Streamify VS Instagram

Streamify live shopping vs. Instagram

What’s the difference between live shopping from Streamify and going live on Instagram? We receive this question daily, and we get why. Noticing the differences at a glance can be challenging, especially if you’re exploring live shopping for the first time. This article extensively compares the two to help you make the best choice for your business.

Sure, we’re probably a little biased. But this article will be as objective as possible, even more so since we encourage all our clients to go live on Instagram. We’ve found that a combination of live shopping on your site and Instagram is a match made in heaven if deployed correctly.

Instagram sounds great at first glance

A fair bit of brands and retailers tell us, “Our followers and target audiences are on Instagram, so that’s where we should go live, right?” But when it comes to live shopping, it belongs on your website, not social media

In the end, e-tailers make the vast majority of sales on their website. Consequently, that’s where they want their audiences to spend time. Considering that live shopping is a great way to attract visitors to spend time on your website, that’s probably the best place to host your events.

The difference between Instagram and Streamify live shopping

Instagram provides a simple and effective platform for going live. It’s effective because your followers get a notification when you go live and can join effortlessly. The viewers can also chat with the host and like the streaming. But Instagram lacks reasonable buyer’s journey, customer experience and data ownership.

Instagram features

  • Tech: No integration is needed.
  • Price: Free! It’s easy to try out and get comfortable with the live format.
  • User Experience: Great! Going live is easy and doesn’t require any preparatory work.
  • Buyer Journey and Customer Experience: You can’t integrate your product catalogue or checkout on Instagram live. If one viewer wants to purchase an item, they must leave the live stream and find the product on your e-commerce store.
  • Access: Instagram provides easy access to the live event and even sends push notifications to followers when you go live. It’s effortless for the viewer to join, but on the other hand, it’s also as easy to leave.
  • Distractions: People get an average of 200 push notifications daily, and we use our cell phones for about three hours daily. The viewer faces many distractions on Instagram, and it’s easy to continue scrolling the feed.
  • On-Demand: It can be challenging to structure your old live streams on Instagram and sometimes hard for your followers to find. This is not ideal since about 60-70 % of live shopping purchases happen after the live event.
  • Data: We’re all aware that Instagram wants people to spend as much time on their platform as possible. They don’t want the viewer to click on a link and leave. In addition, the data on Instagram belongs to Instagram, not you. Maybe that’s reasonable if you don’t want to invest in live shopping technology. Your company, your decision.
  • Functionality: This is where you’ll find a great difference. On Instagram, the viewer can chat and like, and that’s about it. With a technology partner, you can do so much more than that. What, you might ask? Just keep reading!

Streamify features

  • Tech: Integrated with the product catalogue and checkout.
  • Price: Streamify’s licenses start from 580 euros per month, and all price information is public on our website. Read more about our pricing here..
  • User Experience: More preparation is needed to go live with Streamify than Instagram. You set up the chat, pinned messages, choose what products to display at the event, etc. It’s more work but provides a better shopping experience. Getting to know the system may take one hour or two, but you’re good to go after that. Curious? Watch a video about how to go live with Streamify.
  • Buyer Journey and Customer Experience: With an integrated product catalogue and checkout, viewers can put items in their shopping cart during the live stream and then check out once, without leaving the live shopping event. The viewer can also read more about the products and ask the host questions in real time, making it easy for the customer to decide and be secure in purchasing. With a fully branded player, the customers will feel like they’re on your brand’s e-commerce site, even though the Streamify platform is in use.
  • Access: In the beginning, getting people to your live shopping events is a little harder if you use Streamify live shopping. But if you put some effort into marketing, it won’t take long for viewers and customers to know where to find your events. A consistent and long-term strategy is essential to achieve the best results. If you only want to try the format once, we suggest using Instagram and not investing in technology immediately.
  • Distractions: There are no distractions on your e-commerce site – you’re entirely in control of the customer experience. Your brand, your rules.
  • On-Demand: Streamify live shopping can create a library of completed events on your e-commerce store. This makes the content accessible and relevant for much longer. We have excellent examples where old live shopping events come to life again, often combined with new live shopping events. 60-70% of all purchasing is generally done on demand, so you’re missing out if you don’t utilize the power of on-demand.
  • Data: With Streamify, you perpetually take full ownership of the content and data. That’s pretty important in this day and age.
  • Functionality: The difference is significant regarding functionality, both live and on-demand. Streamify’s live shopping player can be fully branded regarding logos, colours and fonts.

Conclusion

We’re convinced that live shopping should be hosted on your e-commerce site, not Instagram. However, don’t quit going live on Instagram. It’s a great way to reach your followers and engage with them. But if you also want sales, you should invest in the technology. This will ensure the buyer journey, customer experience and a seamless shopping experience, as well as 100% ownership of the content and data.