MikMak’s New Feature Allows Retailers To Monetize Their Stories

MikMak, the New York–based startup that is trying to make short infomercials (“minimercials”) the future of commerce, is launching a new feature to help retailers monetize their stories on Instagram and Snapchat.

According to TechCrunch, the new product is called Attach and serves as a middleman between a retailer’s daily story on a platform like Instagram and the actual product available for sale on the retailer’s website.

Users are typically prompted to “swipe up” to purchase an item after watching a retailer’s Instagram story or Snapchat ad. That swipe often takes you to the item’s product page — but some retailers are seeing bounce rates of around 90 percent after someone swipes up from their story to buy.

Rachel Tipograph, founder and CEO of MikMak, explained that this is because people watch stories on Instagram or Snapchat to be entertained — and when they swipe up to a boring product page, they are mentally removed from this mindset.

Attach is designed to smooth this transition by letting customers swipe up and land on an entertaining infomercial for the product. They can then hit a button to add the product to the retailer’s cart or just tap the screen to watch more minimercials for products made by the same retailer.

The product has been in beta, integrating with brands like GoPro, BirchBox, Dr. Brandt and more. And so far the results are positive, with Dr. Brandt already seeing a 500 percent increase in direct sales conversion from Instagram stories and half of customers who swipe up also tapping through and watching multiple minimercials. MikMak is also giving retailers the ability to control the customer experience, as checkout is still done on their own website.