7 ways to make your e-commerce business stand out with remote events

In a world where technology constantly evolves, businesses must keep up with the latest trends. One way to do this is by using remote or hybrid events. This allows retailers to connect with their customers interactively and reach new audiences that cannot visit the physical store. 

We asked Ana Tavares, remote/hybrid event expert and beamian's Marketing and Communications Manager, how remote and hybrid events could make e-commerce businesses rise above competitors. Keep reading to get her tips for hybrid and remote events. 

1. What type of hybrid/remote events can an e-commerce business benefit from?

This is an easy one - any event where contact sharing, networking or lead collection is a key indicator of its success. Typically we see this happening at trade shows and B2B events, but choosing the right tool for lead retrieval and lead capture can also succeed in wine and food events. Regardless of the event type, if exhibiting companies' goal is to feed their sales pipelines and generate more revenue streams as they interact with attendees, integration with online shopping will always be worthwhile.

2. What are the most important factors to consider when organizing an event remotely for e-commerce?

I would say exactly the same factors, often related to production services, that one should consider when hosting any remote event - speaker management (virtual and on-site), session and script alignment, incorporation of branding elements, live streaming service, and transmission to external platforms. Plus, the user flow (how users interact with your product pages) for the e-commerce experience and at what level it will be connected to the event platform.

3. How can I get more e-commerce sales from a hybrid/remote event?

It will always depend on the path you have set for your customer to navigate from the event platform to your website to achieve a goal. It is critical how you encourage or streamline the completion of that task. 

Events are sales drivers because you'll have more people speaking and creating awareness around a specific topic, company or item. And the airtime, that short period when people's interest is at its peak, will be seized in real time to leverage more purchase actions if there's an integration in place between your event platform and your e-commerce site.

You can have a complete integration scenario, where you promote a short sales cycle and do your best with quick closes as the potential customer makes their decision quickly. Or you can have a long sales cycle with less demanding integration levels, where your primary concern should be providing sales reps with robust data for their follow-up actions. It will always depend on the purpose of each event because each event is unique.

4. What tools should I use to organise e-commerce business hybrid/remote events?

The technology supporting an in-person or a virtual event is slightly different, particularly regarding on-site requirements. For example, performing access and capacity control tasks at a venue will require additional equipment that a 100% online event does not. Just as an event with a strong digital component will require engaging and more refined networking tools at the risk of losing human connection.

The funny thing is that most of them can merge to deliver an omni-channel experience in case there are distributed audiences - from product pages, virtual stands and exhibition halls, chat and video meeting rooms to lead capture or contact sharing tools.

Apart from this, you should also consider the visual elements to enhance the overall experience. For example, consider boosting your business card with Wepik's designs or consider creating a unique logo for your event. This will help give a professional and unique look to your e-commerce business.

5. What are the top benefits of hybrid/remote events in e-commerce?

By hosting hybrid events, you'll attract a wider audience remotely - whether it's due to different time zones or geographical or occupation limitations, one has the option to attend the event virtually. This is flexibility, diversity and profitability taking place. 

While events offer many unique networking opportunities, most companies are just scratching the surface regarding generating real profits. But this duality of "event platform-online stores" is good news to all those companies investing time and effort into exhibiting at events. 

So, with digital giving rise to hybridization and phygital events, eCommerce business models will also benefit from the growing integration opportunities. More value, more people. More people, more interactions. More interactions, more impact. More impact, more money. 

6. How to promote a hybrid/remote event in e-commerce?

There are some clever ways to promote a hybrid event, some more widespread and proven than others, but all aim to reach a broader audience and attract more potential customers.

We can speak of multi-step, segmented email campaigns, branded hashtags, social and paid media campaigns, high-converting landing pages and flawless event schedules. But, of course, suppose you're going to accommodate the buying and selling of goods and services. In that case, your event marketplace and product showcase will be the centrepieces. Some exciting features may be the product level identification and the partner's distinction. 

But the key to crushing your hybrid event marketing is to know how to connect with your in-person and virtual attendees before and during your event and afterwards. 

Serving different audiences within the context of an e-commerce-based event requires creating a multi-functional infrastructure with proper monitoring to drive more ticket sales or post-event revenue streams. It also demands delivering channel-targeted content, depending on where and how the product will be consumed. Successful people do so by constantly seeking to adapt and publicize their value in a way consistent with the channel. 

7. Other best practice tips for hybrid/remote events in e-commerce?

The evolution of e-commerce towards events allowed brands to adopt innovative solutions to optimize their consumers' shopping experiences. The main goal of this hybrid purchase process is, in addition to the product demonstration, to increase accessibility to sales channels at in-person events through innovative technologies and diversified e-commerce solutions.

For event organizers, investing in digital transformation allows access to the history of information about an event, anticipates trends, simplifies processes and streamlines decision-making through an extensive analytical framework.

But it is important to emphasize that the role of digital transformation in events does not mean interactions will only happen online. Instead, there is a simple proposition: both digital and physical realities must complement each other and walk hand in hand.

What next?

If you wish to read more about how to better engage with your customers online, read our blog on Proven customer engagement strategies for e-commerce.