LIVEMERCIAL “BRAINS TO BANK†ONLINE DIRECT RESPONSE
Livemercial network attracted a peak of 95 million unique monthly visitors, and surpasses $1 billion in total sales since 2003.
VALPARAISO, Ind., March 30, 2009 – Livemercial, the world’s leader in online Direct Response marketing, announced that online sales grew 22 percent from 2007 to 2008. That represents the sixth consecutive year of double-digit growth in online sales for Livemercial. In addition, the end of 2008 brought two important milestones for Livemercial. First, Livemercial surpassed $1 billion in online sales for more than 3,000 distinct brands – ranging from exercise equipment to children’s arts and crafts. Second, more than 100 of those individual product offers have exceeded $1 million in online sales with Livemercial, including the Topsy Turvy tomato planter, the CriCut personal electronic cutter, and the Kodak EasyShare All-in-One printer.
“Since 2003, Livemercial has focused on providing the fastest route to bring an innovator’s concept to the market – or from their Brains to the Bank,†says Livemercial CEO Johnny Mathis, Jr. “We have developed an online Direct Response approach that delivers conversion three times higher than the industry average, supported by the largest direct-response network on the Web. In addition, we continue to operate on a pay-for-performance model, which means clients don’t pay until we make a sale.â€Â
Single-page Microsites
Livemercial began testing online Direct Response sites in 2003, with the introduction of an instant-on video player as an alternative to the then-standard downloadable video files. The streaming video player increased video views from as little as 10 percent to almost 100 percent. But, the conversion from traffic to sales remained relatively flat.
At the time, typical e-commerce sites presented several pages promoting the product features and benefits before a sales offer. As the Livemercial team began developing and testing e-commerce strategies they noticed a consistent traffic pattern: Each page between the customer and the purchase decision resulted in an incremental drop in sales conversions.
As such, Livemercial developed a single-page microsite containing the product benefits, video demonstration, and purchase opportunity. These Livemercial sites convert as high as 30 percent of traffic into sales, compared with roughly three times the rate of shopping-cart sites such as Amazon.com. (as reported by ClickZ.com – http://www.clickz.com/3628276)
Following the purchase decision, Livemercial’s adaptive technology provide a series of added-value opportunities for the customer, including accessories, complimentary items, or additional items at reduced cost. Through this process, Livemercial is able to deliver clients transaction totals on average three times the single-item price, for example delivering an average checkout price of $60.00 for a product priced at $19.95.
Livemercial Network
Livemercial led the Direct Response industry in using use online advertising and search-engine marketing to drive traffic to online storefronts. Today, Livemercial continues to attract new traffic through sophisticated affiliate and social-media marketing. Livemercial’s network traffic peaked at 96 million unique visitors in January of 2009 – more than eBay or Amazon.com.
“The foundation of any e-commerce program is traffic,†says Mathis. “The best site in the world won’t produce results if no one can find it. As such, Livemercial continues to develop and use the most effective tools placing our clients’ products in front of buyers.â€Â
Livemercial search-engine specialists optimize keywords, meta tags, and body copy of every product to improve organic-search results. That work is also applied to Livemercial’s pay-per-click sponsored search results and contextual ad programs. The paid online advertising is managed using the latest technologies, including a proprietary ad server, enabling Livemercial to optimize the quality and quantity of ad placements in real-time.Â
In addition, Livemercial markets client products across the largest affiliate program in the Direct Response industry. Leveraging AsSeenonTVNetwork.com as a network hub, Livemercial drives sales to client products through an estimated 10,000 affiliate websites.
That reach will continue to grow in 2009, following the introduction of Livemercial’s social-media marketing platform. The Social Response Pack (SRP) helps clients connect with online communities, engage online visitors, and increase conversion through branded channels on popular social media sites including YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Blogger. With social media traffic doubling in the past 12 months, these channels have become essential tools for raising awareness, driving traffic, and promoting sales across all marketing channels.
Performance-based ServicesÂ
Livemercial offers most of their online marketing and sales services on a pay-for-performance model, meaning clients will only be charged for completed transactions rather than upfront charges or subscription fees.
“We launched with a pay-for-performance model to entice clients to work with an unproven company and an unproven concept at no risk,†says Mathis. “Six years, and $1 billion in online sales later, we have proven our approach to online direct-response marketing. However, we continue to use the pay-for-performance structure because of the unique partnership it creates between Livemercial and our clients. Simply put, our success is directly linked to the success of our clients.â€
Today, the cost per acquisition (CPA) model is a core component of Livemercial’s business model. As part of the CPA model, reporting and metrics are delivered on a weekly basis, providing clients with real-time feedback of performance. In addition, the reporting features built into the CPA format allow clients to track and measure changes to their marketing mix, including viral campaigns, sales offers, and pay-per-click.
###
About Livemercial
Founded in 2003, Livemercial pioneered and is the largest provider of “instant on†streaming video for email, pop-ups, banners and direct response websites. The company leads the direct response industry in single product sales, utilizing cutting-edge technologies, social media and e-commerce solutions to design, deploy and manage strategic online marketing campaigns including email procurement, banner and pop-up placement, search engine optimization and contextual marketing.
