This is a short sample of our web based video introduction.

We can create video tours of any size and quality on our CDRom tours.

Our basic tour is $300 for 2 video introductions for Web and CDRom.

You'll recieve a disk with 2 web based introductions and high res CDRom introductions for your exlusive use. You can say whatever you want in your introductions and you can have two versions to use where needed.

 

If there is one guiding principle for any ecommerce campaign, it should be focused on converting visitors into loyal customers. A successful "V2C" campaign will incorporate many elements. An attractive and compelling banner to drive people to your landing page is a great start and a persuasive offer is also necessary. But once visitors get to your site, what other techniques are now available to pique their interest and drive them to action?

We've all been there… you've expended countless hours designing the best eye-catching ad with the latest creative technologies. You've spent a lot of time and money planning the media campaign including targeted and non-targeted sites. You intensely watch the number of impressions, and then, someone clicks, rolls over or interacts with your ad driving them to your site. You have one opportunity to explain to your visitor why they should transact with you.

Now what are you going to do?

Let's look at a typical, offline shopping experience. You drive to the mall, fight for a parking spot and finally make it inside to shop for a shirt. If you happen to know what you want and where to get it, then making the purchase is straightforward. If you're not sure what you're looking for and need some extra help, you may decide to go to a store that offers a high degree of personalized customer service.

For example, a discount store offers great values and quality clothing. However, when you walk in to one of these stores you're not expecting someone to come over and show you the newest offerings or help you to find exactly what you want. You're on your own. If you buy something -- great! If not, you can walk out without ever having spoken to a salesperson.

By contrast, walking into an upscale retailer is an experience. You're greeted at the door, appropriate music plays throughout the store (jazz, classical or even hip-hop) and a salesperson comes right up to you and asks you if you need help. This is a very accommodating, easy and almost enjoyable shopping experience. The salesperson is there to help you and to guide you to items that you might want to purchase. As you spend time with the salesperson, you're developing a rapport, and he or she gets to know your tastes. If you're like me, you're grateful for the help and almost feel guilty not purchasing anything.

Moving to the online world, ecommerce sites can now use virtual salespeople to create a similarly helpful experience for their visitors. When someone arrives at your site, recently available technology allows you to greet and guide your potential customer with a virtual salesperson. These borderless, full motion streaming videos appear on top of all of the content on the web page and instantly catch your visitor's attention. They can guide your visitor where you want them to go, or just describe what special items are available that day. 

What we've found is that the value of the message or offering is just as important as the unique and compelling video.

Case Study #1: DiscoveryStore.com

In one example of the use of borderless streaming video, DiscoveryStore.com ran an A/B test on its home page for a Mother's Day campaign. The virtual spokesperson was not a well-known actor, but was a woman who fit Discovery Store's target soccer-mom demographic. The video was used to promote and highlight the Mother's Day gift ideas available for purchase at the DiscoveryStore.com store.

Of the visitors who saw the video, 48 percent watched it through to the end, and seven percent clicked through to the landing page. 

Sales from those who clicked on the video were 78 percent higher than sales from visitors who didn't.  In addition, overall sales on the homepage with the virtual spokesperson were over 38 percent higher than overall sales from the home page without it. Visitors seemed to appreciate the fact that someone was welcoming them to the site and acting as their virtual shopping guide.

The Mother's Day test results were strong enough that DiscoveryStore.com ran a similar campaign for Father's Day -- this time with a male spokesperson. And, instead of testing, it rolled out the campaign to all visitors. DiscoveryStore.com had a 600 percent ROI using the virtual tour guide on its site.

Case Study #2: HowStuffWorks

Here's another example of how well virtual salespeople help drive visitors. The client for this case study is the well respected informational site, HowStuffWorks.com. HowStuffWorks had just launched its new eCommerce portal, StuffGuide.com, and it wanted a cutting-edge technique to create awareness and drive traffic to the new site.

The site chose to run a borderless streaming video on the landing page that seamlessly appeared when a user searched for Digital Cameras on HowStuffWorks.com. The video informed the visitor that more information and a comparison shopping tool were available by clicking on the video. In the first three weeks of the campaign the site had experienced a ten percent click-through rate to StuffGuide.com.

What you see is that using a real person to greet and guide your visitors has a demonstrable and measurable effect on your ability to turn your visitors into customers.

by Len Ostroff