7 ways to increase your revenue with live shopping

Brands and businesses are often curious to know what they can achieve with live shopping. But there is not one final answer to that question, since it depends on a long series of factors, including your industry, the size of your business, your target group, and many more. But why not focus on the aspects you have the power to influence? One thing is certain: Your own effort and approach to live selling has a major impact on your success with live shopping. So, let’s start there.

Without further ado, let’s dive into 7 ways to increase your revenue with live shopping.

#1 Hype, hype, hype

If you work in marketing, you know that hype is not something to take for granted. It’s no coincidence that Apple hosts major launch parties whenever a new phone is being released. It works, and consumers go into an event or buy a product with lots of excitement and anticipation.

The same goes for your live shows. Build up hype before your live shows to make consumers curious and eager to participate. The results? More views, likes, comments, and shares – and more revenue.

How do I hype my live selling events? you might wonder. There are many ways, but we have a few suggestions:

1. Create a Facebook event in advance. In the Facebook event, you can tell your followers a bit about what to expect. It’s a good idea to tease some of your offers, brands, or competitions to make it interesting. People can click “Going,” so they will be notified when you make updates and when you go live.
   
2. Invite people in a series of newsletters. Why not give your email list a special invite to your live show with a link to your Facebook event? Some people prefer to get the news early on, whereas others just want to know the day before or even an hour in advance. So, please remind your audience more than once.
   
3. Create a banner or landing page on your webshop. Quickly grab the attention of visitors on your website with a banner at the top of all pages teasing your next live shopping event. Many brands even include an entire section in the navigation menu dedicated to live shopping with information and links to all shows.

Besides from hyping your show in advance, remember that hype is also crucial during your live show. While you are live, tease the coming offers or competitions to make sure viewers don’t get bored and leave.

#3 Co-host your live shows with influencers

Attracting more viewers to your live events can be challenging, but strong collaborations can take you very far. Inviting a co-host to your live show is extremely impactful, as you instantly reach a completely new and very wide audience.

An idea is to collaborate with influencers, since they often have a large and loyal follower base. This means that followers trust the influencer when he or she recommends a product. Of course, you should be mindful to only collaborate with influencers whose follower base matches your target audience.

When inviting a co-host to your live show, the best way of utilizing his or her network is by streaming the live show directly on the influencer’s social channels as well as on your own channels. With the right social selling tool, this is set up in no time and viewers can comment and place orders from both channels. And who knows, your live show might go viral.

#4 Use digital overlays for a professional look-and-feel

While some retailers choose a rather low-key and personal setup, other businesses prefer a professional production that is on-brand. Some live shopping tools offer the option of creating digital overlays in the live stream, which creates a complete and professional shopping experience for viewers. For instance, such digital overlays can be used as:

• Digital product signs, where you can show an image of the product, the available sizes, as well as the trigger word used to purchase it. This little product sign can be featured on the screen, while the host presents that exact product.
• Info boxes, where the host of the show can write any type of information, such as information about shipping, big announcements, or whatever the host needs.
• Competitions and polls that engage viewers and keep them watching for longer. The digital overlays can be used to present the competition and to show the results and the winner.

These overlays make it easier for viewers to shop and it creates a much more appealing and entertaining show. This attracts a larger audience, and they are likely coming back for more, when you host your next live event.

#5 Keep it personal and interactive

Authenticity is key to well-performing live shopping shows. That has been proven over and over again. Therefore, we always suggest keeping your shows very personal and interactive. Be yourself and let viewers know who you are. Afterall, shopping is not just about the product anymore, it’s about the brand and the people behind it.

Try out these three tips to make your shows personal and interactive:

1. Ask questions. By asking your viewers questions, you create a sense of community and let people feel heard. Be interested in your customers and listen to their response. It’s not only great for building relationships, but the answers can also prove to be great intel for your business. Bonus: When asking questions, the comment section will completely fire up. This triggers the social algorithm, so your show will be exposed to more people.
   
2. Answer questions. As you focus on building relations with your viewers, it’s important that you not only ask questions, but that you also answer questions. One of the main purposes of live selling is that viewers can ask questions and receive immediate response. So, when a viewer asks about an item, make sure to talk directly to that viewer when you answer. Mention his or her name and say thank you for all questions and comments.
   
3. Host competitions and giveaways. Besides from communicating with your audience, you can make your shows interactive, fun, and personal by including competitions and giveaways. When using a live shopping software, you can easily host competitions, where the winner is drawn automatically. And with the right prize at stake, you are sure to get lots of responses.

#6 Mix it up with theme-based live events

Being successful with live selling requires a consistent effort. But this doesn’t mean that it has to become boring and repetitive. Why not switch it up with special-

edition, theme-based live events that stand out from your regular shows? Consider utilizing special occasions and holidays such as:

• Christmas
• Black Friday
• Easter
• Valentine’s Day.

Or focus on certain items, target groups, or brands:

• The little black dress
• Your most popular brand
• Ladies’ Night
• Popular gift ideas.

Try it out and see what works. Sometimes, the results can be quite surprising.

#7 “First come, first served” and other exclusive offers

There are many physiological initiatives that help drive more conversions. One is the “first come, first served” approach, where you create a sense of urgency, which leads to more revenue. You can implement this strategy in your live sales by promising to reveal some big news within the first 5 minutes of your show. Then viewers will be ready from to get-go. Additionally, you can promise a 10% discount to the first 100 viewers or give a free item away to the first 50 customers during your show. Then, participants are more inclined to place an order quickly.

Besides from the “first come, first served” strategy, your live events are also great for promoting exclusive offers or launching new products. Give people a good reason to watch your show, and you will see your social engagement KPI’s skyrocket. In the end, this results in more orders and more revenue.

Summary

Live shopping is a trend that has come to stay, there is no doubt about it. Therefore, it is now crucial for brands and businesses to figure out how to make the most of live selling by strategizing and testing.

In this blog post, we covered 7 ways to improve your results and boost revenue with live shopping:

1. Hype, hype, hype
2. Utilize all your channels at once
3. Co-host your live shows with influencers
4. Use digital overlays for a professional look-and-feel
5. Keep it personal and interactive
6. Mix it up with theme-based live events
7. “First come, first served” and other exclusive offers.

If you start implementing these tactics in your social commerce strategy, you are very likely to see your revenue start climbing within a very short time frame. It’s easy to get started, so why not give it a go?

Read more: Live Shopping: 7 benefits you can’t ignore

This article is a Partner’s post written by Sprii. They specialise in live shopping solutions,
helping ambitious physical and digital retailers succeed with live sales on social media.