Hosting a Successful Live Shopping Event: Top 7 Tips | Shop Studio Live

You’ve downloaded Shop Studio Live, and you’re planning your upcoming live shopping event. Although it might seem like a daunting task, it doesn’t have to be! Here are seven critical tips to ensure your online event is a success and your audience has a memorable live shopping experience.

1. Timing is Key
2. Set Clear Goals and Plan Ahead
3. Promote, Promote, Promote
4. Prepare and Test Setup Beforehand
5. Keep It Casual
6. Engage with your Audience
7. Review Performance After The Event

Timing is Key

Don’t know where to start? Use Google Analytics to gather insight on user acquisition, traffic, and more. via Bop Design.

When choosing the time and date for your live event, be mindful of your audience’s activity and availability. Check your website’s analytics to see what days of the week are most popular and what times get the most traffic. You can also check your social media analytics to see at what times your audience is most engaged with your content.

In addition to website traffic, review your customer’s geographic location and double-check your event won’t overlap with any national or regional holidays. If your target audience is mainly located in North America, avoid days like July 4th for the US or July 1st for Canada. Your audience is most likely to be busy and not participate in the event. With that being said, you should double-down on other shopping-related holidays such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and before Christmas when ecommerce sales usually experience a big jump!‍

Set Clear Goals and Plan Ahead

Before planning your event, clearly outline your goals so you and your team have a clear understanding of the expectations for the live event. Set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) goals to help you visualize success and give you a push in the right direction.

After setting your goals, start planning your event. In order to reduce waiting time and awkward pauses, create a clear agenda of the content you will be covering and how you will allocate your time. If you plan on having any guest speakers or co-hosts, make sure to also account for their participation.

Once you have a clear plan, create your live shopping event in Shop Studio Live and select the products you’d like to feature.. You can edit your featured products anytime before the event starts. Learn more about selecting featured products to showcase during your event.

With Shop Studio Live you have complete control over the product you’d like to feature.

‍Promote, Promote, Promote

Let your whole audience know you’re going live by promoting your event on all platforms. Share on social media, email newsletters, website news, and even in-person if you have a brick-and-mortar store!

Regardless of the platform, the goal is to create hype around your event. Build intrigue by sharing teaser content, create urgency by using countdown Instagram stickers, or use social proof by getting influencers to promote your event.

Don’t forget to post a reminder the day before your event! via Kicksta.

Prepare and Test Setup Beforehand

In order to go live using Shop Studio Live, you will need at least a smartphone, a computer, and an internet connection. Although smartphones are a great all-in-one solution, the better the equipment you use, the more professional your live event will feel and look. Check out the guide we created outlining the best equipment and set up to get you started.

If you choose to use your smartphone, here are some tips to ensure your event runs smoothly. First, use a tripod or phone mount to help you get different angles while also having your hands free. This will also help stabilize your videos and make it a smoother experience for viewers. Next, we recommend having good lighting when hosting your live event. Whether that is sitting in front of a window or using a ring light, this will make a difference on how your products are presented. For more tips, check out our guide.

If you’re looking for a 2-in-1 solution for a light source and a tripod mount, try ring lights. via Pexels

‍Once you have the equipment ready, make sure to test the set-up and ensure everything runs smoothly. By testing your live stream, you can also check the staging of where you and your products will be and make sure it captures the essence of the products and your brand.

Keep It Casual

People are more likely to purchase when they trust you and feel a connection with you. The best way to nurture a natural, welcoming environment during your live shopping event is to keep it casual and talk to your viewers as friends. Although we recommend having an event outline, reading off a script might seem too stiff or unnatural. Instead, keep your outline simple and stick to bullet points to guide you during your event.

Engage with your Audience

The best way to keep your audience engaged and make them feel heard is interacting with them during the event. Give customers the opportunity to ask questions, make comments, and interact with each other through the live chat.

Instagram Stories are a great way to receive questions and feedback from your customers before a live shopping event. via Social Media Examiner

Engaging with your audience is simple. You can start by giving your audience the opportunity to ask questions prior to the event. Let your Instagram followers know you will be hosting a live event and give them the chance to ask questions they’d like you to answer through Instagram Stories. Not only will you have additional content for your event, you will also hook your followers into checking your event out!‍‍

You can also encourage viewers to participate by being the one asking the audience questions. This will start a conversation in the live chat and will allow you to interact with your audience directly. In case you decide to do this, make sure to account for it in your event plan and leave a bit of buffer time to really get the conversation going.

Review Performance After The Event

As a rule of thumb, it’s always good to review your performance after an event. Check product clicks and purchases to see which products were the most successful and which weren’t as popular among viewers. You can access this information on the Event Report page on your Shop Studio Live dashboard. Using this information, you can improve future Iive shopping events and tailor your content to what your viewers care most about.

On the Shop Studio Live dashboard you can review scheduled events, analyze past events, and schedule new events.

After debriefing your event and its performance, you’re ready to plan your next one! Don’t be discouraged if you had a setback, this only means you are learning and improving. By implementing these tips, you will maximize your live shopping efforts and ensure your audience has a positive shopping experience, while also increasing customer loyalty and conversion rates.

If you’re curious about live shopping and want to learn more, check out Shop Studio Live on the Shopify App Store or reach out to our team for a free live shopping consultation.

Originally published at https://www.shopstudio.live.