Live Sales: A Great Way to Boost Business
Are you looking for a fun, refreshing way to boost sales and engage with your customers? Then “Live Sales” might be what you’re looking for. In this blog we look at the benefits of conducting live sales, how it works and why it presents an opportunity to grow sales.
With the rise of live sale popularity, boutique owners have taken advantage of the unique customer interactions and freedom this type of live stream offers. A big advantages of live sales is audience reach: most online platforms are setup to push live streams more easily than non-live videos. This means your live stream sale session can reach a wide audience.
Another benefit is the ability to interact with customers to make personal connections with your boutique and the brands you sell. Live sales can generate excitement and boost sales. And while the window of opportunity to purchase an item is limited, the upside is a sense of urgency to buy that is difficult to match. It's similar to the impact and hype that old-school TV network shopping creates.
A growing number of social platforms and ecommerce tools support live sales. Due to it's popularity and intuitive features, Facebook is one of the easiest platforms to get started with live sales. You can reach a large audience using Facebook and as of today, there is no extra charge to conduct live sales.
Sounds great, right? But you may be asking yourself, “Isn’t it risky to rely on social comments to make sales?" The good news is a company called CommentSold has already thought about that and developed an app that turns Facebook “comments” into orders. It can also automatically generate and send invoices. Starting at $49/month, you may want to check out this video:
However, there is much more to live sales than the software and social platform you select. Below are helpful tips and suggestions to consider when creating and conducting a live sale.
Schedule Your Live Sale
Schedule a time when your audience is most active. You can check when your audience is most active using tools like Google analytics. Or conduct a poll to ask what time works best for your customers. If you plan on doing live sales regularly, the best thing you can do is make it a set time each week.
Prep the Inventory
Preparation is key. Prep everything in advance from what clothes you will sell, the pricing and everything else in-between to help the session (and experience) go smoothly.
Make it Personal and Exclusive
Address your viewers by name, and even give them shout outs. It’s much more inviting and personal than clicking an “Add to Cart” button. Do giveaways! Show new and upcoming items that only the people watching will get to see prior to being sold. Greet people who are joining!
Remind Viewers How to Purchase
Remind your viewers how to purchase your items. Consider adding a photo to your stream on how to buy. If you use CommentSold, all that your customers need to do is "comment" and it’s sold!
Don’t Stress It
It’s hard not to worry about something going wrong when it’s live. But most customers prefer authenticity, which works to your favor. If a mishap happens, laugh or joke about it with your audience -- it adds a personal touch that other ways of online shopping can’t. If still worried, try a dry run before the real thing.
Live sales have great appeal, even if it seems a little daunting at first. It is like combining customer service and marketing in one easy event. From audience reach to the personal connection live sales can give your business, it may be the boost you’ve been looking for. Bring back that connection with your customers and start your live sales journey today!