TechCrunch called it the QVC for the YouTube generation.
Shopflick is a catalogue of online video “commercials” for non-DR products to encourage and enable online shopping.
For example, in one spot, two Hippie Neue women hawk a soy and hemp candle in a simple features-and-benefits spot with a decidedly UGC feel. It’s not terribly interesting or compelling, but there are clear, simple calls to action (Add one to my cart? Love to!) all over the page and following the spot. You can chose to embed the spot (doesn’t play nicely with WordPress, unfortunately), you can add a comment, and the site also provides recommendations (based on what criteria, the world may never know).
Watch a commercial online; buy a product through the same medium. Do not pass go… heck, do not get out of your chair. It’s exactly what I envisioned when I spoke with Response’s Editor In Chief Tom Haire about As Seen On Response TV, the DR industry’s answer (via Response Magazine) to online video.
I heard about the site at the beginning of the year when it launched, and I was all like, awesome! Then I started getting into the nitty gritty with Tom: Can users share vids? Can they buy from the site? Will the site offer company/agency info? Are there spaces for comments or even product reviews? Across the board, the response was “We’re working on that.”
Currently, some of the products are “Buy Now-able”, but the single, text-only BUY NOW! link carries the user to the maker’s website rather than to a streamlined checkout process for all products. Guess Response couldn’t work out a rev share deal for that one, which is unfortunate as it creates yet another conversion roadblock.
And still, no product reviews (vital for online shoppers!) and minimal sharing capabilities (feel free to email, but don’t expect to be able to embed or even link to the video).
Shopflick, on the other hand, has a seemingly familiar user interface with abundant calls to action and ample impetus to keep users shopping. I’ve no idea what their traffic currently looks like, but a few DR spots on the site could really show those general-side goofballs how we do business.
Who’s with me! Arrrrrg!
But seriously, I’d like to get more and more DR clients to use the Web in smart ways, and I think Shopflick is rather smart. Don’t you agree?
2 Comments
July 11, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I’m weeping with joy. How can we leverage this and make a big splash?
July 11, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Well, I think spreading the good word is step one. Step two is convincing clients (B2B companies and DR agencies alike) that this is a good thing and is worth trying out.
Step three, of course, is contacting Shopflick for details on how payments are negotiated and what their volume of traffic is and will be.