AN INTERVIEW WITH:
Alison Jeske
Senior Director of Marketing Services
drugstore.com
Alison Jeske leads the team at online retailer drugstore.com that develops new site features designed to offer personalized shopping experiences across the company’s family of websites, which include Beauty.com, SkinStore.com and VisionDirect.com. She is responsible for creative direction, site production and product management. Jeske spoke with eMarketer Writer/Analyst Tobi Elkin about best practices for retailers using online video.
eMarketer: What are your goals for online video?
Alison Jeske: At drugstore.com and Beauty.com, we’re really seeking to give our shoppers access to a variety of editorial content about brands and products, and how to use those products. We’ve offered video since 2008 and the video library plays a key role in content development. We want to give our visitors a dynamic look at industry trends, expert recommendations and a lot of beauty news.
eMarketer: What types of video do you offer—how-tos, tips, product demos?
Jeske: All of them. Our brand videos teach shoppers how to use certain products and tools to get a specific look. We have video that offers behind-the-scenes access to photo shoots and Fashion Week coverage. And we have informational product videos.
We host videos that the brands produce. We also post our own video content that we record and edit. For example, we created unique Q&A sessions via Skype with beauty brand founders and industry experts that address current events and trends.
eMarketer: Do you use a third-party platform? What is your syndication strategy?
Jeske: We have worked with Liveclicker since the beginning. Our video distribution strategy has been focused on looking at where our customers go. The logical places are YouTube and our Facebook page. We have a YouTube channel and a video tab on our Facebook page. About once a week we do a post that highlights a video from our library.
We need permission to post some of the brand videos on YouTube. But everything we’ve produced is available. We’re finding more and more customers visiting Beauty.com through their mobile devices and iPads and watching video.
eMarketer: What metrics do you use to measure the effectiveness of online video in achieving your business objectives?
Jeske: Time spent on the site and conversion are benchmarks. We have seen improvements in both over time. Of course, that has made us invest more in this method of engaging our customers. We also have specific tracking data on which videos are the most popular and where the traffic for those videos comes from.
We can determine how engaging a particular video is by how long people are watching it in 10-, 30- and 60-second intervals. We then determine how often these particular videos are being shared. The viral aspect is as important to us as the conversion benefit.
eMarketer: Are there certain types of video that resonate with customers?
Jeske: Really popular are behind-the-scenes video, certain product demos and how to get the look that’s trendy for a particular season. They’re extremely viral. Videos like how to get the perfect cat eye or a smoky eye look are popular and get shared a lot.
eMarketer: What tools do retailers need to have in place in order to be successful?
Jeske: For us, partnering with a good platform provider like Liveclicker was important. Think about what you as a retailer can provide organically. What can you really bring that’s original and will benefit customers? For us, it was access to Fashion Week, incredible experts, industry leaders and designers.
The complete interview is available to eMarketer Total Access clients. To learn more, click here.
