Why it matters:
- Businesses are increasingly tapping the power of video to gather eyeballs and potentially increase sales.
- Indeed, 91% of marketers surveyed said video content helped them increase traffic, while 90% said it helped them generate leads.
- Especially useful in the beauty sector, short-form shoppable videos capitalize on how-to tutorials and brand messaging to drive consumer purchases.
When consumers cruise over to the “Watch and Shop” widget in the buy-now-pay-later Klarna app, they can find videos of Lady Gaga demonstrating her Haus Labs beauty products. The videos are “shoppable,” so users can click on any product to route to the Haus Labs by Lady Gaga website and buy the makeup immediately.
Haus Labs has always had a significant digital and social presence – it’s a go-to marketing strategy for the company. Case in point: In September 2022, Lady Gaga launched the first-ever Haus Labs TikTok Challenge. Featuring the Triclone Skin Tech foundation, the clip has generated 9.4 billion views and counting on the short-form video site.
Noticing Haus Labs’ strong digital presence, BNPL player Klarna wanted to feature the company’s videos in its app. “[Klarna] wanted to be able to feature our…content, kicking off with our founder, Lady Gaga,” Kelly Coller, Chief Marketing Officer at Haus Labs, told CO—.
“Shoppable social”– social media posts that encourage product purchasing – are a key part of Haus Labs’ marketing platform, Coller said.
Harnessing the marketing and sales power of shoppable video
Brands like Haus Labs are realizing the power of video to gather eyeballs and potentially increase sales. In a November 2022 survey by Wyzowl, an explainer video company, 91% of survey respondents said video marketing helped them increase traffic, while 90% said it had helped them generate leads.
Video is especially beneficial for beauty brands, Coller said. “Whether they’re shoppable or not, every retailer needs videos. That’s what’s driving digital,” she said. “Videos demonstrating product use, a clear point of view of what your brand is about, how the product works — that’s proof of concept for your brand,” Coller pointed out.
[Read: 6 Winning (and Adaptable) Customer Acquisition Strategies From Growing Brands]
In a world where people are bombarded by static information and marketing, video is a more compelling medium that helps cut through some of the noise.
Neil Saunders, Managing Director, GlobalData
Neil Saunders, Managing Director of GlobalData’s retail division, agrees. “In a world where people are bombarded by static information and marketing, video is a more compelling medium that helps cut through some of the noise,” Saunders said. “Video also allows products to be showcased in a more realistic and immersive fashion which improves engagement and, so long as the product is right, [leads to] conversion and sales,” he added.
Indeed, Haus Labs’ shoppable videos are meant to showcase the product in a realistic fashion. They target “the beauty connoisseur and curator who are always looking for what’s new, who want to see transformations in real time,” Coller said. “They also want to see that our founder is absolutely invested, so videos of Lady Gaga demonstrating the products help not only with credibility but brand loyalty as well,” she added.
“And then the shoppable component is the cherry on top that just makes it easy for the consumer to get to your products faster if they fall in love with what they see,” Coller said. That “faster” aspect is what shoppable videos capitalize on: They feed on immediacy and — in Haus Labs’ case — celebrity power to drive sales.
Today’s shoppers value such experiences: A whopping 82% of consumers said social media has heightened their expectations around brand interaction and immersive experiences, according to a 2022 report from RetailVoice.
With the Klarna/Haus Labs’ partnership, shoppable videos are also about delivering customers a seamless payment transaction behind the scenes, which is essential for creating a frictionless customer experience, said Kevin Lindemann, Product Director for Social Shopping at Klarna.
The Haus Labs-Klarna shoppable video collaboration is the latest partnership between the two companies.
Studio x Klarna + Haus Labs, launched in 2021, is an incubator for emerging artists to access mentorship, experiential space, Haus Labs products, and professional equipment to create content. “There’s a whole host of programs we do with [Klarna] because we’re like-minded companies focused on innovation and consumer-first thinking,” Coller said.
[Read: 3 Experience-Fueled Startups on Pandemic Pivots Yielding Long-Term Wins in the Post-COVID Economy]
Tapping video to drive omnichannel brand buzz and traffic
Haus Labs’ videos aim to boost brand awareness across its digital platforms and brick-and-mortar locations. (Haus Labs sells its products from its own website and through Sephora’s e-commerce site and brick-and-mortar stores).
“[Shoppable video] has a halo effect – an impression created in one channel transfers to another – because it ties into brand awareness,” Coller said. The videos create more buzz and drive traffic. “If you see a shoppable video, you can buy the product there or it may encourage you to spend time on the website or follow us on TikTok or go to Sephora to see more products,” Coller said. “It’s a win-win.”
Haus Labs’s marketing approach is designed to capitalize on the omnichannel way in which today’s consumers shop. Indeed, a 2022 research report from Deloitte found that “the omnichannel shopping experience is typical for consumers, wherein consumers mix and match online and offline components within or across each step of their shopping journey.”
Such channel-agnostic shopping is what Coller sees as well. “It’s a co-system of advocacy where one plus one equals three, where every [sales channel] is operating together to drive traffic and then we meet the consumer wherever they are,” she said.
Results thus far from the Haus Labs shoppable video program on Klarna, which launched in October 2022, have been promising, Coller said. “We’re excited to see where we can go with this.” The Haus Labs videos featuring Lady Gaga on Klarna have seen up to three times the click-through rates compared to other social media channels. Data on conversion rates were unavailable.
Shoppable videos are one way in which Haus Labs is looking to leverage technology to deliver superior customer experiences. “We’re always looking at what our customers are trying to solve and how we can meet them there,” Coller said. “We use technology not for the sake of disruption alone, but to solve customer problems.”
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