Practical Ecommerce recently did a short Q&A with Justin Foster, an eCommerce video proponent and the founder of The Video Commerce Consortium.  Justin gave his overall thoughts on video and also touched on how retailers can, and should capitalize on known human behaviors to help drive eCommerce video results.

Apart from using video to explain a product’s features and benefits, video should contain a number of triggers to encourage consumer action.   Whether it be a “Buy Now” button located in the player or a verbal cue from the presenter, the more triggers, the increased likelihood of conversion.  Other aspects of eCommerce video, such as duration and overall style, are still debatable but one thing is for sure:  Retailers must focus on differentiating themselves while presenting a clear and compelling message to make eCommerce video effective.

Invodo understands the ins and outs of eCommerce video and acts as a complete solution offering video production, distribution, and management.  Video is the future of eCommerce and Invodo continues to shape the landscape to enable both retailers and manufacturers to sell, sell, sell!

We’d like to send our warmest congratulations to the winners of the 2009 Streaming Video Reader’s Choice Awards. EffinFunny took home the coveted award for ‘Best Online Video Startup Company – Content.’ ‘Legend of Neil‘ is outrageously funny and well executed, so kudos to EffinFunny!

In this awards ceremony well-known leaders (maybe you’ve heard of Microsoft and Adobe) competed with up-and-comers. That highlights that online video is a very young industry with a bright future and many surprises ahead. That environment draws adventurous companies like Invodo and so many others.  Not knowing what will happen next is a big part of both the excitement and the opportunity.

We take our turn on the red carpet as a finalist as validation that we’re onto something. Bright companies and fantastic work were everywhere, but our eCommerce-focused library of  product videos remains as unique as our ability to solve online retailers’ problems with the complete package of content, platform and syndication network. Thanks to the Invodo team for bringing us to this milestone, and to Streaming Media readers for supporting us.

Full coverage of the awards here. You won’t get a better snapshot of who’s who in the space anywhere, so check it out. (And Kyle, enjoy the netbook!)

Here at Invodo we’ve known for a long time that we’re on to something.  We’re the only company that combines a huge product video library, with a video platform, and an extensive syndication network of online retailers.  And it sure feels good when people outside our four walls recognize it as well.

That’s what happened early this month when Invodo was named one of three finalists for a 2009 Streaming Media Reader’s Choice Awards in the category of Best Online Video Startup Company – Content.    Our nomination is a testament to the incredible team we’re building at Invodo.  Way to go team!

The winner will be announced on November 18^th.  Stay tuned.

Forrester’s recent analysis of six video platforms is an interesting read. On the one hand it seems comprehensive, with 37 criteria applied rigorously. On the other hand, covering only six platforms leaves most of the market uncovered. A bit of an in-depth sampler, as it were. The always-insightful Will Richmond at VideoNuze calls out this contradiction, observing that the report is useful for a “first-cut evaluation of a limited segment of the market”.

Before evaluating platforms, though, I’d ask a simple question: what do we plan to accomplish with it? As a marketer, I plan to use it to sell more products. Very specifically, as an eCommerce marketer, I plan to use it to drive conversions. When evaluating any platform through that purpose-driven lens, two truths emerge.

First, all platforms have a lot in common. The basic use case, in eCommerce at least, is simple: users want to be able to view a video of the product at the point of purchase. Speeds, feeds, and types of encoding don’t matter to the end user, although the quality of the experience matters greatly. Other features and functions should be viewed with healthy skepticism. Always ask this simple question: how does this feature help the consumer’s decision process?

Second, the platform alone doesn’t solve the problem. As a businessperson, which is more important to you: your CRM platform or your customer data? Without that customer data you don’t have a business, just a CRM platform. And without the right video content, a video platform gets you about as far as a car with an empty gas tank.

Every phase of Internet evolution starts with a proliferation of platforms and ends with the realization that content is king. Should we expect it to play out differently in the eCommerce video space?

In the 15 years I’ve been watching the web evolve, I think that the last five are the most crucial in how eCommerce evolves. We’re moving from an era when putting up a website with a shopping cart was “good enough” to one where consumers have become very empowered (and very frugal, given the financial condition of the economy for the last several years). Today, consumers shop on price, and they like to make informed decisions before they jump into a purchasing relationship – regardless how small the item may be. We’ve all watched as user-generated content (UGC) has helped to empower the consumer, from the largest retailers to manufacturers and hoteliers and travel destinations alike.

I came to Invodo in October because I believe that the world of online video as a decision-making tool is literally just beginning, and the sky is the limit. Consumers want to know the “ins and outs” of a product before they buy; but they want to be informed in a casual, relaxed way. Think about it – when a friend tells you why he loves his new Motorola Droid, he does it in a calm, evangelical way. He doesn’t do it like a salesman trying to close you on a new car. We believe that the same is true when informing consumers. Invodo seeks to deliver unique content, in an efficient way, that helps consumers to make informed buying decisions and result in satisfied customers instead of returns due to the product not working the way the consumer might have thought it could or should.

Too many vendors today assume that organizations have:

• Video content lying around, waiting to be published to the Internet
• Experience in content editing
• Experience in hosting video content
• Familiarity with optimizing the SEO of their content to ensure maximum value

While different organizations may vary, at Invodo we’re pretty sure that if the above was the case, everyone would already have video content on their eCommerce site, instead of having plans for implementing it in 2010, as huge numbers of organizations do.

Our goal is to provide a great, rapidly evolving platform with world-class ease of implementation and incredibly compelling – yet “pain-free” content generation. We believe that we’re pretty unique in the industry in doing that, and we look forward to showing more and more customers how and why we’re different. It’s truly an exciting time to be working in the eCommerce video market.