A video is worth a thousand pictures
Whitepaper: How to Weave YouTube
into your Video Commerce Strategy
www.liveclicker.com
Liveclicker, Inc.
2055 Junction Avenue
San Jose, California 95131
[email protected]
(408) 540-6200
INTRODUCTION
Since August of 2008, when
it surpassed Yahoo’s traffic
numbers, YouTube has been the
2nd most popular search engine in
the world. By May of 2011, the
site was tallying 3 billion video
views per day and its Promoted
Videos program was developing
into a formidable advertising strategy. Now, in the Fall of 2011,
there is no question that YouTube is an essential part of any video
commerce strategy. The only question is about whether retailers are
properly leveraging YouTube to generate traffic and sales.
In this whitepaper, the current YouTube practices of Internet
Retailer Top 500 companies will be explored and three stages of
video program development will be outlined. Simply put, almost
every retailer needs to be posting content on YouTube and that
should merely be one small piece of their video strategy
FIRST GENERATION - USAGE OF YOUTUBE BY
INTERNET RETAILER TOP 500 COMPANIES
In the days when Yahoo was the #2 search engine, online retailers
routinely devoted significant search engine optimization and pay-perclick management resources toward ensuring their products were
easily found on both Google and Yahoo. Now, in this next generation
of search, many retailers seem to be dropping the ball completely
when it comes to leveraging the second most popular search engine
to drive traffic back to their product pages. A 2009 Forrester
Research study found that “less than 20% of marketers were
inserting keywords in the filenames of the videos on their site,” but in
Liveclicker’s 2011 study of YouTube usage by the Internet Retailer
Top 500, we found three additional systemic issues for ecommerce
organizations to improve:
1. LACK OF VIDEO CONTENT
There are certainly some anomalies among the Internet Retailer Top
500, with media-rich organizations like the National Football League,
Public Broadcasting Service, the National Basketball League, Home
Shopping Network, QVC and World Wrestling Entertainment on the
list. However, even after we filter out those companies, we find that
the average member of the Internet Retailer Top 500 has posted 96
videos on YouTube. Yet, more than half of the IR Top 500
companies have a product catalog consisting of over 10,000
SKU’s. Clearly, product videos have not been as big a priority for
these retail giants as expected.
The chart below breaks the Internet Retailer Top 500 companies into ranges
based on the number of videos posted on their YouTube channels. 160 of them
(32%) are sharing less than 10 videos, 76 of which have no YouTube channel at
all. Of the retailers without a YouTube channel, a few are ranked among the top
100 and they have well-developed and well-funded search optimization
programs for Google. We found that a couple of these companies actually had
video content posted on their Facebook pages, meaning that they had not taken
the mere 30 minutes needed to set up a YouTube account and post those same
videos in order to earn some traction on the world’s #2 search engine.
.
Analysis of 500 top retailers on YouTube conducted in July of 2011
2. LACK OF PROMOTION
Our analysis also found that many Internet Retailer Top 500 companies
have done a poor job of optimizing and promoting their videos. For
example, 17 of the top 100 retailers on the Internet have 20 or fewer
YouTube subscribers and 32 of the IR Top 500 have accumulated less than
1,000 views since their channel was created. Compare that to YouTube
superstars like Tiger Direct (more than 86,000,000
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Another way to analyze the data is to look at average views per video. It is in
this category where 25 IR Top 500 companies have tallied less than 100 views
per video while retailers like Tiffany & Company (more than 207,000 views per
video), Folica (more than 192,000 views per video), Forever21 (more than
178,000 views per video) and LEGO (more than 119,000 views per video)
have excelled.
.
What makes the difference between these retailers? Video content needs to
be optimized for search, a tactic which can yield results 53 times more
effective than traditional search engine optimization. Retailers with a
handful of videos can easily manage this process manually, whereas
companies with more developed video programs will need to leverage a
video commerce partner to automate their optimization.
Retailers also need to directly promote their video library (whether it is
hosted on YouTube or elsewhere) from their website, on their Facebook
page, in
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Engaging consumers to subscribe, view and share video content is not as
simple as merely posting it online. The basic principles of marketing apply to
video as much as for other types of content.
3. NOT ENOUGH CALLS TO ACTION
Aside from brand awareness and educational programs, the primary purpose of
a retail video program is to drive consumers to product pages. Unfortunately,
most retailers are missing the mark in this area. Of the companies with the most
widely-developed YouTube channels, very few are leveraging YouTube’s
interactive features to point viewers back to their store. Even a simple
watermark can prevent a competitor from repurposing video content which has
been produced.
More importantly, there is a severe shortage of product-specific video content
being leveraged by top retailers. Of course, many product videos are created
and hosted by the product manufacturers rather than their retail partners, but too
many of the videos being produced by retailers do not effectively drive
conversions.
Consider the DC Shoes Gymkhana Two infomercial (and its three cousins,
Gymkhana, Gymkhana Three and Gymhkana Four): The Gymkhana brand
awareness video accrued more than 26,000,000 views due to its cool-factor,
but it offers only brand awareness and no product information about the shoes
that are shown (except for just a few seconds).
.
“I think Liveclicker is a brilliant company. They’re not the cheapest when it comes to video hosting
and distribution; but it was made clear to us from the outset that they would be the best from a
customer-client partnership, so we could move forward together. They’ve been extremely helpful
and quite happy to work with us to develop what we’re doing.”
– Chris Wood, Video Production and Project Manager
In contrast, look at Kiddicare’s Baby Weavers Shuffle video: The Baby
Weavers Shuffle product video consistently earns an industry-leading
conversion rate and it took far fewer resources to produce.
.
Most retailers are working with limited 2011 video budgets, and are highly
produced brand awareness videos are not where they should be focusing
their dollars. Instead, we recommend focused, product-explanation and
educational videos as the foundation of your program.
FIRST GENERATION - USAGE OF YOUTUBE BY
INTERNET RETAILER TOP 500 COMPANIES
In the second generation, a retailer has been able to source some content
from its vendors and customers or it has taken the initiative to produce a
few product videos. These companies might have just 10-20 videos and
they simply want to be able to distribute them to YouTube while
embedding a free video player on their website. This is the perfect
occasion to sign up for a YouTube account, build some interactive
annotations/links, and leverage free technology to launch a product video
program.
There is no reason why every retailer, large and small, can’t at least be in
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gathering valuable analytics. By giving Generation Two a chance,
ecommerce organizations can build a healthy case for investing further in
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THIRD GENERATION - YOUTUBE AS A PART
OF THE MARKETING MIX
Once a retailer builds the case proving that video is improving site traffic,
conversions and/or revenue, it is time to invest more heavily in this
medium. With that investment comes the sourcing and production of more
video content and the distribution of video to more channels. A YouTubecentric second generation approach with 15 videos means that there are
only 30 implementations (15 times on the ecommerce site and 15 times on
YouTube) to manage. This can be done manually, even with limited
resources. However, a comprehensive third generation approach might
mean distributing those same 15 videos to affiliate networks (like
Linkshare or Commission Junction), email campaigns, video libraries,
additional video sites (like Vimeo or Viddler), ad channels, social media
(like Facebook, Twitter or MySpace) and mobile phones (via QR codes or
Microsoft Tags). Suddenly, 15 videos might have 150+ implementations,
complex testing/optimization and a lot of associated analytics. It is time to
invest in a video commerce platform.
“I think Liveclicker is a brilliant company. They’re not the cheapest when it comes to video hosting
and distribution; but it was made clear to us from the outset that they would be the best from a
customer-client partnership, so we could move forward together. They’ve been extremely helpful
and quite happy to work with us to develop what we’re doing.”
– Chris Wood, Video Production and Project Manager
With a video commerce platform, the retailer is able to leverage
technology to manage a more complex program, which can yield
exponentially greater results. At Liveclicker, we serve tens of millions of
video views each month, and we have built some compelling case studies
for investing in a Generation Three program. Revenue on products with
videos usually increases by 10-15%, site traffic rises 2-5%, conversion
rates are boosted by at least 30% and average order size increases by 1020%. Taking a methodical approach to video and working with a
knowledgeable partner who can guide an ecommerce organization
through this growth will pay off in dividends.
Still, even with a more sophisticated third generation video program,
YouTube is a critical marketing channel. Liveclicker makes sure to post its
customers’ videos on YouTube and to optimize
titles/keywords/descriptions accordingly. Using YouTube’s Promoted
Videos solution and submitting sitemaps to Google are essential parts of
the video marketing mix.
Whether a retailer has 10 videos or boasts a library of 1,000, YouTube is
an excellent solution for the hosting and serving of videos, and it offers
some basic video player functionality like annotations, comments, sharing
and multi-platform compatibility. However, it is not a solution tailored for
retailers, and there are many missing features which can boost site traffic,
conversion rates and average order size. What retailers need is a
“shoppable” video player like the one which Liveclicker offers.
WHAT IS A “SHOPPABLE” VIDEO PLAYER?
The YouTube video player provides some basic functionality which allows
users to overlay annotations on a video, but it lacks many ecommercespecific capabilities such as Buy Now buttons which direct viewers to
product pages, integrated product ratings/reviews, pricing integration with
the ecommerce platform, integrated cross-selling suggestions, integrated
Facebook commenting, static/moving hotspots, and interactive product
thumbnails. By bringing the entire shopping experience into the video
player itself, conversion rates, average order size and total revenues are
boosted. By stepping up to a video commerce solution like Liveclicker,
retailers can integrate their video program with their ecommerce efforts.