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Computers & Software

2012-11-01 14:53:53

Setting up your eBusiness - series

A- Last month, with assistance from www.ecommerceoptizimation.com and other sources, we talked about site optimization. This month we will continue and explore some of the latest trends, techniques and strategies. I came upon an interesting new service for online sellers the other day. It is a new service offered by an interactive video design company…FlipSeek…who has recently released a very unique application which allows eCommerce store shoppers to click on items displayed within video content or catalog demos as a way to make product purchases directly from the interactive video. The product is called Live Link Video. It allows merchants to develop and implement videos in which users can click on hyperlink “hot spots” to either get product information or buy certain items highlighted within the video content (sort of similar to the transactional banners and shopping gadgets article we published). Adam Marino is President of Flipseek. Here’s what he had to say about the Live Link Video new application… “They send us the electronic video and we convert it by layering over the hyperlinks and adding the captions to it, and then saving it as a Flash file so it is compatible for everybody on the web to see it.” Flipseek apparently released Live Link Video on January 2nd after about two months in beta testing. Their specialty is not creating the videos, or implementing them into a merchants site, but is more about converting a typical Web video into an interactive video capable of displaying the hyperlink hot spots. They will however, work with merchants either using their own in-house video specialist or another third party ad agency. Once the merchant has submitted their video content to be converted, whether it be for a commercial, video tour, product demo or any other video presentation, the converted files are then returned in order to be implemented into the site design and content. Currently, the following video formats can be converted into a Live Link Video; mpeg, mpg, flv, mov, avi or wmv. The videos will then be converted to a standard Flash SWF file. Their standard delivery time to convert files is about 3-5 business days, however more complex projects can take longer. You can contact a representative to so see if your project fits within the standard time frame. Here are some other video uses suggested by Live Link Video… TV Show Product Placement Online Store Tours Commercials Online Infomercials New Product Showcases Movie Trailers Fashion Shows Cooking Shows Training Videos How-To Demonstrations Business Proposals I am really impressed with how this feature works and all the potential uses it has within the eCommerce space, especially if video marketing on the Web is already part of your strategy and you already have the content developed on your end. Video is already being implemented by several Hot 100 retailers and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon. Unique ideas such as interactive shopping links are setting new trends and are sure to become a standard in eCommerce before too long. Take an interactive video for a spin on your site, see how it converts and determine if there’s potential for it for your products, brand or store. You never know what will work and what won’t unless you try it out, but please, be sure to have the necessary tools in place to track ROI. That’s one thing I think a feature like this is lacking, a great way to track which videos are being clicked and how many purchases are coming from those clicks. It’s something to think about. More next month…