Bambuser vs Emplifi: Video Consultations Compared

This comparison is written by Bambuser. Emplifi and Bambuser are very different companies, but they often meet in the same evaluations because of one product: video consultations, where a store advisor helps a shopper over video. Everything said here about Emplifi comes from its public website, product documentation, security pages and data processing agreement.

QUICK ANSWER: Emplifi is a broad platform for social media marketing, customer care and commerce. Bambuser is a video commerce company. Where the two overlap is video consultations, so that is what this page compares. Bambuser Video Consultation gives you drop-in queues and booking that is built in and branded as your own, or connected to your own booking system and CRM. Advisors lead the shopper through your site and add products to their cart during the call, and you get AI call insights and transcripts afterwards. It works on your website and, through native SDKs, inside your own mobile apps, and it can be extended with custom plugins such as AR. Because checkout runs on your own e-commerce checkout, Bambuser can also attribute sales to each advisor through your tracking setup. Emplifi is a broad platform with many products outside video that Bambuser doesn't offer.

Table of Contents

1. What This Page Compares
2. Bambuser vs Emplifi at a Glance
3. Getting Shoppers to an Advisor
4. During and After the Call
5. Fitting Video Consultation Into Your Setup
6. Pricing, Security and Data
7. Customer Reviews
8. Different Platforms, One Shared Product
9. Frequently Asked Questions

What This Page Compares

Emplifi sells eleven modules across social media marketing, customer care and commerce, including social publishing, listening, ratings and reviews, and live video shopping. Its video selling came from buying Go Instore in 2021, one of the early companies in advisor-led video. That advisor-led video is the part of Emplifi most often compared with Bambuser, and it is the product the two companies have most clearly in common.

So this page focuses on one comparison: Bambuser Video Consultation against Emplifi's video consultations. It also covers the questions every buyer asks, such as price, security and where data is stored.

Bambuser vs Emplifi at a Glance

The table below covers the questions Bambuser hears most from teams comparing the two for video consultations. The last column is Bambuser's take. Bambuser is obviously not neutral, but the verdicts try to be fair, including where Emplifi comes out ahead.

Getting Shoppers to an Advisor

With Bambuser, shoppers can join a drop-in queue and talk to the next available advisor, or book a time. Booking is built into Video Consultation and branded as your own, so shoppers never leave your experience to schedule a call. If you already have a booking system or a CRM, you can connect that instead, so appointments and customer data stay where your team already works.

Matching shoppers with the right advisor is where Emplifi puts a lot of focus. It supports scheduled and on-demand calls and routes each shopper to an associate based on product knowledge, availability, category, department, language or location, which reflects Go Instore's long history in this area.

Bambuser's built-in queue routing covers what most retailers need, and most Bambuser customers run on it. Retailers with specialised routing rules can connect an external routing system through Bambuser's APIs, so the routing logic lives wherever they want it while the call itself still runs in Bambuser. Several Bambuser customers have set up integrations like this.

During and After the Call

In a Bambuser call, the advisor leads the shopper through your site. They can show products, share their own screen when it helps, answer questions and add items straight to the shopper's cart, so the shopper is ready to check out when the call ends. Interactive and tracking tools are built in, so the advisor stays in control of the journey. Emplifi's product page says its advisors can see what the shopper is browsing, screen share, push products into a carousel and add items to the basket. How these features work in practice matters more than the list, so ask to see them on your own site in a live demo.

The bigger difference is what happens after the call. Bambuser gives you AI call insights and a full transcript for every call, so you can see what shoppers ask about, which products come up and where advisors need support. Emplifi doesn't document anything similar.

Sales attribution matters too, especially if store staff are paid on what they sell online. In a Bambuser call, the advisor adds products to the shopper's cart in your own e-commerce checkout, so the purchase goes through the same checkout as any other order. With a tracking integration, Bambuser offers several ways to attribute those sales to the advisor who helped. Emplifi says it attributes sales to in-store staff within 30 days, but its product page doesn't describe how the checkout works. If advisor attribution is important to you, ask any vendor to show how it works with your own checkout before you commit.

Fitting Video Consultation Into Your Setup

Every retailer sells a little differently, so Bambuser built Video Consultation to be adapted. Besides connecting your own booking system and CRM, you can extend the call itself with custom plugins. Some Bambuser customers have added AR features inside the call, so shoppers can see a product in their own space while talking to an advisor. Emplifi doesn't document ways to extend the call experience.

Advisors can answer calls in Bambuser's native mobile app or in the browser-based agent tool, so each store decides whether staff work from a phone on the shop floor or from a computer. Emplifi also offers a Live Advisor mobile app for associates. On the shopper side, Bambuser's native SDKs let you put Video Consultation inside your own iOS and Android shopping apps, not just your website. Emplifi documents APIs and integrations, but no native SDK.

Clienteling also happens between calls. With Bambuser Chat, store staff and shoppers can keep a conversation going over hours or days, the way a sales associate would with a regular customer. Emplifi's customer care tools are built for service teams answering on social channels rather than store staff building relationships with their customers.

Pricing, Security and Data

Bambuser publishes its plans and prices on its pricing page, with Enterprise on request. Emplifi publishes prices only for Social Marketing, from $1,249 per month. Social Commerce, which includes its video products, is quote only. If you also need Emplifi's social marketing and care tools, its suite may be good value. If video consultations are what you are buying, compare what each platform gives you for the price, and make sure you are not paying for a larger suite you won't use.

On certifications, Emplifi is ahead. It holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022, certified by A-LIGN, with Live Commerce in scope, and a SOC 2 Type 2 report available under NDA. Bambuser holds ISO 27001 for its Stockholm site and runs independent penetration tests at least once a year, but doesn't have a SOC 2 report of its own. Data residency is level. With Bambuser, you choose whether customer data is stored in the EU or the US. Emplifi's data processing agreement lists processing in seven countries, including the EU, and it documents an EU data centre for other modules. Its video consultations come from Go Instore, which started in London with European customers, so EU hosting is likely available. Whichever vendor you choose, confirm in your contract which region your video data is stored in.

Customer Reviews

Both companies are reviewed on G2. Bambuser has 4.6 out of 5 from 30 reviews. Emplifi has 4.4 out of 5 from 382 reviews, but those cover its whole platform, and most are about social media marketing rather than video.

Different Platforms, One Shared Product

Bambuser and Emplifi are very different companies with one product in common. Emplifi is good at many things Bambuser doesn't do, such as social media publishing and listening, customer care, and ratings and reviews. Those matter, but they are not what most teams are comparing when both names are on the list. In video consultations, the product they share, Bambuser is the stronger choice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Emplifi a video commerce platform or a social media suite?

Mostly a suite. Emplifi describes itself as a platform for social media marketing, commerce and customer care, with eleven modules. Its video selling came from buying Go Instore in 2021. If video consultations are your main need, you are buying one part of a larger platform. If you also want social marketing and care from the same vendor, that breadth is the point.

Which is better for video consultations and clienteling?

Bambuser. Video Consultation offers drop-in queues, booking built in and branded as your own or connected to your own booking system and CRM, advisors leading the shopper through your site, add to cart during the call, a native app for advisors, native SDKs for your own shopping apps, AI call insights and transcripts, and custom plugins such as AR. Bambuser Chat lets staff keep in touch with shoppers between calls. Sales go through your own e-commerce checkout, and a tracking integration lets you attribute them to each advisor. For specialised routing, Bambuser connects to an external routing system through its APIs, while Emplifi builds detailed routing rules into its own product.

Can I use my own booking system and CRM with Bambuser?

Yes. Bambuser Video Consultation has booking built in and branded as your own for teams that want to get started quickly. If you already use a booking system or CRM, you can connect it instead.

Which platform is cheaper, Bambuser or Emplifi?

You can't tell from Emplifi's website. Bambuser publishes its plans and prices. Emplifi publishes prices for Social Marketing only, from $1,249 per month, and quotes Social Commerce, which includes its video products. Compare what each platform gives you for the price, especially if you only need video consultations.

Can I keep customer data in the EU?

Yes, with both. With Bambuser, you choose whether data is stored in the EU or the US. Emplifi's data processing agreement lists processing in seven countries, including the EU, and it documents an EU data centre for other modules. With either vendor, confirm in your contract which region your video data is stored in.

Which platform has stronger security certifications?

Emplifi. It holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022, certified by A-LIGN, and a SOC 2 Type 2 report available under NDA. Bambuser holds ISO 27001 for its Stockholm site and runs independent penetration tests at least once a year, but has no SOC 2 report of its own.