Video is the new frontier of marketing. Cisco forecasts that 82 percent of all consumer internet[1] traffic will come from videos by 2021. Every second, there are a million minutes of video content that passes the network. It would take a person more than 5 million years to watch the amount of videos there are, in global networks each month. Videos will keep on growing and your audience will be used to watching videos instead of reading text, when it comes to getting information online. More social media campaigns now adapt to video content. As 2019 goes, so do the old ways of delivering online information.
As an e-commerce store, it’s in your best interest to convert site visitors into customers. When prospects come to your e-commerce shop to look for products that they want to buy, they always check on their own criteria to make sure that your online store is worth transacting with. Your customers see to it that you’re trustworthy. The typical gauge they use to determine trust is through recommendations. They’re curious to know what your previous customers have to say about you or your products. That’s why user generated video content is the best content that you can publish on your e-commerce site to tell others about your e-commerce business.
When videos are made by customers themselves, not only will it boost brand awareness, but it also builds up your credibility. Research confirms that 71% of consumers find it comfortable to purchase products that have customer[2] reviews, and 82% consider user generated reviews very important. It’s worthwhile that you make an effort to use this opportunity to your advantage. Engage your customers and win their trust. They’ll feel more connected with your e-commerce brand when they see the videos that’ve been created by other customers on your site. They’ll take notice that your business values their personal experience. In return, they become loyal to you.
That’s why using video product reviews as a strategy to implement your referral marketing program can be very effective in bringing more new customers. How do you do it? Simply add a share reward to every video product review submitted and approved, and it will work on its own.
Video Product Reviews
First, you need to ask your customers to record a video product review for items they’ve purchased. Inform them that their videos are subject to approval. When it’s approved, they’ll receive a small gift card via email[3] as a reward. The viral lift comes after they record the video. The video submission microsite will offer to give them a more substantial gift card if they share the video, and if at least 10 of their friends click the shared link, and visit your e-commerce store. Whenever they share their video, it will auto-play within their social news feed along with a unique tracked link, with an offer to visit your store. The best part is, you can feature these videos on your social feeds and product pages, and it’ll increase your conversion rates!
Video Product Review Referral Program
The truth is, user-generated content is much more credible than brand-generated content. Potential customers value the advice of their peers above all when deciding whether to purchase. It’s obvious that consumers put more confidence in what other consumers say versus what the brand claims. If you make the process of video creation and sharing easy, fun and rewarding for your customers, they’ll do it.
What’s more, you’re also adding SEO value to your e-commerce site through videos. Video content ranks higher compared to other media or pages in the search engine results. It means that prospects who are still in the process of evaluating whether to purchase a product or not are likely to discover your video product reviews first, before they discover your online shop or that of your competitor’s. Good for you, you’re ahead of your competition.
Here’s a 5-point process of how to implement a video product review with share reward referral marketing campaign. Like other referral systems, using software that would automate the technical part of setting up the program, is the best way to maximize your time, effort and resources.
You may choose to add a first-time customer coupon to the product testimonial video when your customer uses your system to submit and share the video to their social network feeds. A discount isn’t necessary with this program, but it helps.
See to it that the offers you give away for your customers to share, work well at bringing in new customers, else it’s a waste of their time and yours, and they may get demotivated in taking action. You have to find out what works best for your audience. We recommend using your best first-time offer. If you’ve done this before through email and social campaigns, you can look back to determine which offer or discount or coupon clicked at bringing in new customers. Be generous. Even if you don’t earn a profit immediately on their first purchase, you’ll certainly make it up over time, again and again. Generosity in your business always pays off. People will notice it and they’ll gladly share your promotions to their own circle of friends.
Generate the most number of referrals by testing different offers. You can opt to use software that tests different offers automatically, so you can promptly make a wise decision. To help you get started with reward ideas, you can try giving away gift cards or coupons to your online store, or gift cards to a nationally recognized store, like Starbucks. Any of these rewards will work out great with your customers because they complement online shopping and patronizing your brand.
Carefully think about the rewards that would please your own customers. Consider that they could be your best brand advocates. Whenever customers share their video via social channels, that social share extends beyond potential product sales from their friends. The continuous process of social sharing online often results to generate new customers from referred visitors who are ten times more likely to buy than non-referred ones. It also gives a significant boost to your search engine ranking, which enables more people to discover your e-commerce website. What’s more, your e-commerce brand receives free brand exposure to a targeted market. Through your customers’ social groups, you’re able to gain access to similar-minded people for free!
As you decide to run your own referral program, you need to write up rules. One reasonable way to do this is to find a similar program supported by a large company, check their rules and use it as an example to build your own rules. When you’re done and satisfied, send your rules for review to a business lawyer. If you’re on a budget, use a prepaid legal services that charges around $25 a month. They review up to 10 pages of legal documents for free, which is more than you need.
When you create your own video product review with share reward referral marketing program, you’ll need to send your customers to a page where they can sign up for your program, agree to the rules and get their unique link. You need a webpage where you can publish information about your program and have your brand advocates refer to it, whenever they need to.
You can look for software providers that offer turn-key systems which can be up and running quickly with a program site, that fits the look and feel of your brand. They also take care of tracking all the referrals. There are select softwares with more advanced features, like Sociamonials, that can automatically issue rewards and block fraudulent activities. These software tools will ease your burden by helping you run the technical side of your referral program. All you need to do is check the notifications sent to your email and respond as necessary.
Once everything is set-up, you’ve got your offers, rules and microsite ready, you can proceed to launch the program. Launch first off by making announcements through your online marketing campaigns, that you have a video product review referral program, and everybody is welcome to join. Invite your friends and social circles to participate, so they can have a chance to receive your generous rewards. Make it exciting for your customers so they’ll look forward to shopping in your online store and participating by creating their own video product reviews. Keep on telling others about your referral program.
Here are two great places where you can put up your program information.
If you have a best seller section on your webpage, you can include your referral program details on the product page. We recommend using a software that also displays previously submitted videos within the widget on your product page, so prospective customers can watch them. You can get copy-and-paste code from your software provider that will let you customize how the information is displayed. You can choose from any of the following formats:
Embed the campaign anywhere on the page. We recommend keeping it lower on the page, somewhere below the ‘Buy Now’ button.
It’s simply a tab that pops out from the edge of the browser. Clicking the tab reveals the microsite and allows your customers to record a video directly from their laptop, and to share it without taking them off of the page. If they prefer, they can also use their mobile phone to record the video.
Simply add a button anywhere on the page. Clicking the button triggers a popup window where they can record their video and complete the share without leaving the product page.
Set your marketing automation software to send an email about your referral program offer after a product is purchased. Make sure to add a button with a link to the program microsite.
How did you find our 5-point process to create your video product review referral system? Do you think you can set-up your own program shortly? Why or why not? When you use the right automation software, all the other steps become quick and easy. You can focus on how you want to design your referral program so your customers will find it enjoyable to join and meaningful as they become a part of your marketing group. Your e-commerce referral marketing is important for your business growth. It’s a very practical way of adding more people advocating your brand, so you can reach out to more targeted audience.
Step Up to E-commerce Success
Learn how to make referral marketing work for your e-commerce business. If you want more in-depth explanation on how to run a video product review with share reward referral campaign or have access to the next six proven ideas that will help your e-commerce business gain more referrals, you can download our whitepaper.
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