History

Our name

The voice of the customer comes to the marketplace.

The word "bazaar" symbolizes the beginning of commerce — the initial marketplaces. Bazaars were lively centers of town, buzzing with neighbors, friends, and merchants all sharing opinions and building a vibrant community.

Bazaarvoice, literally translated, is the "voice" of the "marketplace." We believe customers still want to share experiences and opinions, and learn from people like them when they make buying decisions. If companies listen carefully, they'll change the way they do business — focusing on what's most important to their customers.

If you misspelled our name as Bizarrevoice, you can still find us (we own bizarrevoice.com), and there is meaning here, too. The voice of the customer may initially sound "bizarre" to companies that haven't previously had a way for customers to talk to them and each other. We help clients make sense of the "bizarre" voice of the customer and be more customer-centric, earning more loyal and satisfied customers.

It’s ironic that, while word of mouth drives the offline shopping experience, it’s been devoid on branded websites. Today, advertising and marketing is so ubiquitous that it becomes invisible. In the end, customers want to have conversations, hear about what people like them have experienced. To learn more about this, read The Cluetrain Manifesto, a bestseller back in 1999 (chapter four particularly inspired us).

We are providing solutions to enable customers to speak to one another and to their merchants. The name is bizarre enough to be easily remembered. It's bizarre enough to symbolize a new, "democratized" shopping environment — the shopping environment that the Internet has made possible and will be our future. And it's a bizarrely great idea to enable the voice of the marketplace and help customers build your business.