The key to transforming the online product page into an engaging and informative sales tool lies in the adoption of interactive rich media. Here's how to get started.
There has been a seismic shift in the way shoppers shop, and like most large-scale changes in consumer behavior, it offers new opportunities to those who understand the change and act on it. Across a widening array of consumer goods and services, shoppers are going online first to research their purchases.
According to the National Retail Federation, more than 90 percent of consumers research a product online prior to making a purchase in a store. BIGresearch reports that 92.5 percent of adults said they regularly or occasionally research products online before buying them in a store. And, when shoppers turn to the web to research purchases, their searches often lead to the product pages of popular online retailers.
The online retail product page is the key point of influence in the purchase decision, yet it often consists of little more than a static picture and a paragraph of product information. This problem affects and stumps both online retailers and product marketers. Online merchants face an enormous logistical challenge when it comes to presenting thousands of products from hundreds of manufacturers on their websites. And, many marketers haven't caught up with the fact that online retail product pages are among their most important media placements, driving product purchases far beyond the online sale. While marketers take great care to merchandise their products in stores with creative end-caps and signage, they often overlook the potential of marketing at the online point of research and point of purchase.
The key to transforming the online product page into an engaging and informative sales tool lies in the adoption of interactive rich media -- such as video product tours -- through a collaboration between brand marketers and their online retail channel partners. Video is an expectation of younger generations, and even older generations are proven to be swayed by it. Consumers who view videos of products better understand their appearance, size, features and functionality, which results in fewer product returns and abandoned shopping carts.
Product manufacturers can exploit the marketing benefits of product tours by engaging technology partners that act as virtual live conduits to feed product video from the brand marketer to the product pages of every online merchant carrying their products. The most effective video product tours combine engaging product videos with printable sales collateral documents, such as owner's manuals, product brochures and sell sheets. The videos can range from simple up-close looks at products to elaborate chapter-driven story lines with voiceover narratives. And, they can be used across multiple marketing channels, including in stores, at industry events and in email and web campaigns.
One example of a manufacturer that is folding video product tours into its marketing mix is Celestron, a leading designer, manufacturer and importer of high-quality optical products. Celestron is running product tours for its SkyScout Personal Planetarium and its VistaPix IS70 digital spotting scope on nearly every online retailer site that carries those products, including Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Brookstone, Circuit City, REI and others. To get a sense of what these tours encompass and their product page placement, check out the SkyScout Personal Planetarium product page on Amazon and click on "Watch it in action."
Celestron's team is also extending the product tours to other sales channels. On top of making product tours available to online shoppers, Celestron is running the same tours on digital picture frames in the Toys "R" Us Times Square store, giving in-store shoppers access to the same in-depth and interactive product information that encourages online shoppers to press the buy button.
A DIY approach to video product tours can be costly and time-consuming for brand marketers. Thus, some find it more efficient to tap into a partner that has in-house production capabilities and an established online retailer network to which it can syndicate the tours. In this scenario, marketers still retain full creative control of the video tour content and ensure their product branding is consistent across every retail site. The greatest payback of syndicated tours is that they enable marketers to place their product story right where shoppers are most likely to see it -- while in the act of shopping.
As with good in-store sales staff, it is important to recognize that shoppers will decide which level of engagement is right for them. Video product tours should not stand in the way of a shopper and the buy button, but should be an opt-in choice for online shoppers to choose to view when they are looking for more information. And they often do. For instance, the more than 1 million shoppers who choose to view our clients' online product tours every month spend an average of almost three minutes of opt-in engagement with each video product tour. In fact, once shoppers have viewed the video product overview, more than half choose to view additional high-resolution photos, sales collateral materials, editorial reviews and other relevant content.
The correlation that online product tours have with online sales conversions is equally impressive. Studies have shown increases of 12-30 percent in online purchase conversion rates among shoppers choosing to view a video product tour versus those who do not.
As impressive as these results are, the real impact of online video product tours lies in the way shoppers use them. Online consumers are more likely to complete their research, turn off the computer and head to their local store to complete their purchase. According to JupiterResearch, for every dollar of online sales driven by online marketing, another $6 is spent in-store. According to Forrester Research, the U.S. market for consumer products purchased by shoppers who looked online first will exceed $300 billion in the next four years. And the cross-channel shopper spans a broad line of products, from consumer electronics to home furnishings to apparel and more.
The bottom line: Today, marketers have access to a direct conduit to communicate engaging video "why to buy?" messages to millions of shoppers, in the act of shopping. Shoppers are expecting to find your brand and product story as they shop online -- are you placing it where they can find it?
Rick Martin is CEO of SellPoint.