07.17.2023 Stage TEN
Live shopping has the power to drive exceptional results. From increased conversions and traffic to customer loyalty and engagement, live shopping events are a great way to grow your ecommerce business.
But live shopping is a relatively new medium, and we still see many mistakes creep in when brands try their hand at live ecommerce. We want to ensure you avoid these mistakes and put your best foot forward when hosting your first—or next!—live shopping event.
Here is our list of the six biggest live shopping mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Not identifying a niche
As a brand, you most likely already have an identified niche. You’re a beauty brand that caters to Gen Z, a home organizational brand that speaks to millennial moms, or a sports brand that works exclusively with soccer fans. But for your live shopping events, you need to niche down even further.
You only have so much time to communicate your point during a live shopping event—you can’t talk about everything. You need to pick a theme for your live ecommerce event and have everything from the headline to products to host aligned with that theme.
So instead of an event called “Creating the perfect look,” the Gen Z beauty brand would be better off hosting “Creating the perfect 2023 Coachella beauty look”. It’s more specific, tells the audience precisely what they’ll get, and will be more commercially successful because you connect with a relevant audience.
2. Completely winging it
There is nothing quite like a little off-the-cuff moment to bring some personality and fun into your live shopping experience. But going into the show without an outline, a rough script, and some thought about how the show will flow is a big mistake.
You don’t need to write out and memorize every line of dialogue. But having a rough outline of what you will discuss, what products you will feature, and how you will move from one segment to another.
Try to think of your live shopping event as a story. If we take our home organizational brand that speaks to millennial moms, the story could be organizing a playroom—all of the products and the tips and tricks offered by the host should lend themselves to that storyline.
3. Completely memorizing it
While winging the entire live shopping event is a big no-no, the opposite is true. You don’t want an overly scripted event—this will feel robotic and takes away the excitement of attending a live event.
Make sure the host feels comfortable enough to add their personality into the conversation, answer audience questions on the fly, and roll with the punches as they come.
One thing that is terrifying about a live event but also makes it worth tuning into… anything can happen!
4. Not coaching your host
Choosing a host for your event is a big decision. You need someone who understands your brand but is also comfortable in front of the camera and has a personality that will translate virtually. It’s a tall order.There are two main routes you can take when it comes to host selection—an influencer/brand ambassador or an in-house expert. Both pros and cons exist, and only you will know the best fit for your brand.
Regardless of who you choose, teaching your host about your products, your audience, and the live event is essential. They need to know enough about the products to answer questions on the fly and also be able to pivot if anything goes wrong or needs to shift during the live shopping event.
5. Featuring too many products
You spend a lot of time coming up with your live shopping event, so it makes sense that you’d want to pack in as many products as possible in one event. Don’t.
Just because you have hundreds of products doesn’t mean you should be trying to shoehorn 150 of them into a 60-minute segment. When you give people too many options, they may make the easiest choice—no choice. If you want to increase the likelihood of audience members converting, limit the number of products you feature.
We recommend showcasing at most 20 products in a 60-minute event, but this number should decrease if any of the products involve a longer demonstration.
6. Making users leave the stream to shop
You worked hard to get people to tune into your event—you don’t want to give them a reason to leave. So, allowing them to make purchases directly from the livestream is essential.
If a viewer wants to make a purchase, they shouldn’t need to leave the stream and miss out on the fun to checkout. Instead of interrupting their buying—and viewing—process, use Stage TEN to create a seamless shopping experience right from the video player.
If you’re ready to create your live shopping event, Stage TEN is here to help—mistake-free! Create a live stream, add audience interactions, and monetize it all in one place.
Livestream e-commerce with Stage TEN gives you the power to not only sell your products live but also allows you to truly interact with your audience. Using live polling, voting, and pulling comments directly onto your live stream, your customers will feel like they are actively participating in your event… because they are!
If you’re ready to go live with your brand today, let’s partner!
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