Can an etailer acquire majority or a significant number of new customers from video content hosted on its YouTube channel? Majority or the time, the answer is No! The most effective Ecommerce customer acquisition channels are typically paid search, organic search, social media (Pinterest, Facebook & Twitter), email, affiliates and referral traffic.
So why isn’t there a significant amount of focus on YouTube, the second largest search engine? Probably because it is a tough nut to crack. Well, I am glad to say that having scoured through YouTube, I have found five online retail businesses that have found success on YouTube due to the sheer volume of video views and engagement that their videos have been able to drive. This should help you model your store’s YouTube marketing strategy around and give you a foundation to start your video-marketing off:
YouTube address – youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom
Website: digitalrev.com
Their YouTube channel’s ‘about’ summary says it all:
“The most subscribed and viewed photography show on the interweb, presented by an asian dude with British accent”.
DigitalRev TV comes on top of my list of YouTube channels I personally look forward to watching because every episode infuses a great sense of humour, solid product knowledge and as a side: insights about life in Hong Kong & Asia from a British Asian’s viewpoint. Wild and bizarre as it may sound this formula does work! DigitalRev TV is hosted by Kai Wong, a talented and funny professional presenter with comprehensive knowledge of photography. Kai is a natural both behind and in front of camera; he offers unbiased practical photography equipment reviews shot across various locations in and around Hong Kong. To put things in context, each DigitalRev video gets 300,000 YouTube views on average. I am in no doubt that quite a lot of financial and human resources that might have been otherwise invested in TV commercials and in sponsorship of Gadget or Photography TV shows have been invested in the DigtalRev TV YouTube channel – this strategy has certainly paid off and is way cheaper in the long run because they have truly built a brand with over 1 million YouTube subscribers from only 553 very well produced videos. Being a photography online store that ships worldwide, I am in no doubt that DigtalRev.com’s YouTube channel generates a significant amount of business for the company. Here is it’s current social referral traffic report according to SimilarWeb.
Visitors that arrive on their site click out to their YouTube channel significantly more than any other external link on their site – which is an indication that they are familiar with their YouTube Channel.
Digital Rev’s primary content type are their videos which they seed on YouTube, publish to the blog and then share on social media.
DigitalRev TV’s challenge as with any other eCommerce store attempting to follow their footsteps is keeping a constant and consistent flow of creativity for each new video they produce.
Next up is Britain’s largest online only fashion Retailer – ASOS.
YouTube address – youtube.com/user/ASOSfashion
Website: www.asos.com
Launched close to a decade and a half ago in 2000, ASOS.com has become a household name both in the UK & USA – they are actually the UK’s largest fashion pure play e-tailers. Although ASOS was a little late adopting video as customer acquisition channel, their YouTube channel has managed to generate over 14 million views from just over 700 videos (some of which are Google Hangout videos) since its October 2008 launch.
Their approach to content is a video magazine format that features, celebrity interviews focused on grooming and style, high quality videomercials of featured products and seasonal collections and interviews with designers of some clothing lines they stock using Google Hangouts. The also just recently (in 2013) launched a men’s channel: ASOSMenswear channel. They invest a huge lot in hiring actors, models, getting celebs on boards and general video production as it is TV quality. I reckon their celeb interviews has gained them the traction to be able to generate 8.5m views in 3 and a half years. Looking at the share of social to traffic – only 3 per cent:
And the fact that YouTube does not appear to be a top 5 social referrer from the minute 3% social share, we can make quick deductions that YouTube does not necessarily lead to direct sales.
YouTube appears to be used as a media channel for reaching out to ASOS’ target demographic i.e. young women and men in their 20s. With sub-channels such as ASOS Personal Stylists (split into 4 sub-channels) , ASOS Hair How-tos, ASOS styling How-tos, ASOS make-up How-tos and ASOS Meets Celebs you love – it has a high production TV quality feel to it. It is geared to serve as a dedicated fashion and styling channel for their demographic. My only quibble with them is that their subscriber-base is still small.
YouTube address – youtube.com/user/auntiesbeads
Website: auntiesbeads.com
Auntie’s beads are a Texas based beads and beading supplier for jewellery making and beaded designs. They like ASOS started trading online in 2000 but only joined YouTube in 2007 and since then have managed to generate an impressive 20.1 million video views from 442 videos. Their videos come in the format of tutorials for their customers and YouTube audience. Most of the videos are presented by Karla Schafer a designer for auntiesbeads.com. They also integrate their videos on the ‘Beads Videos’ tab on their website. The take-aways from their strategy is that you do not need a huge budget to be a YouTube success. In the case of Aunties Beads, they share their expertise that some YouTube viewer clearly need. Their demographic are female between the ages of 35 and 54 and with the exception of the U.S. audience the remainder of their viewers are geographically dispersed across the globe. I reckon that some videos get a lot of replays from repeat viewers trying to follow each step of a tutorial. Their videos are cheap to produce – there are no special effects or fancy graphics. They just make really useful videos that are of tremendous value to a very wide audience.
YouTube appears to generate only 2% of site referrals.
YouTube address – youtube.com/user/Kiddicare eCommerce store address: kiddicare.com
Kiddicare are one the UK’s largest online retailers of nursery and baby products. Kiddicare have a dedicated video content team behind their YouTube channel. The results of all their effort has certainly paid off as they have generated well over 27 million video views from their 3,000+ videos – making an average of close to 8,000 views per video. With regards their strategy, they predominantly publish product demo videos in a very professional studio. Members of staff demonstrate the use and functionality of products identically to product demos by shop attendants in a real-life baby store. It is worth mentioning that Kiddicare have a YouTube video for almost every product they stock in their online catalog. This integration of product demo videos with their product catalog on their eCommerce store has paid off in twofolds – first they have most certainly got increased conversions with video demos as it saves shoppers a trip to a real store to trial products and secondly Kiddicare’s dominant YouTube presence means it drives quite a lot of YouTube traffic with a proportion of the traffic converting to customers.
YouTube is the 4th high traffic referral accounting for a minuscule 2 per cent of social traffic. It is clear that their YouTube videos help to sell products on their store, rather than a traffic driver.
YouTube address – https://www.youtube.com/user/ToysRUsDirect
Website: toysrus.co.uk
Toys “R” Us have pulled together a very interesting YouTube channel. Having only started in November 2008, over the last 6 years Toys “R” Us has managed to attract well over 32 million video views on YouTube from only 484 uploaded videos. Their content covers both their Babies “R” Us and Toys “R” Us sites. The Toys “R” Us YouTube channel features a healthy mix of product reviews, uploaded TV commercials and charity videos for causes Toys “R” Us supports. Their product reviews are professionally produced in a studio with a full time presenter at the fore (for consistency purposes). They are usually less that 2 minutes long and focus of product features. There is currently no product catalogue integration with the product review videos. Here is an example of a product review video. As Toys “R” Us heavily invest in TV advertising, all their TV commercials are automatically uploaded to their YouTube channel. This strategy makes perfect sense as TV viewers would usually want to research the internet or may even want to see a Toys “R” Us commercial again after seeing it on TV. Here is an example of a TV commercial on the Toys “R” Us YouTube channel.
Toys “R” Us charity videos give the Toys “R” Us brand a humane image with videos about the charities (mostly related to Children) they support. They are non-commercial oriented videos that feature kids, parents and celebrities. Here is an example of a charity video on the Toys “R” Us YouTube channel. The share of traffic from social media is a near insignificant 0.62%. YouTube traffic accounts for 12.5 per cent of all social traffic. It is clear that Toys R Us use YouTube as a continuum and extension of their TV commercials. Their strategy seems to have paid off with 35 millions views.
Can an etailer acquire majority or a significant number of new customers from video content hosted on its YouTube channel? Majority or the time, the answer is No! The most effective Ecommerce customer acquisition channels are typically paid search, organic search, social media (Pinterest, Facebook & Twitter), email, affiliates and referral traffic.
So why isn’t there a significant amount of focus on YouTube, the second largest search engine? Probably because it is a tough nut to crack. Well, I am glad to say that having scoured through YouTube, I have found five online retail businesses that have found success on YouTube due to the sheer volume of video views and engagement that their videos have been able to drive. This should help you model your store’s YouTube marketing strategy around and give you a foundation to start your video-marketing off:
YouTube address – youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom
Website: digitalrev.com
Their YouTube channel’s ‘about’ summary says it all:
“The most subscribed and viewed photography show on the interweb, presented by an asian dude with British accent”.
DigitalRev TV comes on top of my list of YouTube channels I personally look forward to watching because every episode infuses a great sense of humour, solid product knowledge and as a side: insights about life in Hong Kong & Asia from a British Asian’s viewpoint. Wild and bizarre as it may sound this formula does work! DigitalRev TV is hosted by Kai Wong, a talented and funny professional presenter with comprehensive knowledge of photography. Kai is a natural both behind and in front of camera; he offers unbiased practical photography equipment reviews shot across various locations in and around Hong Kong. To put things in context, each DigitalRev video gets 300,000 YouTube views on average. I am in no doubt that quite a lot of financial and human resources that might have been otherwise invested in TV commercials and in sponsorship of Gadget or Photography TV shows have been invested in the DigtalRev TV YouTube channel – this strategy has certainly paid off and is way cheaper in the long run because they have truly built a brand with over 1 million YouTube subscribers from only 553 very well produced videos. Being a photography online store that ships worldwide, I am in no doubt that DigtalRev.com’s YouTube channel generates a significant amount of business for the company. Here is it’s current social referral traffic report according to SimilarWeb.
Visitors that arrive on their site click out to their YouTube channel significantly more than any other external link on their site – which is an indication that they are familiar with their YouTube Channel.
Digital Rev’s primary content type are their videos which they seed on YouTube, publish to the blog and then share on social media.
DigitalRev TV’s challenge as with any other eCommerce store attempting to follow their footsteps is keeping a constant and consistent flow of creativity for each new video they produce.
Next up is Britain’s largest online only fashion Retailer – ASOS.
YouTube address – youtube.com/user/ASOSfashion
Website: www.asos.com
Launched close to a decade and a half ago in 2000, ASOS.com has become a household name both in the UK & USA – they are actually the UK’s largest fashion pure play e-tailers. Although ASOS was a little late adopting video as customer acquisition channel, their YouTube channel has managed to generate over 14 million views from just over 700 videos (some of which are Google Hangout videos) since its October 2008 launch.
Their approach to content is a video magazine format that features, celebrity interviews focused on grooming and style, high quality videomercials of featured products and seasonal collections and interviews with designers of some clothing lines they stock using Google Hangouts. The also just recently (in 2013) launched a men’s channel: ASOSMenswear channel. They invest a huge lot in hiring actors, models, getting celebs on boards and general video production as it is TV quality. I reckon their celeb interviews has gained them the traction to be able to generate 8.5m views in 3 and a half years. Looking at the share of social to traffic – only 3 per cent:
And the fact that YouTube does not appear to be a top 5 social referrer from the minute 3% social share, we can make quick deductions that YouTube does not necessarily lead to direct sales.
YouTube appears to be used as a media channel for reaching out to ASOS’ target demographic i.e. young women and men in their 20s. With sub-channels such as ASOS Personal Stylists (split into 4 sub-channels) , ASOS Hair How-tos, ASOS styling How-tos, ASOS make-up How-tos and ASOS Meets Celebs you love – it has a high production TV quality feel to it. It is geared to serve as a dedicated fashion and styling channel for their demographic. My only quibble with them is that their subscriber-base is still small.
YouTube address – youtube.com/user/auntiesbeads
Website: auntiesbeads.com
Auntie’s beads are a Texas based beads and beading supplier for jewellery making and beaded designs. They like ASOS started trading online in 2000 but only joined YouTube in 2007 and since then have managed to generate an impressive 20.1 million video views from 442 videos. Their videos come in the format of tutorials for their customers and YouTube audience. Most of the videos are presented by Karla Schafer a designer for auntiesbeads.com. They also integrate their videos on the ‘Beads Videos’ tab on their website. The take-aways from their strategy is that you do not need a huge budget to be a YouTube success. In the case of Aunties Beads, they share their expertise that some YouTube viewer clearly need. Their demographic are female between the ages of 35 and 54 and with the exception of the U.S. audience the remainder of their viewers are geographically dispersed across the globe. I reckon that some videos get a lot of replays from repeat viewers trying to follow each step of a tutorial. Their videos are cheap to produce – there are no special effects or fancy graphics. They just make really useful videos that are of tremendous value to a very wide audience.
YouTube appears to generate only 2% of site referrals.
YouTube address – youtube.com/user/Kiddicare eCommerce store address: kiddicare.com
Kiddicare are one the UK’s largest online retailers of nursery and baby products. Kiddicare have a dedicated video content team behind their YouTube channel. The results of all their effort has certainly paid off as they have generated well over 27 million video views from their 3,000+ videos – making an average of close to 8,000 views per video. With regards their strategy, they predominantly publish product demo videos in a very professional studio. Members of staff demonstrate the use and functionality of products identically to product demos by shop attendants in a real-life baby store. It is worth mentioning that Kiddicare have a YouTube video for almost every product they stock in their online catalog. This integration of product demo videos with their product catalog on their eCommerce store has paid off in twofolds – first they have most certainly got increased conversions with video demos as it saves shoppers a trip to a real store to trial products and secondly Kiddicare’s dominant YouTube presence means it drives quite a lot of YouTube traffic with a proportion of the traffic converting to customers.
YouTube is the 4th high traffic referral accounting for a minuscule 2 per cent of social traffic. It is clear that their YouTube videos help to sell products on their store, rather than a traffic driver.
YouTube address – https://www.youtube.com/user/ToysRUsDirect
Website: toysrus.co.uk
Toys “R” Us have pulled together a very interesting YouTube channel. Having only started in November 2008, over the last 6 years Toys “R” Us has managed to attract well over 32 million video views on YouTube from only 484 uploaded videos. Their content covers both their Babies “R” Us and Toys “R” Us sites. The Toys “R” Us YouTube channel features a healthy mix of product reviews, uploaded TV commercials and charity videos for causes Toys “R” Us supports. Their product reviews are professionally produced in a studio with a full time presenter at the fore (for consistency purposes). They are usually less that 2 minutes long and focus of product features. There is currently no product catalogue integration with the product review videos. Here is an example of a product review video. As Toys “R” Us heavily invest in TV advertising, all their TV commercials are automatically uploaded to their YouTube channel. This strategy makes perfect sense as TV viewers would usually want to research the internet or may even want to see a Toys “R” Us commercial again after seeing it on TV. Here is an example of a TV commercial on the Toys “R” Us YouTube channel.
Toys “R” Us charity videos give the Toys “R” Us brand a humane image with videos about the charities (mostly related to Children) they support. They are non-commercial oriented videos that feature kids, parents and celebrities. Here is an example of a charity video on the Toys “R” Us YouTube channel. The share of traffic from social media is a near insignificant 0.62%. YouTube traffic accounts for 12.5 per cent of all social traffic. It is clear that Toys R Us use YouTube as a continuum and extension of their TV commercials. Their strategy seems to have paid off with 35 millions views.