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In a speech entitled “How Consumers Navigate the Multichannel Landscape,” given this Monday at the eRetailer Summit, Sieglinde Friedman, vice president of strategy for the Electronic Retailing Association, suggested the future of DRTV hinges on the convergence of TV and online technology. The presentation centered on a study by the ERA and Forrester Research that polled 600 consumers across the U.S., of which 16 percent said they shopped via TV last year and a whopping 99 percent said they made purchases online.
This propensity for online purchasing has attracted many traditional advertisers to the world of e-commerce. “Traditional advertisers, in their online video marketing efforts, are now generating direct responses and engaging in accountable advertising, the former exclusive purview of linear, offline DRTV,” says Timothy Hawthorne, chairman and executive creative director for Fairfield, Iowa-based Hawthorne Direct. Hawthorne cites technological milestones such as advances in broadband, the YouTube phenomenon and availability of interactive ad formats as factors for marketers and consumers embracing online video.
Positioning a direct response campaign within the $775 million per year and growing online video advertising market is not as simple as editing and repurposing a TV commercial or infomercial for Web use. There are many of factors that enter into online video success, including the following five points:
1. Build an integrated campaign
According to the ERA and Forrester study, 84 percent of consumers have gone online to check out a product seen in a TV infomercial, and another 64 percent later purchased the product online, rather than calling the advertiser’s toll-free phone number.
Friedman deems the consumer’s new seamless transition from TV to brick-and-mortar to online as “channel agnosticism.” “You have to give customers all the options of the ways in which they shop, and they shop across all channels,” she explains. Successful direct response campaigns must integrate toll-free phone numbers, retail, online search, affiliate Web traffic and homepage traffic in one effort. “The call-to-action aspect of direct response is alive and well; it’s just about where and how prospects are going to respond,” Friedman says.
2. Start with a successful Web site
Marketers should begin by populating their product homepages with video content. “Marketers need to make their sites more ‘video-active.’ That means redesigning them to include the original DRTV commercial, testimonials, expert comments, product demonstrations, and primary benefits and features,” Hawthorne suggests.
A direct response Web site also has to be user-friendly—not just an ordering portal, but an extension of the DRTV and online video advertisements. “Ensure that your Web site has some dynamics that make a customer as interested in your product as the infomercial would,” Friedman says. If your site is as compelling and sophisticated as your online and TV spots, Friedman believes you may even capture new surfers as prospects, in addition to improving ordering and retention.
This propensity for online purchasing has attracted many traditional advertisers to the world of e-commerce. “Traditional advertisers, in their online video marketing efforts, are now generating direct responses and engaging in accountable advertising, the former exclusive purview of linear, offline DRTV,” says Timothy Hawthorne, chairman and executive creative director for Fairfield, Iowa-based Hawthorne Direct. Hawthorne cites technological milestones such as advances in broadband, the YouTube phenomenon and availability of interactive ad formats as factors for marketers and consumers embracing online video.
Positioning a direct response campaign within the $775 million per year and growing online video advertising market is not as simple as editing and repurposing a TV commercial or infomercial for Web use. There are many of factors that enter into online video success, including the following five points:
1. Build an integrated campaign
According to the ERA and Forrester study, 84 percent of consumers have gone online to check out a product seen in a TV infomercial, and another 64 percent later purchased the product online, rather than calling the advertiser’s toll-free phone number.
Friedman deems the consumer’s new seamless transition from TV to brick-and-mortar to online as “channel agnosticism.” “You have to give customers all the options of the ways in which they shop, and they shop across all channels,” she explains. Successful direct response campaigns must integrate toll-free phone numbers, retail, online search, affiliate Web traffic and homepage traffic in one effort. “The call-to-action aspect of direct response is alive and well; it’s just about where and how prospects are going to respond,” Friedman says.
2. Start with a successful Web site
Marketers should begin by populating their product homepages with video content. “Marketers need to make their sites more ‘video-active.’ That means redesigning them to include the original DRTV commercial, testimonials, expert comments, product demonstrations, and primary benefits and features,” Hawthorne suggests.
A direct response Web site also has to be user-friendly—not just an ordering portal, but an extension of the DRTV and online video advertisements. “Ensure that your Web site has some dynamics that make a customer as interested in your product as the infomercial would,” Friedman says. If your site is as compelling and sophisticated as your online and TV spots, Friedman believes you may even capture new surfers as prospects, in addition to improving ordering and retention.
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