Digital Retail Innovations Q&A – Photospire
Following the launch of the Digital Retail Innovations 2016 Report (sponsored by Webloyalty) a series of Q&As with the leading figures behind some of the key entries in the report are being published.
Here is a Q&A with Ger O’Meara, founder, Photospire, that is placed at number 35 in the report.
1. How did the original idea come about?
We all receive a barrage of marketing messages every day that are of little interest and usually get ignored. Yet never before has so much data on peoples’ likes and interests been available. My co-founder, and brother, Dave and I recognised that there was a major opportunity to use this data to create content that is useful and inspiring to customers. Hence, we built Photospire, a platform that allows retailers to create unique, data-driven, personalised video that their customers love.
2. What has been the level of take-up of the service and what are the key ways retailers are using it?
Brands have quickly realised how valuable our solution is in terms of increased engagement, click through rates and ultimately sales. We are working with a large number of food, furniture and fashion high street retailers who are using our technology for all stages of the customer journey. We are also seeing a growing number of travel companies coming on board as the visual aspect of video really works for them. Because the process is simple and re-uses existing creative assets, thousands of personalised videos can be created quickly. Retailers like this as they can respond to current market trends and seasonal opportunities while generating a major return on investment.
3. What about competition in this area?
Personalised video is in demand and there are a handful of companies and agencies offering a variety of solutions in this space. However, Photospire is vastly differentiated as it allows a retailers marketing team to have full control of the process through our self-service platform. By using existing creative assets and merging these with CRM and real-time data, campaigns can be created quickly and cost-effectively while producing video content that is far more dynamic and targeted for each customer.
4. How has the solution been developed / advanced over time?
Photospire has been backed from a very early stage by TrueStart, Europe’s only retail and consumer accelerator and investment fund. TrueStart’s support enables us to validate new features with feedback from industry experts, mentors and trials with retail partners. This has allowed Photospire to develop leading-edge technology and quickly determine the optimum product-market fit for our technology as it’s evolved.
5. Have there been any surprises along the way?
The level of engagement with personalised video surprised even us. Once the content was truly targeted and the story engaging and useful, our retail clients started seeing up to 600% increase in click through rates and major uplifts in conversions.
6. What can we expect from Photospire in the future?
Photospire is constantly delivering new functionality that will fully automate the generation of dynamic, data driven video. We’ve already started to move into new verticals such as travel and expand into new regions including Asia. Expect a lot more innovative technology that creates videos customers love in future.
7. Do you have any recommendations for entries in the next Digital Retail Innovations report?
Quikkly – another company that is part of TrueStart’s portfolio.
Webloyalty is a leading reward programme provider working with major online retailers to help them build stronger, more profitable relationships with their customers. Through our membership programmes we help our online retail partners’ customers save hundreds of pounds a year while providing the partner with an additional revenue stream. As well as incentivising customers to make repeat purchases at the partner’s site, members can also earn cashback and get great deals on everything from fashion to electronics to travel, at hundreds of top online stores.