Live shopping expert Marc Sorli: ‘Call centers are going to become streaming centers’
3 mins read
May 31, 2022
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This is a follow up interview, if you haven’t read the first part yet you can do so here. In this article we’re focusing on how Marc sees the livestreaming future and how the industry will transform. Let’s get started!
What is Live Shopping for you? Or conversational sales?
For me it means the future of phygital sales. You can host the event from your brick and mortar store to be streamed live through your e-Commerce website, showcasing and selling your products to people that are connected online and giving them incentives to generate immediate conversion, but also others that are redeemable in the physical store. This way, you’re bringing traffic from one place to another – which is a perfect balance in my opinion.
What do you think the biggest advantage of Live Video Shopping is?
The biggest advantage of live shopping is the combination of brand content and interaction: users can interact with the screen and brands can use that interaction any way they want. What we’re offering our clients is the broad spectrum of possibilities live shopping has to offer, whether it’s about sales conversions or getting information about the users preferences. If you take that interaction and combine it with the right content generation, they conclude in perfect harmony and it results in a purchase. There is also another great advantage, which is getting the ownership of your audience: your social media followers are not yours, but from the social media platform. If one day your profile is closed, you lose all of those followers. But now, streaming from your own site and allocating all that content in your site – users come to see your content and interact with it. We coordinate lead strategies so you can have all the data and the ownership of those users.
How do you see Live Shopping evolving in the next 5 years?
There’s such a huge change to come. For starters, I think that all call centers are going to become streaming centers. Video calls generate a more empathetic conversation which, mixed with the possibility of sharing content and documents during the call, raises both the engagement and conversion. A video operator with a live shopping solution such as Whisbi sells much more than a phone operator. It’s a true game-changer – for everyone.
So the first change is operational, the second change is not. In my opinion all retailers are going to somehow become a new format of media. For example, Walmart, Carrefour, Fnac, Sephora – they’re going to have their own live channel where they will be streaming content all day long about different categories or products and they’re going to sell those air minutes to the brands who will be willing to pay because they will boost their sales incredibly with conversions around 30% during live events.
The third change, which goes hand in hand with the second, is that editorial groups will become retailers. Today advertisers pay the media for reach, but not conversion, they don’t know how many customers actually convert into sales. Now, it’s the media’s turn to show how effective they are. Just like they have a beauty editor writing articles, they should put that editor on camera talking about the product and selling it.
Do you know what to showcase in a showroom, and how to train your sales team for a live event or a sell event?
If you’re starting with live shopping, you should focus on content because that’s where it’s all about. What I mean by content are actually many things at the same time. It’s the length, don’t make it too long – not more than 30 minutes per session. Secondly, the structure of this content. There should be different blocks about multiple subjects and angles so you break the rhythm, which makes it more interesting to watch.
Promo, promo, promo. Don’t ever forget to get your brand as much out there as possible, promoting the live streaming sessions. I mean, it’s sales after all. Launch your promo and incentive, remind people, put it everywhere you can. Don’t worry about being too much or too promotional, users are online because of the promotions and they’re going to buy your products this way. And don’t forget: the biggest part of the sales are going to happen on the post phase after the live sessions. Retarget those viewers with the right promotions. Don’t think that once the live session is done, the strategy is done. The strategy has to go on.
Do you have some tips for brands that are willing to start their first Live Shopping experience?
I do: don’t try to do it by yourself. There are many things you have to have in mind before you start with live shopping. With a one-to one session it’s doable to do it alone, but for a one-to-many session you have to think about branding, mixed with interaction and purchases, the host, the training, the production, the script, the promo strategy you’re going to use, the chat optimization and everything – it’s a lot to have in mind. The best thing is to hire an expert, at least until you have an internal team who’s able to do it and knows how to do it.
