Why are Interactive Shoppable Videos Taking over Shopify

Introduction

Before, we dive into why shoppable videos are taking over Shopify, Let me give you the clearest explanation of what it is. A shoppable video is a specific type of interactive marketing video that encourages viewers to purchase products with a call to action (CTA). These embedded links, called CTAs, take viewers to another page and often appear as hyperlinked text or a pop-up button. For that reason, they have captivating features with an obvious message that attracts viewers. 

Shoppable videos have shown that when it comes to increasing sales, it is a highly successful method! Later in this article, we will see, with a few examples, why so many E-commerce businesses use this format. However, if you want a more in-depth description of shoppable videos, along with examples, follow this link!

What benefits do Shopify stores expect from Shoppable Videos?

Increased Engagement

When scrolling on a website would you like to come across a basic boring image? Or a fun, engaging video that has eye-catching features in it. I know I would definitely prefer a video. So, how would this benefit a company? It allows them to get the attention of potential clients and therefore gain user engagement. Furthermore, going through a video takes longer than going through a picture. As a result, your potential customers will be on your site longer. You can expect up to a 4X average time spent on web pages!

Improved user experience

Shoppable videos are more beneficial to you than you know. People are now looking for stuff that is more convenient, quick, and effortless. That's what these videos do for you, they provide CTA links that take you to purchasing products. This offers your customers a simple user experience. Considering, they will not need to navigate through the page or out of the page to buy the goods.

Higher conversion rates

Making the process so simple for your customers provides you with a great advantage. Given that, it leads to the highest potential conversion rate by decreasing the usual effort it takes to reach the desired action. To put this in simple terms, it means you are acquiring your customers at a higher rate with minimal effort.
Indeed, on-site videos take part in the most effective CRO techniques for online brands. With shoppable videos, merchants can expect up to a 20% conversion rate from these videos, meaning one out of 5 viewers will buy after viewing some videos.

Enhanced product visibility

Shoppable videos are so much better than boring images. They not only help your customers see your products from many angles but also, allow them to imagine themselves using the product. It gives them an in-depth view and detailed narrative of what you are offering. Having interactive video results will result in a memorable experience for your viewers, and will expose them to more SKUs along their journey.

Increased social media reach

Shoppable videos can be shared on any social media channel. You can send it to your friends on Instagram, TikTok or whichever visual-based platform you prefer. This demonstrates the ability these video formats have to reach an increasing number of individuals for your brand.  With this, your company has a higher possibility of expanding your brand reach! This would mean that the company has a high possibility of reaching more customers.

To sum this all up, this is a crucial tool for new stores that are opening up. As we saw, it has a lot of benefits, such as having increased profits, more visibility, or keeping customers on the site. It even influences customers to share it around. This is the new trend, and it's time you consider hopping on it!

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How Shopify brands can adapt to video-first commerce?

Interactive Shopping

Shopify brands now have to adapt to the new trends. This is video-first commerce, and it looks like it won’t stop tomorrow.
They can do this by creating videos about the good, as well as tutorials, BTS (behind-the-scene) footage to show their products and engage with their audience. For example, farmers in China are using videos to sell what they are growing directly to the customer. This can only be achieved if the videos are informative and can grab their attention.

Optimize video content for mobile

I personally use my phone for everything, whether it be Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook etc. I am sure the majority of you do the same. So, since we are always on our phones, it is vital to make it optimizable for mobiles. The way I see it, future trends will involve making purchases on TikTok or Instagram. From buying the smallest of gadgets to the most expensive items. This will all be done via Shoppable videos on our phones. I believe this is crucial for Shopify brands to do.

Leverage videos on social media

Social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok etc are vital for Shopify brands. This is because it's easy and effective to promote video content, as well as being able to have a greater reach. These brands can make short and engaging videos for people like us who would share it with our friends.

Use videos in product listings

Shopify brands can use videos that are informative about the products. These videos will give potential customers clarity and clear up any of their doubts. This will only further improve the customers' buying decisions and will lead to an increase in sales. If you ever need more assistance with your shopify site, you can always hire a professional shopify developer to skyrocket your projects.

Personalize video content

Lastly, e-commerce brands should use video content to create personalized messages. By this, I mean, In the post-purchase process, the brands can send a video asking for feedback or a “Thank You” video. This will make their customer feel appreciated and feel valued. Moreover, another great idea would be to recommend a complementary product. This would go with the product they just purchased. And of course, this should be done via a video. 

Authentic video

One of the biggest reasons why these videos work so well. It is because they are authentic and transparent. This is because they are human made. These videos are rawer, and that's what customers like. They are not like high budgeted production videos like other commercials. This shoppable video shows the products in different ways. It gives the customers an overview of what they could buy.

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Short videos are a paramount to target Gen Z and Gen A customers

More Engagement

We all can agree as customers when we surf on the websites we all prefer coming across video formats. As a matter of fact, more than 50% of the customers would like to see more video-generated content. Engaging videos keep customers on your own websites for longer. This is so useful for you. More time spent on your website can lead to potential sales.

Higher Conversions

We all know that engagement is important. Engagement is super essential for marketers because conversions start from there. Yet, conversion is the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign. Video content is effective at increasing conversion rates. A survey's results showed that 84% of customers agreed. They agreed that after watching a video, it led them to purchase the products.

As we can see, customers get swayed to buy products after seeing the videos. Thus, this is where shoppable videos are effective. With the use of the right CTA's, viewers will be converted into customers.  This is going to make the purchase process seamless. It will also make it quick, thereby leading to a high conversion rate.

Improves Customer Experience

I love it when websites are more visually appealing. When companies use these videos on their website, it improves the customer experience by offering content that’s easy and quick to consume.

When used, the impact of shoppable videos is a lot more than just short-term conversions. By this, I mean, providing a swift shopping experience. These videos improve customer loyalty and will further benefit customer retention. This is due to repeat customers who will be encouraged to repeat for more shoppable content. This will lead to a huge increase in customer lifetime value.

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Does Shopify provide shoppable-video features?

Even though it is possible to host and stream videos natively on some Shopify themes, there are no native shoppable features merchants can use on top of videos.
A few months ago, Shopify introduced video hosting as well as bandwidth. If you want to have a look at the Shopify-associated article, here it is. Shopify has a vast range of apps and integrations that allow merchants to add shoppable videos to their online stores. Yet, Shopify doesn't provide native shoppable features on its videos. Videos are not really useful without actionable elements in them. (ex: lead capture form, add-to-cart button, redeem a discount code, etc.). If you post videos without actionable elements, you may get engagement, but you will not get high conversions. That's where we have seen the rise of many apps proposing shoppable and short videos. One of the first ones to enter the market was Vidjet.

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Types and examples of shoppable content?

On the topic of shoppable, let's not forget that there are a lot of other types of shoppable formats.

1. Shoppable videos

Let's start with shoppable videos. This video format needs no more explanation now. An example of this is Vidjet. Vidjet provides its customers with amazing options to create videos. Two of those options are code free! They also make sure that these videos will not slow down your website.

2. Shoppable images

These are images and photos integrated with shopping features. This is so that the products can be displayed in them. Images have been one of the most commonly used formats when it comes to visual content. E-commerce brands use them to get engagement as well as to influence customers. For example, ASOS posts shoppable photos for their campaign AsSeenOnMe. It integrated two key factors: user-generated content & Shoppable Post marketing.

3. Shoppable Social Media

Have you ever been scrolling on a social media platform while watching a video? You click it, and it directs you to a check-out page. That's what you call shoppable social media. It can be an ad, video, image, post, or story that a viewer can click to make an instant purchase.  Did you ever see Starbucks’ shoppable Instagram carousel ad? They effectively linked every image to a retailer’s landing page. This was a great way to display multiple products from different angles and to engage customers. 

4. Shoppable Articles

The last form of the shoppable format is shoppable articles. This is a type of online content that allows readers to make purchases within the article itself. These articles usually have images and videos in them as well.  As a format, it is used by retailers and publishers to promote products, hence, resulting in increased sales. Shoppable articles can be found on fashion blogs or other online publications. Habitat is one company that uses blog posts. They would tend to use it and call it the “Habitat look” or “shop the look.”

How much does a short-video strategy cost, and how can I get started?

Short videos may not cost that much for businesses if they are reused a few times. On top of that, when it comes to making these videos, it's cheap. If you want to improve the quality of your recording, use a phone stand. Smartphones today have high-quality cameras with good resolution for videos.

Moreover, the monthly price to use shoppable-video apps is more than Shopify apps. This is for two reasons: it brings high ROI, and video hosting & bandwidth is pretty costly.

Monthly pricing examples for shoppable-video apps on Shopify

Before, we investigate specific prices from different companies. It is important to remember that the pricing depends on your company profile and how much you are looking to invest in this. Now, let's have a look at the price points of the different companies mentioned below. 

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Videowise

Targeting big e-commerce stores, Videowise has different price points for different things. This is divided into 3 categories after the 14-day trial is over:

1. Starter for $99 per month
2. Scale for $249 per month
3. Advanced for $899 per month

Starter and Scale are for emerging brands. Whereas Advanced and Enterprise are for established brands. For Enterprise, you will need to contact Videowise for a price. As we can see, Videowise is very high-priced and targets bigger companies.

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Vimotia

Suited for small e-commerce stores and drop-shipping, Vimotia proposes 3 pricing plans:

1. Freemium ($0)
2. Basic for $19.99 per month
3. Pro for $49.99 per month

If your stores don’t have much traffic, or you’re just getting started, Vimotia will offer the best price/functionalities ratio for your Shopify store.

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Vidjet

For SMB businesses, Vidjet offers a free trial period that allows you to have all core features. Also, you will be able to make 5 videos with 300 videos played. When this is completed, you have 3 more incentivizing options to choose from. Those being:

1. Growth for $99 per month
2. Pro for $299 per month
3. Enterprise (contact for quotation)

Vidjet’s targets are small to medium-sized businesses. Each price point has its own 14-day free trial. At Vidjet you'll be allowed to get a feel for what each price package is offering you!

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Conclusion

Hopefully, I have been able to paint a clear image as to why shoppable videos are overtaking Shopify. This format is going to benefit you tremendously and delight your customers. So, go try it out quickly!  Whether you are a small business or an enterprise, I have listed one that covers each specific size. I believe after reading this article, you will feel encouraged to go and adapt this to your own business strategy!

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