Bazaarvoice and CMO Club Survey: CMOs Look For Higher Social Media Measurability in 2010

Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today previewed the results of a new survey conducted with The CMO Club that illuminates the biggest challenges, plans, and expectations for social marketing around the globe in 2010. The majority of respondents – 81% – expect to link annual revenues to their social media investment in 2010, up from just 44% in 2009. The full study will be unveiled alongside social media best practices during Bazaarvoice’s December 17th webinar featuring CMOs from Bearcom, WeddingWire, and e.l.f. Cosmetics, as well as Bazaarvoice CMO Sam Decker. To reserve your spot for the webinar, please click here.

CMO Perspectives and Predictions for 2010

The social media measurability survey, completed by members of The CMO Club with both domestic and global P&L responsibility, finds that social media measurement will become universal in 2010 as CMOs continue to invest more in social media and focus their social initiatives on driving revenue. In parallel, social marketing metrics that focus solely on web goals (traffic, page views, fans) will begin to be supplanted by metrics like conversion, revenue, and average order value that track to the bottom line. In this context, the study provides essential insights and benchmarks for prioritizing the quality of social interactions and gauging social media’s direct impact on business metrics.

Key findings include:

• The exact impact of social tools on business goals remains elusive: 53% of respondents are unsure about their return on Twitter; 50% are unsure about the direct value of LinkedIn; and 50% are not sure how to measure the impact of industry blogs on business metrics. Customer ratings and reviews is the best understood marketing activity from an ROI perspective.

• As social spending grows, so do revenue expectations: More than 64% of CMOs reported that they plan to increase their social media budgets within the next year. The number of CMOs who don’t hold social media accountable for sales will continue to dwindle, as nearly three-fourths of respondents (72%) who did not attach revenue to social spend in 2009 reported they would create such a link in 2010. CMOs who are already seeing a strong link between social media and revenue in 2009 expect this impact to be even more profound in 2010, with the majority of respondents (81%) expecting to attribute up to 10% of their 2010 revenues to their social media investments.

• Social initiatives must now track to the bottom line: In 2009, the top metrics tracked for social media initiatives included site traffic (90%), number of page views (85%), and number of fans (83%). In 2010, CMOs expect top metrics to track more closely to P&L business goals – not just web-related goals. The fastest-growing metrics for 2010 include revenue, conversion, and average order value, which grew 333%, 174%, and 150% respectively.

• CMOs tap more consumer-generated content to shape products or services: Today, 80% of CMOs use customer insights to shape decision-making at the executive level and 90% of those surveyed use customer stories and product suggestions to shape a brand’s product or services. By the end of 2010, almost all CMOs say they plan to incorporate a broader range of content sources including customer reviews (59% increase), pre-sales Q&A (24% increase) and Twitter (407% increase) to influence product decisions.

“While 2009 may have been a trial run for many brands and social media, in 2010, CMOs expect social initiatives to directly impact their bottom lines, without exception,” said Decker, who also recently authored Get Them Talking: How Growing Participation Chains Will Grow Sales. “While not all brands know how to measure direct results, they strive to focus on business-generating impacts, rather than sheer volume of social interactions. More and more, brands will focus their social initiatives to drive commerce, blending social and e-commerce to build social commerce. We are very pleased to be working with more than 650 leading companies to demonstrate how social commerce ties directly to their bottom line.”

About the Survey

The survey was conducted with 133 CMOs in September 2009. Leading participating industries include software/hardware (17%), finance/insurance (9%), travel/hospitality (9%), media/publishing (9%), consumer goods (8%), and retail (7.5%), among others. Annual revenues ranged from $6 to $50 million (25%), $51 to $999 million (42%), and over $1 billion (23%).

About CMO Club

The CMO Club (TheCMOclub.com) was created for the unique purpose of bringing chief marketing officers together in an environment of openness and contribution that enables them to become better at what they do. Tailored exclusively to top marketing executives, this club hosts dinners and events, shares reports and research from leaders in the marketing industry, and leverages the first online network for "CMOs only" for sharing ideas, helping each other, and serving as a resource for CMO career opportunities. The CMO Club was founded in 2006 by seasoned marketing executive Pete Krainik and currently has more than 800 members.