What started as a video experiment two years ago for eBags.com has morphed into a full-fledged program that’s now a significant driver of traffic and sales.
In 2007, eBags.com, No. 93 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, began producing videos in-house with a single producer. Today, 85% of the more than 230 videos posted on eBags.com are still filmed and edited internally in the online retailer’s production studio.
But video is no longer an experiment. The conversion rate on product pages embedded with videos can top 15% once shoppers have viewed the clip, eBags.com senior vice president of marketing Peter Cobb told attendees last week at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Boston. “We have video everywhere,” Cobb said. “Video delivers a fantastic lift and is the future of retail.”
About 1,700 unique visitors view videos each day on eBags.com and the retailer distributes its videos liberally across a wide variety of marketing channels, including e-mail campaigns, affiliate programs and on various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Since launching a video center in July 2008, the center has attracted about 114,000 unique visitors, while videos from eBags.com posted on YouTube since last fall have been watched by almost 19,000 unique visitors. “If the video is posted on a product detail page, the rollout to YouTube is automatic,” Cobb said.
Using software developed by Liveclicker Inc. visitors to eBags.com can post their own videos about products, including bios of emerging designers, bag makers’ descriptions of special bag features and interviews at community service events. The videos can be sorted by brand, most-viewed and highest-rated. “Product demonstration and testimonial videos are the most engaging while promotion and interview videos show lower engagement,” said Cobb, who spoke at a session titled “Rich Media: Who Needs It?”
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