Already in 2007 Qbrick began working on the concept of interactive video, with the goal to give viewers more agency in how they consume video. Today that vision is fully realized as the Interactive Manager is an integrated cornerstone of the Qbrick Video Platform, giving customers all the tools necessary to create interactive elements both for on-demand and live medias.
Still a lot of people aren’t aware of the full extent of this revolution, regarding interactivity rather as something nice to have rather than need to have. This couldn’t be further from the truth. With the increasing amount of video content being produced every day, demand for new ways of keeping the viewers engaged increases with it.
Interactive video offers the solution to tackle these dilemmas headfirst. With the near endless possibilities that they unlock, your content is bound to become more accessible, immersive and, ultimately, better. Let’s look at a four ways interactive video can help your business engage more people.
Keep people HOOKED
Are you tired of hearing about how people’s attention spans are just getting shorter and shorter? How todays connected world have made it almost impossible to have people notice you, not to mention keeping them hooked when you finally do? The harsh reality is that it’s true, sort of.
Even so, this doesn’t mean that you need to fight a loosing battle. Adding interactivity to your videos vastly improves the odds of a high completion rate since increasing viewer’s choice offers the opportunity for them to watch exactly what they want to see. The best part is interactive video is nondestructive in the way that all of the choices are still available after watching the initial part. The viewer is free to continue browsing around checking out other parts as they see fit, and once curiosity kicks in, checking out all the content isn’t unusual.
How is this implemented in reality then? For one, interactive video is optimal for onboarding purposes. Depending on how you want to design your video the viewer can be presented an overview of the videos content with the choice of watching what they urge in the moment. This idea is not only effective but also sustainable seeing how the video stays relevant for a long time. Should some part become obsolete it can be switched out, retaining the effort put into the rest of the video.
An inverted take based on the same principle is to help guide viewers where they want to go. Through a number of questions branching off into more narrow paths a potential costumer can find their way to the part of your business that they’re interested in. An approach like this can be very efficient along with a FAQ section, or even replace it entirely. Whatever the case it goes to show how interactive video can boost views by offering the audience more agency.
Always having the option to jump straight to what’s relevant will pay off more long-term as the viewers don’t risk dropping off too early watching something they don’t want to see.
The versatility of interactive video opens up the opportunity of asking “what needs do we have and how can we solve it with video?” rather than finding a way of producing video content just for the sake of it.
Observe, adapt and overcome with analytics
Closely tied to the previous subject, the analytics of the Qbrick Video Platform provide a statistical backbone to analyze the performance of all your video content – including interactive videos. Through the statistics one can survey detailed performance of each media such as unique views, look-through, click-through, viewing spikes and overall engagement.
These numbers are interesting on their own offering a clear picture of how well received your video is, but they serve an even greater purpose of telling you what didn’t perform well. Identifying clear drop off points in your videos usually indicates that these are either subpar or misplaced. With interact this can be remedied in a number of ways.
The most obvious is of course a new attempt by producing a completely new video. A more time efficient solution however would be to edit the existing video with the interactive editor. The interactive roadmap can be tweaked switching places between different parts. You can also “remove” certain parts of the video directly in a nondestructive way using the trim functionalities in the Interactive Manager.
The gist of it all is that with analytics you get a good understanding of how, when and where your viewers decide to stop being passive consumers and start interacting with your video. Identifying common triggers and recognizing patterns in viewers behavior is useful in the process of producing better content with an even higher conversion rate. Paired with interactivity, these statistics become even more of an asset as you get innovative ways of capitalizing on them through a brand new toolbox.
Wow! You can click around in this video too!
Everyone's a part of the convo with LIVE interactivity
Historically, going live has meant pushing a linear stream from the creators to the viewers. No more no less.
Traditional TV broadcasting has of course utilized different ways of integrating viewers in their shows, but these interactions have always been based on third party solutions i.e. taking calls from people or doing a social media push about the event.
With Qbrick’s Interactive Manager the promise of true interactivity directly within the video player is finally a reality. There are a multitude of ways this can be implemented into a live stream which can be split into two categories; interactive elements and QnA.
The interactive elements are created the same way they’re created in OD medias, using the Interactive Manager. They’re then cued and pushed out whenever you like, through the Qbrick Live Manager. These elements can be customized to fit one’s specific needs both when it comes to visuals and functionality.
A button could be a call-to-action urging the viewers to visit a related link or opening up the email client with a prepared adress and subject.
During lectures and presentations there is also the opportunity to share documents and related materials by adding download buttons, and you can even jump to another media completely.
The questions and polls are created in a similar way where questions and answers are prepared in advance and then put into a “library” where you as the creator have full control over what is pushed out into the stream. You can also get access to the QnA inbox to review incoming answers as well as posting poll results for all the viewers to see.
Pushing interactivity in a live stream turns monologue into dialogue and viewers into participants.
Compared to third party solutions which might require a second screen, new browser tab or verification codes, presenting choices within the Qbrick Player discards any type of obstacle for people to get engaged – and the threshold being low is indeed crucial for people to take action.
Voting in a poll becomes so much easier, almost instinctive, when the prompt is immediate. Sending an email to book a meeting becomes more palpable if adress, subject and context are already prepared with the click of a button.
Checking out the wares shown and worn by people in the stream is easier with the link is in the same frame. Furthermore, if that link is also integrated with your company’s checkout cart, the chances for a done deal are greatly improved.
Speaking of carts…
A new frontier of eCommerce
An integral part of Qbrick’s interactive capabilities is the 24/7 eCommerce Solution where interactivity is utilized for better online sales.
Ever since live streaming became commonplace on social media platforms, live shopping has risen into a lucrative business. Live might be life but Qbrick’s eCommerce solutions are indeed viable for all types of media.
Depending on purpose and consumer base, interactive eCommerce doesn’t always have to be a live solution. Live shopping is great when pushing new and exciting campaigns while trying to create buzz around it, but it also involves a calculated risk with less room for error.
A live stream can also be somewhat limited in its scope seeing how people watching it afterwards won’t have the same appreciation and connection to the content. These are some things to consider when doing an eCommerce push – but don’t let it discourage you! Rather, look at the strengths of all the different options to find what solution that truly suits your needs the best.
If live isn’t an option maybe a “fake” live stream might be a better fit? It’s what we call a live-on-tape stream.
In this case you do a prerecorded video in the style of a live show that you then release to your viewers at a time and place that you see fit.
Live on tape can be utilized for showcasing products in a more controlled way. With fashion, this could be a model wearing an assortment of outfits that can be bought via the buttons on screen. Now you eliminate potential hiccups while still receiving the benefits of a live show.
Interactivity in eCommerce doesn’t have to be just product buttons either. Inside the shopping configuration of the Qbrick Video Player, you also get access to the live chat functionality. Regardless of it is a true live event of live on tape, viewers can ask questions, emote over certain aspects of the stream and overall just boost their participation.
Similarly to other interactive elements, the chat is a built in feature in the player, again lessening the obstacles for people to join in.
You as a creator can of course answer and moderate the chat within the Live Manager enhancing the dialogue with viewers even further.
Last but not least, interactivity can of course be utilized with great effect in on-demand videos as well. Compared to the different versions of live streams, this form of eCommerce opens up for more extensive video projects.
The audience no longer needs to follow the narrative of the stream. They are free to explore what products they’re interested in.
As an example, fashion retailer Rizzo created an interactive hub video where the viewer could navigate through their entire collection. The assortment was divided into categories and sub-categories to provide guidance to specific products.
Every entry then had a male or female model showcase the chosen product along with the interactive option to add it to the shopping cart.
Viewers were free to look around and explore the catalogue while simultaneously getting great visual displays – all inside of one video.
This is just one example, but it provides a good representation of what can be achieved with interactive eCommerce. What ideas you have might be realized similarly or in a completely different way!
Wherever you are in your eCommerce journey Qbrick has the tools to elevate it to new levels, no matter if it is a live, live on tape och on-demand solution.
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