to experience the brand's “feel-good” factor or theme that the retailer is trying to convey. This is achieved by mixing a collection of premium video with both semi-professional and user generated testimonials. Consumers get to experience the brand through video while still allowing the retailer to build the direct calls to action into the video. An experience page can be expanded to included competitions and consumer feedback mechanisms.

If you'd like to know more about how you can use interactive video on your eCommerce site please contact us at info@overlay.tv.

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This is part five in an ongoing series exploring interactive video integration online.  Read parts one through four here.

How-To Videos, Style Guides and Advice

For a number of products that are best explained through video, a how-to video can be a great way of demystifying a potential purchaser and also gives the retailer an idea opportunity to cross-sell. Recent discussions include a cosmetic company looking to demonstrate to women how to apply eye make-up to achieve certain look and a DIY retailer demonstrating how to construct a free floating wall shelf.

In each case, as the products are used within the video, product links are directly provided to enable the user to immediately add to basket. Moving this call to action directly into the video at the point at which a product is shown has demonstrated an increase in conversion rate. This can also help the consumer feel more confident in their abilities, reducing return rates.  Surveys have shown the consumer feels a closer relationship with the retailer resulting in higher sales.

Next: Brand expereince/theme pages.

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This is part four in an ongoing series exploring interactive video integration online.  Read parts one, two and three here.

Repurposing Celebrity Videos

This is very similar effort to repurposing television commercials. Many brands, especially in the area of fashion retail, use celebrities to endorse products through video. These videos often include multiple products, and hence do not often fit on the product pages of the website. This means that although the consumer can get the “warm glow” and celebrity appeal, they often are left with the need to navigate around the site to find the products mentions. By adding an overlay to the celebrity video, you can create a direct link between multiple products in the video and multi-product landing pages where the video can be purchased.

The call to action is moved within the video rather than expecting the viewer to navigate after watching the video. There are also a number of successful experiments being undertaken in video by adding overlays that allow the user to “buy the look” from within the video. This can significantly increase the average order basket for the retailer.

Up next: How-to Videos.

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This is part three in an ongoing series exploring interactive video integration online.  Read part one and two.

User Generated Content

Much has been written about the challenges of User Generated Content (UGC). While we agree that it needs to be moderated and is not suitable for some applications, many companies are using UGC to great effect as a way of engaging their customers in community applications. After all, one of the key objectives of an eCommerce website is to keep user loyalty rather than constantly spending on acquiring new customers.

Hopefully, as a business you have customers that actually like your products and care about your services. UGC can be a great way to allow them to share their experiences with other potential shoppers and allows the retailer to increase their library of video content.

There are many examples of this, which includes genuine consumer reports of how a product performs in the case of electronic goods, usage experiences in the case of footwear and clothing and cooking experiments for grocery retailers.

Up Next:  Repurposing Celebrity Videos.

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This is part two in an ongoing series exploring interactive video integration online. Click here for part one.

Repurposing TV Commercials

Many companies as part of a new product launch or range produce a very polished commercial for TV. Since this is often an incredibly expensive endeavor, why not take this commercial and repurpose it for the website.  By creating an “invisible” overlay, products in the video can be directly linked to places on the website where they can be purchased. The underlying video does not need to be reproduced, just reformatted for the web.

Next: User Generated Content

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This is part one in an ongoing series exploring interactive video integration online.   

Over the recent months we have held many discussions with retailers on both sides of the Atlantic that are looking to add video to their websites. One of the issues that inevitably arises is “We have video but are not sure where to start. How do we make this interesting without incurring high production costs?”

Given that this is very much a common theme from prospective user, we thought we would compile a collection of the most popular uses. The list is not meant to be exhaustive, rather a list of practical ideas that retailers are considering.

6 Ideas to get you started:

1. Product page video
2. Repurposing TV commercials
3. User generated content
4. Repurposing celebrity videos
5. How-to videos, style guides and advice
6. Experience brand/theme pages

Product Page Video

Over the last few years images have brought eCommerce websites to life, often with clever zoom capabilities. While this is a good first step, the benefits of many products cannot be demonstrated effectively with static images.  For instance, how do you show the unique flexibility of a new footwear sole design with a static photo?  Video adds a dimension that allows the user to interact with and gain a far greater understanding of the product. Both have been demonstrated to increase conversion and, just as importantly, reduce return rates.

Intermix Product Page

 Up next: Repurposing TV commercials.

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In a 2008 survey done by The Neilson Company, they found that of the worlds internet users 85% of them have purchased something online and, according to a poll taken by Geek Sugar, 65% of people prefer shopping online to an actual bricks and mortar store. Like so many I am a convert to the ease and convenience of online shopping. To be honest, I never really liked shopping anyway (GASP!) I just like the end result - new clothes, new shoes, new books. The act itself though I could do without - tiny dressing rooms, crowded stores, long lines, pushy people, and why when I can shop for the same items online while lounging comfortably in my bed and often for less than what I would pay in a retail store. And c'mon who doesn't love getting a package?!

One of the things I do find lacking from the online shopping experience is the attention and help you get from a live sales person, especially on sites where you may not be entirely familiar with the products. Not so long ago I ordered a DVD player from a large online electronics retailer and I needed what turned out to be a very specific cable, so I could hook it up to an LCD monitor. I'm not very techy and really didn't know what I was looking for so I tried the live chat with a customer service rep where you type in your query, but he didn't really understand what I was saying and his questions were a little too complex for my rote technical understanding. It's not like you can show them what you're talking about either, because you can't see them and they can't see you. So I ordered the wrong thing. Turns out I had to go into their actual store anyway with my monitor and show it to them so they could suggest the right cable for me to buy. All this could have been avoided with 2 webcams.

Meanwhile, our development team was already working on an application that would have helped me immensely in purchasing the cable I needed. It's a video chat tool. If you’re on a site and you need some help you can talk face-to-face with a real live person and show them exactly what you need. The video chat allows the customer service rep to make suggestions by dragging products into the viewing area for the customer see and even click on. It's the attention and service you get from going to a store, without ever having to leave your home.

Face-to-face live video chat

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Sometimes we forget how easily video on retail sites can influence both our buying decisions and life. Periodically the Overlay Team will be looking at how video on eCommerce sites have influenced events in our own lives.

The Makeup Solution

I've been shopping around for some new beauty products for some formal events I have on my schedule. Perhaps unsurprisingly my search led me to Sephora.com. Now I'm pretty minimalist when it comes to makeup, which is really a polite way of saying I'm lazy. If I had to pick a look that summed up my approach to make up it would be "natural" but  a girl likes to glam it up every now and then. Cat's eyes, smokey eyes, sometimes we just need something with a bit of oomph. The problem is that I'm not really sure how to do it.

A bit of clicking around brought me to Sephora's Beauty Central page. It seems like the type of place where someone like me might be able to pick up a few points and indeed it was. I was thrilled to find that Sephora had a nice selection of how-to videos. I've found lots of instructions for how to do looks online but finding video in the same spot I could buy the products was gold. Sephora combines their videos with written instruction and recommend products. Watch + read + product suggestions = win for me.

I do wish that there also user-generated videos them trying the techniques. I'd love to see what colors and products people at home are using and what techniques they had the most success with. Makeup artists make it look so easy too. Some of the videos have looks that are probably too glam for my personal use but I found there's a practical take-away for me in all of them - a technique for liquid eyeliner even if I don't extend the line quite so far, how to apply false eyelashes even if the ones I try aren't going to be an inch long.

Thank you Sephora, for helping me glam up my night life. Now if I could just figure out what colors to use...

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When you look at online marketing around the world, various regional differences and strengths begin to emerge.  The U.S. is the clear winner when it comes to social media and big interactive experiences, but it's the U.K. that leads the pack with a clear focus on eCommerce from more than a few big players.

Marketing Magazine (UK) recently posted an intriguing article on how luxury brands such as Selfridges and Faberge are now starting to cultivate an online retail space. Their approach, however, was not just to sell products online, but to create an experience that is as close to being in a real store as possible.

Being luxury brands, their stores are designed, decorated and lit to show off just that - luxury. Their websites are intended to be no different, but great design is only a piece of the puzzle. These brands need to give their discerning customers great service as well, and that means live people, available 24 hours a day by video, phone and chat.  It means being able to see every product in painstaking detail.  After all, if you're buying a piece of jewellery worth more than a condo in Manhattan, you're probably going to want to give it a bit more than a passing glance.

Of course, if your clientele knows that if they have to ask how much something in your store is, they can't afford it, this move is a no-brainer.  But the thing is, great experience is no longer only for the biggest marketing budgets, so there's nothing stopping smaller shops from giving a luxury experience online. In fact, as more and more competition drives down the price to the lowest point it can go, the only thing we'll have left to compete on online is experience and service.

A fifteen million dollar diamond-encrusted egg is a luxury. A brilliant eCommerce experience is just the cost of doing business.

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Buying online has become a regular part of the shopping experience, but even though the larger percentage of us has bought something over the Internet, the experience has changed very little over the past 10 years.

The funny thing is, when you stop and think about how we shop online compared to how we shop in a store, it's surprising that online commerce is as popular as it is.

When you set out to buy a product in the brick-and-mortar realm, you start by walking into a store. Your experience of that store has a major impact on your perceptions of the quality of the product and service within. If it's cramped, dark and dusty, chances are you'll turn around before you even got to the section you were looking for.

The same is true of the staff.  Smiling, friendly, not-too-pushy-but-attentive staff make the shopping experience more positive, helping you to find what you're looking for, to make recommendations, to demonstrate and to answer questions. 

Now consider the online shopping experience.  For most sites, you're merely presented with a catalogue, which can be searched and browsed, but not really experienced.  Some sites offer live chat to answer questions, but most still rely on email or FAQs to answer questions about the product.  It's the real-life equivalent of walking into a store full of catalogues and filling out a form to requisition the product you want to buy.  You don't get to experience the product, ask questions or compare beyond the pictures on the page.

Things are looking brighter for the experience side of online shopping, though.  Social shopping allows you to see reviews from people who have already bought, and for you to follow friends' recommendations.  Video eCommerce (of which we're obviously quite fond) takes the experience to another level, allowing you experience video product demonstrations and user recommendations, interact with sales staff face-to-face. 

Now, instead of walking into a store filled with catalogues, you're walking into a store filled with information - delivered by real people, ranging from your friends to store staff to celebrities.  You still can't reach out and touch the physical products, but it's much closer to the real retail experience that we've spent decades perfecting.

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