Ultimate Guide to Instagram Live Shopping: 9 Tips to Sell More Products (Essential Strategy)
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Ultimate Guide to Instagram Live Shopping: 9 Tips to Sell More Products (Essential Strategy)
Do you want to sell more product using Instagram Live Shopping?
Instagram has vastly expanded its e-commerce features in recent years, with customers now able to purchase products through feed posts, stories, IGTV, and perhaps most excitingly, Instagram Live.
In this post, I’m going to share tons of hints and tips about how to make the most of Instagram Shopping to drive sales of your products. Let’s go!
What is Instagram Live Shopping?
Instagram Live Shopping lets you turn your profile and brand into a modern-day version of TV shopping - think QVC for the social media age! And in fact, some of the tactics from TV shopping channels work just as well on Instagram
Instagram Live Shopping lets you tag products from your catalogue to feature during your broadcast. As you talk about and display the products in your live stream, viewers can tap to view more details and purchase the products instantly.
Instagram describes the feature as follows:
“Live shopping lets people find products and purchase them with a real-time preview when they are inspired by a brand or creator’s live video content, opening up a new shoppable channel for businesses.”
Why Use Instagram Live Shopping for Business?
Although you can highlight and sell products in all of the parts of the Instagram app I mentioned in the introduction, they are what I’d call “static” selling avenues - pre-written posts and videos in the feed, stories, and IGTV.
Instagram Live Shopping is a different beast.
Going live on Instagram is an amazing way to connect with your followers and customers in an authentic and direct way - off-the-cuff, unscripted, and real. And it’s this connection and immediacy that can generate sales in a way that other online selling methods cannot.
You can talk and chat in real-time, take your time to deep-dive into your products with no pressure of time limit - and paired with Checkout as a direct route for customers to buy instantly, it’s a terrific opportunity for brands and businesses to drive sales. For instance, Instagram Live Shopping can be used to:
Launch brand new products in an immersive and exciting way.
Show how products work in as much detail as your audience desires; to answer questions as you go along, and to help them with their buying decision.
Collaborate with other creators to share audiences and drive sales
Instagram Live Shopping can also boost your discoverability, as your followers will be notified when you go live, and your video will be featured at the front of their Stories
How to Set Up Instagram Live Shopping
First things first, this post assumes that you have a Business profile on Instagram and have already set up your initial Instagram Shop, which you need to do in order to launch a live Shopping broadcast. If you haven’t done that, check out this post which tells you everything you need to know.
Also, Instagram Live Shopping is (at the time of writing - January 2021), only available to businesses whose Instagram Shopping account is eligible to use Checkout, the app’s own seamless checkout system, (i.e. not through a browser and your own website), but direct with Instagram. U.S. residents are included for sure, but do check to see if it’s rolled out to your country of residence as you read this.
If all that’s good to go, you’re ready to broadcast live on Instagram Shopping!
Before going live, you can add up to 30 products to a collection to showcase and you can pin one item at a time while live to feature that product. To add products to your live video:
1. Tap the camera icon.
2. Toggle to Live at the bottom of the screen.
3. Tap Shopping.
4. Select the product(s) or collection you want to feature.
5. When you’re ready, tap the "live broadcast" icon to go live.
Instagram Live Shopping Tips to Sell More Products
Now that we’ve covered the benefits of Instagram Live Shopping and its main benefits, let’s take a look at some tips and strategy that will help to make your live stream product demos and sales go as successfully as possible.
Instagram Live Shopping Tip #1: Prepare your Presentation and Pitch
You don’t have to script your live shopping broadcast, but it will help immensely if you have a general idea of the structure of the stream and what you want to say.
Where products are concerned - give an overview of the item itself and then focus in on the details, telling viewers about the features and benefits. Think about how you will demonstrate it in action in a way that is compelling and give viewers all the information (and convincing) that they need to buy.
As far as technical considerations go, keep it simple. One static camera, good natural lighting, a neutral background, and in a quiet area where you and your products can take centre stage. Oh, and make sure your Internet connection is strong and steady too!
Instagram Live Shopping Tip #2: Promote your broadcast in advance
The last thing you want is to go live with a big product launch, only for nobody to tune in! So even if it’s a few hours before the stream starts (hey, live broadcasts and spontaneity work well together at times!), make sure you tell your audience about it - in Stories, in your feed, and across other social media.
Tell them when you’re going live and give them a reason why they have to tune in!
Instagram Live Shopping Tip #3: Reward viewers who watch LIVE
As mentioned, one of the best features of Instagram Live Shopping is its engaging nature and natural immediacy. There’s just something special about watching a live event as it happens, rather than catching up with a replay later on.
And you can use this to your advantage, by actively rewarding those who tune in live, like offering a special discounted price just for the time that you’re “on air”. Encourage FOMO (fear of missing out) to drive viewers into making a purchase.
Instagram Live Shopping Tip #4: Interact with viewers to encourage sales
During your Instagram Live Shopping stream, viewers will be able to chat and ask you questions as you go along. As well as answering questions, make a point of giving replies and shout-outs to people who comment, even if it’s just a hello, e.g.
Viewer: Hey Andrew, enjoying the show!
You: Thanks for watching, Viewer! Is there anything you want to know about The Amazing Juicer 3.0? Comment and I’ll help out!
However small the gesture, pointing them out will make them feel special and help inch them towards their purchasing decision.
Instagram Live Shopping Tip #5: Use Call-to-Actions Regularly
Unlike a short Stories video or in a text caption on the main feed, the call-to-action for viewers (i.e. tap “Add to Bag” to buy) doesn’t have to wait until the end of the Instagram Shopping broadcast; it’s going to be of benefit to you to remind your audience at regular intervals throughout the broadcast.
Good times to use a call-to-action include:
Near the beginning of the live stream, when the majority of viewers have joined.
In natural breaks, e.g. after you have described each product feature
Approaching the end of the broadcast, i.e. “We’re only live for another 10 minutes…”
Just before ending the broadcast - ideally after quick re-cap of the product(s) you are selling and a reminder of the features and benefits that viewers will receive by making a purchase today.
Instagram Live Shopping Tip #6: Reveal Sales Data to Increase FOMO
One of the awesome things about live presentations is that you can update viewers, in real-time, about how the product is selling. If your sales dashboard allows, feed messages like how much stock is remaining, how many products have been sold so far, the rate at which stock is selling out, etc. These will help to compel viewers to purchase.
Instagram Live Shopping Tip #7: Sweeten the Deal
One of the most powerful psychological tricks of selling via Instagram Live Shopping is to sweeten the deal by offering a bonus product. Bundle up your main product with something small to sweeten the deal and encourage people to hit “Add to Bag!”. While you describe the deal, let viewers know how much they will be saving, or the value of the bonus item - so that they feel smart for jumping on the purchase right there and then.
Instagram Live Shopping Tip #8: Post A Replay Video to IGTV
Once your Live Shopping video ends, you can share a replay of it to IGTV. People can find and view your live video with the tagged products replays on IGTV, giving you a way to re-purpose your broadcast, and give people who couldn’t tune in to the live stream, the chance to watch a replay and purchase your products.
To share a Live Shopping Video to IGTV:
At the end of your live shopping video, tap Share to IGTV at the bottom of the screen. When you share to IGTV, your live-tagged products will not be carried over to the IGTV video - you have to tag them again separately using the Add Products to IGTV option, or they won’t appear.
Instagram Live Shopping Tip #9: Re-purpose Your Live Shopping Video
Once your iive shopping broadcast is over, you can also download the replay to your Camera Roll. With this, you can chop and change the content to re-purpose and continue selling in other areas of Instagram and across other social channels. For example, you could:
Share screenshots and video to post on your Instagram feed, and add product tags.
Share video clips and highlights in your Instagram Story, and add product tags or invite followers to watch your IGTV replay.
Create GIFs of fun or stand-out moments to share on Twitter or Facebook
Upload the full replay to your YouTube channel, with a link to purchase the product in the product description.
Create a blog post sharing the highlights of your live shopping stream, and talk about the product features around them.
Share a link to the replay of your live shopping stream to your email list.
Instagram Live Shopping Conclusion
So there you have it, a simple guide to rocking it in your Instagram Live Shopping broadcast! Will you be making use of this feature to sell your products? Let me know your best ideas and strategies for success in the comments below!
Andrew Macarthy is a social media consultant and the author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips.
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