Shopify and YouTube announced a collaboration in July 2022, allowing eligible merchants to sell their products directly on YouTube. Shopify YouTube combines the strength of Shopify as the best e-commerce solution, with the popularity of YouTube as a video streaming platform so viewers can shop while they watch.
Connecting your Shopify or Shopify Plus store to YouTube is a powerful way to boost your sales and promote your brand. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, with 2.6 billion users. 42.9% of the online global population visits YouTube every month and 68% of YouTube users watch videos to help them make a purchase decision. Given these jaw-dropping stats, chances are that your customers are probably browsing YouTube, and you are missing a huge opportunity if you aren’t there with them selling your products.
Shopify YouTube Features
Conversion rates through YouTube shopping are 10x higher than conventional e-commerce. Shopify has built a number of features into Shopify YouTube to position merchants for success. These include:
1. Increased visibility: Shopify YouTube offers multiple options to feature your products on YouTube shopping, including in end-screens, directly underneath your content and other places across the platform. This increased visibility can help amplify sales and expand brand recognition.
2. Sync products to YouTube instantly: The catalogue on your Shopify store automatically syncs to YouTube, ensuring product names, images, pricing and inventory details are always up-to-date. This means if something is out of stock on your Shopify store it’s automatically updated on YouTube, and you won’t disappoint customers with an out of stock message.
3. Live Shopping: Integrating your Shopify or Shopify Plus store with YouTube opens up access to additional features like YouTube Live Shopping. According to YouTube data, channels that feature a weekly livestream increase their subscribers by up to 40%, with viewers spending 70% more time watching their live content.
4. Onsite Checkout: This is an exciting feature designed to create higher conversion rates by minimizing clicks and maximizing user experience. Onsite checkout lets you tag or pin products during a Shopify live stream for an interactive, watch-to-shop experience. The audience can check out while your stream continues picture-in-picture, without having to click through to your Shopify store. Onsite checkout is currently only available for creators and viewers in the USA, with plans to extend the feature to additional countries.
5. Manage your sales in Shopify - When you integrate Shopify and YouTube, YouTube sales and performance will display in your Shopify admin alongside all of your other store data. This gives you one-stop tracking to easily review and compare analytics, customer behaviour and trends from all of your sales points in one accessible, organized place.
Shopify YouTube Eligibility
To connect your Shopify or Shopify Plus store for YouTube shopping, you must have a YouTube channel that meets the following criteria: A monetized channel with at least 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours Reside in a country where theYouTube Partner Program is available Content can not be marked “Made for Kids”
What is a live shopping video?
A live shopping video is an online livestream where merchants can sell their products to viewers in real-time. Also known as live commerce, creators combine entertaining content with product integration, and viewers can connect, interact and chat with the creator directly. This has enormous potential to help increase conversion and build brand trust.
Live shopping is incredibly popular in China where it has transformed retail. In 2020, 66% of consumers reported that they had purchased goods via live shopping in the last year. Live shopping sales in China are expected to hit $423 billion by the end of 2022. Live shopping is not yet as popular in Europe and North America, but it is gaining steam. It’s estimated that by 2026 live shopping could account for 20% of all e-commerce sales globally.
YouTube Live Shopping
YouTube’s live stream feature is called YouTube Live. Shopify live shopping merchants can stream on YouTube using webcam, mobile or encoder streaming. There is a chat function that creators can enable or disable during their livestream, as well as live chat moderation tools to prevent harassment and create a safe space for creators and viewers. These tools include the ability to assign moderators, create a blocked words list, flag inappropriate chats for review, and activate slow mode.
Live streaming on YouTube is free. To sell with Shopify, you will need a Shopify store and a YouTube channel that meets the requirements listed above in the “Eligibility” section.
Viewers can browse YouTube Live to find live streams they are interested in viewing. Popular content categories include beauty, fashion, gaming, music and learning. You can subscribe to livestream channels to be notified of upcoming live broadcasts, events and premieres.
Best practices for creating YouTube live shopping content
It is important to learn how to use YouTube live stream shopping to maximize viewer engagement. The best Shopify livestreams connect with their audience and feature interactive elements like quizzes and giveaways. Quality matters! Pay attention to your set, lighting, camera and script. A high production value will reflect positively on your brand, products, and you as a merchant.
Follow these additional tips to create YouTube live shopping streams that build your audience and positively promote your products:
1. Be Personable and Approachable: Building a relationship with your viewers is one of the most important things you can do to grow your channel and create repeat customers. Focus on storytelling rather than hard selling your products. Create content that is inspiring, entertaining, educational and interesting, that you would want to watch. Think about how you can incorporate your products, almost as if they are a recurring character in your story. From here, sales will follow naturally.
2. Call to Action: Perfect your call to action (CTA). During your Shopify livestream, let viewers know where to find your products and how to purchase them. CTA’s should be thoughtful, well-crafted and seamlessly integrated into your storytelling.
3. Stream Length: Wondering how long your YouTube livestream should be? The ideal stream is 20 to 40 minutes. If it’s too short, it will not feel substantial. Too long and it will feel overwhelming to viewers and you will lose engagement. A livestream on YouTube can be a maximum length of 12 hours.
4. Expect viewers to join 5 to 10 minutes into the stream, so use this time for introductions and light-talk, and start presenting your core content at the 7 to 10 minute mark. Be sure to promote your livestream prior to the event. YouTube will automatically archive the stream post-broadcast.
5. New Product Drops: Research conducted by YouTube shopping indicates viewers are most excited to shop when there is a new product. Time-bound product releases, and limited runs are also popular because they create FOMO. Special offers and sales also engage viewers to buy.
6. Popular Formats: Some of the most popular YouTube livestream shopping formats are tutorials, demonstrations, and interviews with influencers. Behind-the-scenes livestreams are also popular because they are a great way to humanize a brand or product while making viewers feel like they are getting priority access to you.
How to connect your Shopify store to YouTube shopping - a step by step guide
Follow this guide to connect your Shopify or Shopify Plus store to YouTube. If you need help setting up your Shopify Plus store or integrating it with YouTube, reach out to DigiFist, a Shopify Plus agency.
To connect Shopify to YouTube:
- Sign into YouTube Studio and on the left menu select “Monetization”
- Click the “Shopping” tab. This channel will only be visible if your channel is eligible
- Select “Connect store”
- Click “Shopify”, then select “Continue”
- Click “Go to Shopify”. Shopify will open in a new tab. Make sure you are logged in to Shopify.
- Select “Add App” to add the Google channel. At the top right click “Add sales channel”
- Select “Connect Google account” and sign into the same Google account that manages your YouTube channel. Complete all store requirements on the next page.
- Connect your Shopify merchant account, or create a new one if you don’t have one. You will then be asked to enter your phone information and verify your identity via text message. This two-factor authentication is to ensure security. Agree to the Terms of Service, and select “Complete setup”.
From here, you can sync your products with YouTube. Under the next section, click ‘Get started’. Confirm your channel meets the Shopify YouTube eligibility requirements and click “Continue”. Select your YouTube channel from the drop down menu, agree to the Terms of Service, and click “Complete set up”. Congratulations, you are ready to sell on YouTube!
You can also change the retailer connected with your YouTube channel, connect multiple stores to your channel, and disconnect your Shopify or Shopify Plus store from YouTube.
Shopify YouTube integration is an exciting, new way for Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants to sell products and promote their brand. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, and live shopping is rapidly growing in popularity. Harness the power of Shopify YouTube. Upload your Shopify store to YouTube and let viewers shop while they watch. Contact Digifist, a Shopify Plus agency, we’d be happy to help you.