Streamify Live Shopping VS Instagram

What's the difference between Live Shopping from Streamify and going live on Instagram?

Our sales team receives this question daily, and I get why. The salespeople can recite the differences in their sleep, but noticing them at first look can be challenging, especially if you are exploring Live Shopping for the first time.

That's why I, in this article, will go into great depth and try to clarify for you. 

Yes, I work at Streamify, and my views may be slightly tainted. But I will be as objective as possible since I don't want you to quit going Live on Instagram either. The reason behind that statement is that we have found that the combination of Live Shopping on own website and Instagram is powerful and a match made in heaven if deployed correctly.

Let's start with why having Live Shopping events on Instagram sounds so great at first glance.

Brands & Retailers tell us they have their followers and target audiences on Instagram, so why shouldn't we go live there?

I am not saying you shouldn't go Live on Instagram, but it makes no sense to host your Live Shopping events there. Read more here

What's the difference, you might think?

- Where do most of your online sales come from?

If you answered your e-commerce store, I would like to ask a second question.

- Where do you want your customers? 

Again e-commerce store?

Then why shouldn't you host your Live Shopping event there?

Let's dive into the differences.

Instagram provides a simple and effective way to go live. It's effective because your followers get en notification when you go live and can quickly join. The viewer can chat with the hosts and like the stream. 

Instagram needs to improve the buyer journey and the customer experience. And, of course, the data.

Instagram (Read 34 Instagram stats marketers need to know)

• Tech: No Integration is needed
• Price: Free! Many of our customers started with the Live format on Instagram and came to us when they decided to invest in the customer experience.
• User experience: Great! It's easy to go live, and it doesn't require any work in preparation.
• Buyer Journey & Customer Experience: You cannot integrate your product catalog or checkout on Instagram Live. If one viewer wants to purchase an item, they must leave the live stream and find the product on your e-commerce store.
• Access & Distractions: Instagram provides easy access to the Live Event and even sends push notifications when you go live. It's effortless for the viewer to join, but on the other hand, it's as easy to leave. We get an average of 200 push notifications daily and use our cell phones for about 3 hours daily. On Instagram, the viewer faces many distractions since it's so easy to continue to scroll in your feed.
• On-Demand: It can be challenging to structure your old Livestreams on Instagram and sometimes hard for your followers to find. This is interesting because about 60-70 percent of all Live Shopping purchases happen after the live event is completed On-demand.
• Data: Here, you have to make a decision. We all know that Instagram wants everybody to spend as much time on Instagram as possible. They don't want your viewer to click on a link and leave. The data on Instagram belongs to Instagram and not you. Maybe that's fine because you don't want to invest in Live Shopping technology. Your company, your decision.
• Functionality: Here is a vast difference. On Instagram Live, the viewer can chat and like, and that's about it. With a technology partner, you can do so much more than that. Read what below.

The Live Shopping Blog

License Explained: Streamify Professional

Read More

Streamify Live Shopping

• Tech: Integration with product catalog & checkout.
• Price: Our licenses start from 580 euros per month, and all price information is public on our website. Read more about our pricing here.
• User experience: More preparation is needed to go Live with Streamify than Instagram. You set up the chat, pinned messages, choose what products to display at the event, etc. Yes, it's more work, but it provides a better shopping experience for the viewer. Getting to know the system may take one hour or two, but you are good to go once you get it. Watch a video here about how you go Live with Streamify
• Buyer Journey & Customer Experience: With an integrated product catalog & checkout, the viewer can put items in their shopping cart during the Livestream and only check out once without leaving the Live Shopping event. The viewer can read more about the products and ask the host questions in real time, making it easy for the customer to decide and be secure in their purchasing. With a fully branded experience, the customers will think they are still on your brand's e-commerce site.
• Access & Distractions: It's harder, in the beginning, to get people to your Live Shopping events if you are using Streamify Live Shopping. But if you put some effort into marketing, it won't take long for your viewers & customers to know where to find your Live Shopping event. Remember that a consistent & long-term strategy is essential to achieve the best results. If you want to try the format once, I recommend you do that on Instagram and not invest in technology immediately. There are no distractions on your e-commerce site, and you are entirely in control of the customer experience. Your Brand, Your Rules.
• On-Demand: Streamify Live Shopping can create a library of completed Live Shopping events on your e-commerce store. Make the content relevant for much longer and easy for your website visitors to find. We have some excellent examples where old live shopping events come to life again, often combined with new live shopping events. 60-70% of all purchasing is generally done on demand, so if you don't utilize the power of On-Demand (Video Commerce), you leave money on the table.
• Data & Content: With Streamify, you perpetually take full ownership of the content & data. That's pretty important in this day and age.
• Functionality: The difference is significant regarding functionality, both live and on-demand, and instead of boring you with many words, you can check out the pictures below. The images are from our customer's fully branded Live Shopping events on their site.
  
  

Conclusion:

From my experience, I would say that Live Shopping should be hosted on your e-commerce site and not on Instagram. However, I wouldn't quit going live on Instagram, but I would do it with another purpose. It's a great way to reach your followers, chat, and engage with them.

When you connect the purchasing part, you should invest in the technology so that the buyer journey and customer experience provide all the viewers with a seamless shopping experience and gives you 100% ownership of the content and data,

Please contact us if you have any questions or think we can help.