We are moving the official Liveclicker blog to Video-Commerce.org.  Many of you probably already follow our sister blog, Video-Commerce.org, for its comprehensive video commerce best practices, industry developments, and expert guest bloggers. Although Liveclicker has been managing both VideoRetailer.org and Video-Commerce.org the past four years, we recently decided to merge the two blogs.

What this change means is that this will be the last post on VideoRetailer.org, and from here on out Liveclicker will be posting our news, events, best practices and client case studies on Video-Commerce.org.  So now you can go to one place for Liveclicker specific content along with the best in video commerce best practices and expert commentary.

With that said, we hope to see all of you over at Video-Commerce.org!

Last February, Liveclicker’s Retail Video Production A to Z webinar was one of the highest attended events of the year so we decided to expand on the topic this year into a three part series. For the first part next week, we will explore how to get started producing video content as well as other options for acquiring content.  If you are just starting to build your video program or looking for different ways to source video content, this webinar is not to be missed!

Learn about:

• Defining the scope and goals of your video program from the start
• Pros and cons of using automated video production services or software
• Setting up an in-house video studio vs. outsourcing to a full service vendor
• Sourcing outside video content from partners, manufacturers or user-generated video

Register here today >>

Picture this: A customer lands on your site. They find a welcoming invitation to help them choose the absolutely perfect product for them. They’re taken through an entertaining series of content and questions, taking them from screen to screen on a highly personal adventure. Once completed, they are delivered to a page containing the perfect recommendation based on their tastes. Happy customer, happy retailer.

CYOA isn’t a new concept, of course. (You may fondly recall those style of books from your grade school library). However, it IS new to the world of ecommerce video. It’s similar to a great salesperson on the floor, only completely scalable to the masses. Technology has caught up with real life.

Morrisons Cellar, in launching their new ecommerce wine site, wanted to truly engage with their customers, many of whom would be experiencing the brand for the first time. They approached Liveclicker with the CYOA idea and used, once the content was shot, Liveclicker technology to put it all together.

I recently sat down (virtually) with Chris Wood, the video guru for Morrisons company Kiddicare. He took me through the ideas and challenges that led to this great CYOA.

• Why did Morrisons Cellar decide to do a CYOA video in the first place?

The Morrisons Cellar proposition is centered around a Taste Test.  The basis of this proposition is that everyone is an individual with different tastes, and therefore has different tastes in wine.  The Taste Test involves 3 simple questions which identify everyone on a 0-12 scale of taste profiles.  The whole range of wine is classified according to these taste profiles – so the browse and purchase experience is very personal. So when planning the video content for the site, the approach had to mirror the proposition – and help people discover wine that they would enjoy – based on their Taste Test result.

The Taste Test was converted into an interactive video, giving viewers their own personal Taste Test result at the end. There would have been an option to simply list the questions within a video but a CYOA approach was much more in line with the central proposition for Morrisons Cellar.

• What were the biggest challenges in putting together the content for a CYOA video?

Scripting was a big challenge to ensure that viewers were engaged from the start to ensure they would answer the questions within the test.  The script had to clearly communicate that the video was interactive. The general level of awareness of interactive videos is low, so the script had to be engaging and clear for each step to ensure that viewers knew they needed to pick an option to move onto the next stage of the video.

• What were the biggest challenges from the technical side?

The initial mapping was the biggest technical challenge.  This involved identifying the number of possible answer combinations to answer just the 3 questions, for which there are 44 videos in total. Once this was mapped out, the process of ‘joining together’ content was relatively straight forward.  Liveclicker gave excellent support in ensuring browser compatibility and we all had great fun testing all answer combinations before deployment!

• What do you think are the biggest advantages of a CYOA?

CYOA drives engagement and allows the viewer to be transported on a journey. It allows a very seamless route to purchase.

• What has the initial feedback been like since launch?

The interactive video has been very well received there has been positive feedback from customers and from within the industry.

• Do you think there are limitations to the effectiveness of a CYOA?

There are limitations to all systems, so for example the CYOA functionality may be ineffective if the Internet speed is slow.  Also, because there are multiple questions, the load times may be further exacerbated. The great benefit of Liveclicker is that it automatically detects the end-users’ bandwidth and platform they are using, and then delivers the best size video by optimizing the quality load speed for the end-user.

• What advice would you give to someone looking to start one of their own?

Have a very clear strategy.  Ensure you plan out very clearly where you want to take the viewer.  Give them a reason to follow the journey and reward them with something when it’s over.  The viewer must invest in the content or it will not work.

If you haven’t already, take the Morrison’s Cellar taste test and find out what wine is best for you. It’s a fun ride. And if you’d like to know more about creating your own CYOA video, please contact Liveclicker for more information.

Holiday Video in Email Campaigns

Video in email is a fast and easy way to further optimize your video content. It can drive engagement and encourage further onsite video viewing as is the case with Allrecipes’ recent Thanksgiving themed video in email.  Allrecipes put together 8 essential Thanksgiving videos to promote on site and via email.

Liveclicker client, BestBuy, on the other hand used a recent video in email campaign to drive traffic to its weekly deals video for its Black Friday sale.  The video draws attention to both online and in-store deals.

Video Everywhere Strategy

Shop.org’s eHoliday 2012 pre-holiday study found out that one of the top 4 considerations for consumers when choosing a online retailer to do business with is whether the site has “clear product descriptions.”  What is more clear than a video?! This is one of the main reasons why shoe retailer, OnlineShoes.com, is so successful. The retailer employs a “video everywhere” strategy on their site.  Video is highlighted on the home page, product pages, and in search results, which in turn makes for happier holiday shoppers.

TV+Web+YouTube

Target and Neiman Marcus joined forces this holiday season to create a gift collection featuring 24 different designers. To promote this collaboration, the retailers each featured the collection on their sites through a unique interactive  layout.  The two retailers also created several videos showcasing the individual designers and their items.  In addition to their online promotions, Target and Neiman Marcus partnered with the ABC show, Revenge, to create a story line of  television commercials featuring the characters of the show wearing items from the collection.  After they aired, the commercials titled, “The Gift of Revenge”, were featured on YouTube with behind the scenes videos as well.

Want more holiday video marketing examples? Sign up to view the recording of our last webinar: Top 10 Holiday Video Marketing Trends

Need to start planning for holiday campaigns sooner next year? Sign up ahead of time for our pre-scheduled July webinar:  Christmas in July – How to Make Your 2013 Holiday Sparkle with Video

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A lot has happened in video commerce in 2012. Video is continuing to explode, and retailers are continuing to utilize video to enhance the shopping experience for customers both online and in brick and mortar stores.

Make sense of it all by attending Liveclicker’s last best practices webinar of the year on Thursday, December 13th at 10:30 AM  PST: Top 10 2012 Video Commerce Lessons.  In this exclusive webinar, Liveclicker’s own video commerce expert, Justin Foster, will present the most important video commerce lessons learned in 2012.

Learn:

• Which lengths of videos converted the best
• Which product categories featured videos that were shared most often
• Which product categories enjoyed the best video conversion rates
• Whether brand or retailer videos performed better
• Top YouTube and video SEO tips

Register here >>

It’s that time of year again…The largest shopping season of year is upon us. Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be here before you know it.  So the big question is, how will you use video this year to optimize your shoppers’ experiences?

Attend this exclusive Liveclicker webinar to learn about what tactics and tips you can use this holiday season to drive more shoppers to your stores with video.  Liveclicker’s own video commerce expert, Justin Foster, will share examples of current holiday video marketing campaigns and identify the key factors of these campaigns that made them a successful or not.  If you are looking for good video marketing ideas to implement this holiday season, this webinar is not to be missed.

Learn about:

• Holiday video marketing best practices
• How to leverage online video to benefit both online and brick and mortar stores
• Using video in email for holiday campaigns
• How to utilize mobile video on phones and tablets to optimize online and in-store shopping experiences

Register here today!

Many online retailers are adopting video as a means to make their products come to life. Everything from 360 videos to how-tos, video is bridging the gap between the computer screen and the brand while offering up a little shopping entertainment!

A few top retailers are taking shoppable video to a whole new level this season with film-like quality production, A-list celebrities and innovative product placement. One minute you’re watching the video for enjoyment, then next you’re coveting a Alexander Wang Clutch with a path to purchase just at your fingertips.

Here are some all-stars of interactive video this fall season:

• Target’s Falling for You enlisted Hollywood celeb Kristen Bell and is a 3-part short film chalked full of Target merchandise. Target wrapped up the mini-series with a live event in New York City on October 10,2012 -- the perfect marriage of digital media and event marketing.
• Barneys CO-OP is at it again with their Men’s and Women’s fall videos. Barneys brought their models to life with their Spring 2012 CO-OP videos. The latest release is eye catching and mesmerizing.

• Finally Vince Camuto recently jumped on board with interactive video showcasing their  Fall 2012 Look Book and behind the scenes footage of their Fall Fashion Shoot.

I’m told the color of the season is burgundy and who knows how long that will be in style… interactive video is also on trend and the whispers on the street are that it’s here to stay!

If you can’t measure it, how do you know it is working?  Truth is – you can’t.  In an age where nearly everything can be measured, video also presents its own unique set of metrics challenges.

Attend this exclusive Liveclicker webinar to learn about what’s important to measure and why.  The webinar will take place Tuesday, October 23rd at 10:30 AM PST. Live examples of analytics reports will be dissected and used to help marketers and merchandisers learn ways to optimize ongoing video creation and distribution efforts.

Seth Brady – Brookstone.com

Seth Brady, Director of User Experience & Conversion at Brookstone.com, #180 on the Internet Retailer Top 500 list, will present a case study on how the company was able to utilize Liveclicker’s powerful video analytics to increase video plays and prove the value of video in their company. Plus Liveclicker’s own video commerce expert, Justin Foster, will moderate and share some best practices for optimizing your video program with analytics.

Learn:

• How to optimize your video program using video analytics
• How to use video analytics outside of YouTube
• What are the most important metrics to track

Register here today!!

User Generated Content (UGC) has reached a new level with the release of Liveclicker’s Video Voice for Facebook. Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. launched the app last weekend which lives exclusively in a Facebook tab.

With over 1.3 million Facebook fans, Petco wanted to leverage their active Facebook community in sourcing user-generated pet videos and they wanted to achieve this entirely on their Facebook page.

Now users can upload their adorable or outrageous pet videos, browse other submissions, like and share their favorites without ever leaving Petco’s page. In addition, Petco can repurpose the uploaded videos for their Youtube channel, marketing initiatives or use as unique content for future posts.

Video Voice for Facebook lowers the barrier for entry for Facebook lead initiatives and continues lively conversation on the social media site without interrupting the user’s experience by re-directing to an isolated landing page.

Have a cute pet video that you’d like to get on Petco’s radar? Upload it here.

To learn more about Liveclicker’s Video Voice click here.

Are you are attending Shop.org’s Annual Summit in Denver next week? If you are, you should meet up with Liveclicker! We will be hosting quick 15 minute video commerce strategy sessions all throughout the conference to discuss video commerce initiatives and offer free strategy advice for what your program can do to achieve greater results.

As a thank you to people for taking the time out of their busy conference schedules to meet with us, we will be giving out a FREE $50 gift card to the first 40 people we meet with.  Once you meet with us, you can choose a gift card from one of our clients below:

To set up a meeting with Liveclicker at Shop.org, please choose an open time slot within our calendar below that works best with your conference schedule. If there is not a time below that works with your schedule, please email sales@liveclicker.com to see if we can accommodate you outside of our conference hours.

Conference hours:

Monday 9/10: 4pm – 6pm

Tuesday 9/11: 7:30am – 5pm

Wednesday 9/12: 7:30am – 1:30pm