Livestreaming is quickly becoming a way to highlight products, create connections with fans, and bring new people to a brand. The demand is massive, with livestream shopping expected to be a $25 billion industry in the US by 2023. No surprise, it’s curious Gen Z and Millennial shoppers driving the growth, with 69% of Millennials open to trying livestream shopping.
Recently, Beautycounter and Klarna teamed up for a 4-episode livestream shopping series. Below are some learnings we’ve found to make your next livestreaming event a huge success.
Top talent, more viewers.
Partner with influencers and talent who have large, engaged followings. That feels obvious, and yet, it’s not always the case. Follower numbers alone aren’t enough, though; using people known for content that matches your brand and the theme of what you want your livestream events to be is integral if you’re going to be successful. Otherwise, your events are going to feel random and disjointed.
For their livestreaming event, Beautycounter specifically sought out talent known for their approaches to clean beauty, a crucial aspect of the brand’s mission and product philosophy. The line-up included actresses Asia Jackson and Ashley Greene, influencer Christine Kong, celebrity makeup artist Kirin Bhatty, and ingredient safety expert Lindsay Dahl. Each guest host shared their expertise and insights throughout the series while using hand-picked products from Beautycounter.
The influencers proved themselves as good as their names; the episodes that drew the most viewers both live and on-demand were actress Ashley Greene and ingredient safety expert Lindsay Dahl, highlighting the importance of large followings (Greene) and trusted advice (Dahl),
Drive engagement with clear episode themes.
Engagement comes from more than just top talent, though. Beautycounter’s sessions were successful because they had clear themes in each episode; a viewer could see the title of the event, know what to expect, and get excited about it. Beautycounter turned viewers into fans, filling each episode with valuable tips and tricks and introducing helpful ways people could use the products in their everyday routines. And each episode gave people new products and reasons to try them, helping increase sales alongside brand engagement.
Viewers not only tuned in but came back for more at a high rate. Beautycounter saw 2-4x the viewership on-demand after a session, showing that shoppers were not only returning to re-watch but giving Beautycounter a way to turn live events into always-available content.
Turn views into sales with curated content.
You’ve got the views, and shoppers are coming back for more. Now, it’s time to translate clicks into product sales. Keep your products top of mind for shoppers tuning in with curated content and collections across all touchpoints.
To amplify each of their episodes’ content, Beautycounter ran a dedicated email to Klarna shoppers and push notifications on the Klarna app with episode reminders before, during, and after each livestream.
To turn viewership into more add-to-carts, Beautycounter curated a clean beauty shopping list with their products on Klarna and incentivized conversions with an exclusive gift-with-purchase for shoppers who checked out with Klarna.
By the third episode, Beautycounter saw up to a 3x lift in sales. After the fourth episode, up to 1 in 5 shoppers redeemed a promo code, and shoppers checking out using Klarna had a 47% higher average order value.
As Beautycounter found, livestreaming is a great way to capture attention and get people excited and more knowledgeable about your brand and products. Livestreaming is convenient and easy for shoppers, and they can do it from wherever they are, making it accessible to anyone with a phone. And the results are powerful. Beautycounter saw episodes driving anywhere from 2-5x more sales than on an average shopping day. For Beautycounter and any brand, livestream shopping is a great new channel that engages customers and encourages them to try new products outside of their comfort zone. As more and more shopping goes digital, livestreaming is becoming an even more significant part of an e-commerce brand’s toolkit.