Live selling—often called video commerce or live commerce—is a goldmine for retailers. It’s the perfect combination of live video streaming and e-commerce that has opened up whole new frontiers for boosting sales through live selling shows on Shopify.
Why’s Video Content So Important?
In 2024, video content, especially reels and shorts on social media, is not just entertainment; it’s how millennials and Gen Z engage and discover the world, including shopping.
Almost all Gen Z and millennials spend hours watching videos. This shift towards visual and interactive content has transformed how they interact with brands and find new products. Recognizing this preference for video content is crucial for your Shopify store’s success.
Live selling, a blend of live video streaming and e-commerce, taps into this behavior, offering a unique way to engage these digital natives. It combines the instant gratification of live interaction with the convenience of online shopping, making it an essential strategy for staying relevant in the fast-paced digital marketplace.
This article will guide you on leveraging live selling to enhance engagement and sales on Shopify, catering to the preferences of a generation that values authenticity, immediacy, and connectivity.
Here’s a quick guide on how you can use live selling to boost your Shopify sales:
Understanding Live Selling Shows
Live selling shows blend entertainment with instant purchasing, transforming the shopping experience into an interactive event. It’s like QVC or Home Shopping Network but for the digital age, with much more convenience and perks.
- Increased Engagement: Combining the inherent interactivity, community, and urgency of live selling can help boost your Shopify customer engagement by 10x!
- More Repeat Customers: A ten-fold engagement on Shopify and multiple other sales channels means you can get repeat customers who buy from you over 12 times a year. That’s the power of live selling with tools like Videeo.
- Real-Time Interaction: Since all customer interactions happen in real-time with live selling, you can build customer trust and loyalty that traditional e-commerce simply cannot match.
- Higher Conversion Rates: The live, deeply engaging format or live video creates FOMO (fear of missing out), which leads to impulsive buying decisions, helping you boost Shopify conversion.
Setting Up Live Selling Shows on Shopify
Shopify supports live selling through various apps and integrations on its app store. Here’s how you can set up live selling for your Shopify store:
Choose the Right App. Selecting the right Shopify live selling app is the single most crucial step you can take to your Shopify store’s success.
Seamless integration, simultaneous omnichannel streaming, and single-screen management are some features that are essential for an effortless and—more importantly—successful live selling show on Shopify.
Before the Show
- Define Your Goals: Are you aiming for brand awareness, customer engagement, or direct sales? Tailor your content accordingly.
Ideally, you want to do it all at the same time.
- Integrate Live Selling: Tools like Videeo allow you to add live selling directly to your existing Shopify website with just a few clicks.
Adding live selling to your Shopify homepage navigation means your customers are greeted with an exciting live selling show or shoppable replays. This promotes your lives while also helping you distinguish your brand from generic e-commerce stores.
- Test Your Setup: Before going live, make sure you have the right live selling equipment and test your technical setup to avoid glitches during the show.
We’ve created an easy-to-follow pre-live show checklist to ensure a smooth and effortless setup for your Shopify live selling show.
- Choose the Right Products: Highlight seasonal specials, limited editions, or best-sellers that would appeal to your audience.
- Promote Your Event: Use social media to drop teasers and giveaways, and use email marketing, special offers, and specific landing pages to create buzz around your live selling show.
During the Show
- Engaging Content: Keep your audience entertained with product demos from multiple angles and invite influencers to sell directly from your inventory. You can even create exclusive, interactive segments by inviting VIP customers to join your livestream show.
- Exclusive Deals: Offer special discounts or limited-time offers to incentivize immediate purchases to your live show audience. Tell your viewers about limited-time sales and how low your stocks are for a popular item. Scarcity helps you sell more.
- Interactive Elements: Encourage viewers to ask questions, do Q&As, and conduct polls to keep viewers hooked.
Exclusive deals to your live show viewers (and promoting these on social media) can get you even more followers and conversions.
After the Show
- Follow-Up: Reach out to viewers with thank-you notes, feedback surveys, or exclusive post-show offers to keep building engagement.
- Analyze Performance: Review metrics like viewership, engagement, and sales to refine future shows. Keep in mind your viewer’s feedback.
- Get the Right Support: Excelling at anything requires expert support. Reach out to other creators and join communities of live sellers to understand what will help you reach the next stage of live selling success on Shopify.
- Sell After Your Live Ends: You can even automatically post shoppable replays of your live show to maximize engagement, entertain viewers who missed your live and sell products 24/7.
- Be Consistent: Consistency is one of the biggest drivers of Shopify live selling success. Go live on the same days at the same times to give your viewers something to look forward to, just like a TV show would.
Final Thoughts
Adopting live selling now and ahead of upcoming trends can keep your brand relevant, distinguished, and competitive. With artificial intelligence (AI), AR and VR taking center stage for every industry, live selling is becoming mainstream and will also make live selling immersive and personalized. By combining the convenience of online shopping with the excitement of live interaction, you can create unique and memorable shopping experiences for your customers on Shopify and other sales channels simultaneously.
Remember, success in live selling is not just about selling products; it’s about building relationships and creating an engaging brand experience. By following the tips and strategies outlined in this guide, you’re well on your way to hosting successful Shopify live selling shows that can more than double your sales on Shopify. Happy selling!
