You’ve seen the case studies – user-generated content has a positive impact on conversion and other e-commerce metrics, and when we talk to e-commerce managers every day, they get it.
But the complete value of user-generated content – your customers’ direct input – lies beyond just e-commerce results. We’ve seen UGC have an impact everywhere from the customer service desk to the CEO’s office. In this series of blogs, we’ll explore how Bazaarvoice clients have seen real value across their organizations. You can read more on the “cross-functional impact” area of our site.
Directors of Marketing think daily about their brand’s positioning and messaging, how to best reach target audiences, and how to best promote – and measure – products and services. Collecting customer input on your site gives marketing directors insights into what is most important to them, and we’ve seen user-generated content improve advertising content and results throughout the channel – email, catalogs, online advertising, and more.
Providing authentic content for all marketing and advertising channels
Customer input creates great ad copy. QVC featured top-rated products on their broadcast, and business-to-business marketer Treatment Abroad, which matches surgeons around the world to UK prospects, created a compelling marketing piece. Samsung featured customer reviews in their pre-Super Bowl email campaign.
And UGC drives online advertising, as well. When they tested review content in their Google ads, Office Depot saw a 196% increase in their paid search revenue. Intuit prominently featured customer reviews in the largest online promotion of customer reviews – ever. And there are multiple case studies showing how reviews improve email results.
Improving partner and media campaigns
BrandVoice allows manufacturers to syndicate their customer reviews to retailer sites, increasing results for both parties. By syndicating reviews to OfficeDepot.com, Kingston doubled conversion, and review volumes exponentially increase for branded products on retailer sites.
Bazaarvoice’s new sponsored Stories campaigns enables brands to engage with consumers on targeted media sites, sharing content across the media site and the brand’s site – and retailers can get involved, too.
Impacting offline purchase decisions
Not all purchases are made place online, so Bazaarvoice products extend beyond the web. Recent analysis with Cars.com showed that product reviews help Cars.com drive “intent to buy“. Our newest solution, MobileVoice, lets customers read online reviews on their mobile phones, allowing them to get customer reviews from anywhere – in the store, in the mall, or even in transit.
There are dozens of ways user-generated content impacts marketing – and the rest of your business. Customer oxygen can impact your entire organization – and we can prove it.
[...] broad multichannel marketing implications of user-generated content, from print, to TV, to online. I’ll never forget the first time [...]
[...] Triumph – bad reviews are not the problem, they’re a symptom. There’s always an opportunity to solve the issue and delight an unhappy [...]
[...] also experience engaging seminars on customer-centricity, measuring ROI, breathing “Customer Oxygen,” and the Bazaarvoice product roadmap. View the full agenda [...]
[...] UGC impact every aspect of a company, from the customer service desk to the CEO’s office. In this series of blogs, we’ll explore how Bazaarvoice clients have seen real value across their organizations. You can [...]
[...] On the Bazaarvoice front, I believe our solution encourages humility through negative reviews. You have nothing to be afraid of but having the data and the will to do something with it. I have seen countless cases of initial shock to the negative, followed by the a-ha moment where the merchandiser realizes the reason they have such a high return rate with that product. We are, after all, a digital reflection of offline word of mouth. These are the conversations that people are having every day, like it or not (and you should like it – word of mouth drives your sales). So have the humility to listen and do something about it. Then have the wisdom to leverage it. [...]
It is good to see the results of UGC. I’ll be watching to see how other forms beyond reviews help shape and drive purchasing. Particularly, what will happen when Facebook starts syndication?