Author Archive

Case Studies, Marketing Strategy, Ratings & Reviews, Word of Mouth

Forrester recognizes USAA as social media innovator

March 12th, 2010 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

Today Forrester released a compelling case study about USAA, “USAA Uses Social Media To Drive Sales, Product, And Service Strategies,” noting that they are a pioneer of social commerce in the financial services industry.

Forrester worked directly with Tom Vaughn, Director of Social Media at USAA , who spoke at length about their relationship with Bazaarvoice and impact of customer reviews on all areas of the business.

USAA created a social media strategy focused on four pillars: listening, engaging, strengthening relationships, and innovation. A year after offering Bazaarvoice ratings and reviews to its members on USAA.com, thousands of members have provided reviews, and USAA has used those reviews to drive product improvements, improve Web site conversion, and increase interactive marketing effectiveness.

Here’s the executive summary:

Financial services firm USAA created its first formal social media strategy in October 2008. In 2009, it further refined and represented the strategy as four pillars of focus: listening, engaging, strengthening relationships, and innovation. As a tactic of listening and engaging, USAA engaged Bazaarvoice to offer ratings and reviews to its members on USAA.com. Nearly a year later, the results are astounding. Thousands of members have provided reviews, and USAA has used those reviews to drive product improvements, improve Web site conversion, and increase interactive marketing effectiveness.

Situation: USAA Pondered The Role Of Social Media To Its Business
Best Practice: USAA Brings Social Media Tactics To eBusiness
Ratings And Reviews Provide The “Authentic Voice” Of USAA Members
USAA Has Achieved Tangible Results From The Use Of Social Media On Its Web Site

You can find the full Forrester case study online. And keep an eye on this blog for an interview with Tom Vaughn in the coming weeks.

New at Bazaarvoice, User-Generated Content

10 reasons why 100 billion impressions matter to you

February 28th, 2010 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

10 Reasons that 100 Billion Impressions Matter To You

This week we passed the 100 billion mark, meaning we have served over 100 billion impressions of social commerce content (questions & answers, reviews and stories). So what does that mean to you as a marketer?

It means that hundreds of millions of people worldwide have made better purchase decisions (including you)

It means that hundreds of retailers and manufacturers are getting “Customer Oxygen” into their company, transforming the way they do business

It is evidence that markets truly are conversations (See chapter 4 of Cluetrain Manifesto and the meaning of Bazaarvoice)

It means that this is just the beginning. The customer content “flywheel” is now turning at full speed and we will continue to innovate with our clients to keep up.

It means that if you haven’t started to facilitate customer conversations, you have less to fear.

It means there is an ecosystem of relevant product & service conversations across the web, which can amplify the voice of your customer

It means that you will see more search results come from product-related customer content

It’s evidence that customers are more likely to read this type of content than other ‘community’ content that is not relevant to shopping.

It means that social commerce is a scalable marketing strategy, proven by over 750 brands.

It means that you now have a reason to champion the voice of your customer to senior executives.

What else does it mean? I welcome your comments.

As Brett posted earlier, this week we passed the 100 billion mark, meaning we have served over 100 billion impressions of social commerce content (questions & answers, reviews and stories).

So what does that mean to you, as a marketer?

It means that hundreds of millions of people worldwide have made better purchase decisions (including you).
It means that hundreds of retailers and manufacturers are getting “Customer Oxygen” into their company, transforming the way they do business.
It is evidence that markets truly are conversations (See chapter 4 of Cluetrain Manifesto and the meaning of “Bazaarvoice”).
It means that this is just the beginning. The customer content “flywheel” is now turning at full speed and we will continue to innovate with our clients to keep up.
It means that if you haven’t started yet, you have less to fear from facilitating customer conversations than ever.
It means there is an ecosystem of relevant product and service conversations across the web, which can amplify the voice of your customer.
It means that you will see more search results come from product-related customer content.
It’s evidence that customers are more likely to read this type of content than other ‘community’ content that is not relevant to shopping.
It means that social commerce is a scalable marketing strategy, proven by over 750 brands.
It means that you now have a reason to champion the voice of your customer to senior executives.

This is an inflection point, and just one data point that pales in comparison to the transformation occurring inside our clients’ businesses. Which, in the end, is making products and services better. Which makes me proud to bring the customer voice to market!

Tags: Bazaarvoice, customer content, data, milestone, reviews, social-commerce, statistic, UGC

Customer Centricity, Marketing Strategy, Word of Mouth

Pizza Throwdown puts Domino’s Pizza Turnaround to the test

February 8th, 2010 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

They called it the “Pizza Turnaround.”

Taste tests and focus groups had execs at Domino’s Pizza cringing as unhappy pizzaphiles gave brutally honest feedback on the taste of their pizza. Domino’s executives had a choice to make: go about their business – as many brands would – or learn from this negative feedback and change their 50 year old recipe.

Domino’s chose wisely, embracing customer oxygen and revamping their recipe. We hear the “what about negative reviews?” question all the time. What Domino’s finally realized is an idea Bazaarvoice promotes to our clients each day – negative reviews are a gift, an opportunity to improve your products and services to further delight your customers. We’ve seen this philosophy work wonders for clients like Oriental Trading Company and Land of Nod.

Where many brands would privately have gone about their business by rationalizing or ignoring the feedback, Domino’s did the opposite. And the pizza chain took their efforts a step further, launching a national campaign promoting how bad their pizza used to be. Their message was simple: “We were failing you. We finally heard you. Here’s what we did about it. Won’t you try us again?”

As passionate advocates of customer oxygen, we naturally applauded these campaigns. But we were curious, as the ads no doubt intended – is the new Domino’s recipe really better? We decided to conduct our own scientific test (NOT… but we think close enough) to see how listening to and acting on the opinions of their customers had benefited the chain.

The Bazaarvoice Pizza Throwdown

Tasters' stated preferences before the taste test

We found ten self-proclaimed pizza connoisseurs to participate in a taste test of Domino’s against its top two national competitors – Pizza Hut and Papa John’s. We ordered large cheese pizzas with original crust from each, testing the competitors on the pizza basics.

Before the test, we asked the tasters to tell us which pizza they thought they liked best. Papa John’s was the clear favorite, with 60% of the vote.

Each taster was blindfolded to ensure responses were based solely on taste. They were then asked to taste a slice of each competitor’s pizza, and give their reviews, rating each pizza on sauce, crust, cheese, and overall taste.

The Results

Tasters' blind choices for best overall taste

We weren’t sure what to expect. Even if Domino’s didn’t win, we thought they still had a great story to tell, as they’d demonstrated action and accountability to customer feedback. But fortunately for this story and for Domino’s, the new and improved pizza was the clear winner, with 50% of the tasters picking the chain’s new recipe as the tastiest pie.

Domino’s outperformed the competitors in every aspect of the test, earning 3.8 out of a possible 5 stars for overall taste.

Pizza components' taster ratings

You can watch how the taste test was done in our video here and on Youtube:

By embracing their customers’ negative feedback, Domino’s was able to improve their product quality and impress their customers. And not only are customers happy with the change, but so are shareholders! Apparently the campaign is expected to be a sales hit – Domino’s stock is up close to 50% over prices three months ago.

Domino's three month stock prices

Operationalizing customer feedback to radically improve an entire organization is something we help our clients do every day. Does your business have the tools to embrace the voice of the customer?

Tags: Domino's, Pizza Turnaround

Culture

Don’t dare a hot dog

January 30th, 2010 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

Sometimes you have to risk a little dignity to motivate people or make a point. And that risk goes up when video is involved. If you’ve seen our “More than Words” video or “Freedom” video you’ll see we’re no stranger to this kind of sacrifice.

So maybe it’s not surprising that my events manager, and a collection of Bazaarvoice executives, would put themselves on the roof of our garage in exchange for the Bazaarvoice team breaking the quarter’s Social Commerce Summit registration goals (it’s selling out fast, actually!). We blew away the stretch goal, so Sarah fulfilled her commitment to dance in her hot dog suit, with a few condiment executives joining.

If that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes!

Tags: Bazaarvoice, building, Culture, Dance, garage

User-Generated Content

User-generated Holiday Card winner!

January 18th, 2010 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

We launched our Bazaarvoice Holiday Card a month ago, asking you to tweet your holiday stories for a chance to win. Out of tons of entries we chose 31 daily winners, one each day in December. And now it’s time to announce our grand prize winner!

@catchfoot: “Left curdled milk for Santa because previous year he gave the rainbow-haired-unicorn-My Little Pony to brother. Dad had runs for days. #bvhs”

@catchfoot is Rachel Lightfoot, a San Francisco production coordinator at VIZ Media. She writes about food, film, and other interests on her blog, The Informer. Here’s Rachel’s reaction, in her own words:

I knew I had a [true] story that even my regular followers might get a kick out of – or unfollow me over. I was eight years old, and my brother six. Santa had gotten me an entire My Little Pony play set. They were already unwrapped and set up in their MLP dance studios, castles and cars. I was thrilled!

I guess Santa felt like he had gone a little overboard with the gifts, pitied little brother and wrapped one of the Ponies for him to open, too. Little did Santa know that the one he decided to give little brother was the single most coveted pony of all – the rainbow haired Pegasus unicorn – duh! Oh, we fought over that thing for hours, but once little brother realized how much I wanted it, there was no giving it to me. The rest is history. Santa sure learned his lesson after that.

Congratulations Rachel! Expect your $500 American Express gift card soon.

Check out all of our winners here. Thanks to everyone who contributed to our Holiday Card!

Tags: holiday, Twitter

Ratings & Reviews, eCommerce

Luxury getting social

January 12th, 2010 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

Richard Marcus worked at Neiman Marcus from his teenage years until 1988, the last ten years of which he served as CEO and Chairman. Upon leaving Neiman Marcus, he began an exploration of how the Internet would change the relationships between retailers and their customers, vendors and employees.

I sat down with Richard to discuss luxury retail, and how he’s hoping more luxury brands embrace social media in 2010.

Is luxury behind in online technology compared to other retailers, and if so, what will change their trajectory?

Hard to say… there are some luxury sites that have some pretty cool online shopping experiences and others that are focused on the aura of the brand. Great storytelling is lacking online. And some luxury retailers are reluctant to engage their customers in meaningful feedback. Continuing down that path is a mistake.

How do people shop differently for luxury items than they shop for everyday items?

I have a problem with the word “luxury.” What does it mean: a brand associated with high prices? Good design and quality manufacture? Something that is limited and scarce? In many peoples’ minds, I suspect it is synonymous with “the best.” Others may think of luxury as a desirable object or experience that is only occasionally within reach. How people shop for what they believe is luxury will depend on whether it is aspirational, and the standard by which they make many purchase decisions.

What has been the biggest change in retail in your lifetime, and how did it change things?

Lower tariffs on imported goods and the Internet. The first opened up the world of sourcing and the second has changed the ways companies speak to their customers, vendors, employees and stakeholders.

In your years of retail experience, have consumers/shoppers changed? If so, how?

The old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” remains a useful reminder. Notwithstanding what some officials would have us believe, shopping isn’t the most important thing in life and customers want value (quality consistent with price), choices, and service consistent with the particular purchase moment (different service is required for a quick purchase of socks versus a new suit), and an experience that is enjoyable if not memorable. The good thing about the Internet is that you don’t encounter a salesperson’s bad breath.

What’s been the biggest change at Neiman Marcus since its inception?

Clearly, the size of the business has changed dramatically since the first store was built in downtown Dallas. But, perhaps the biggest change is that for 3/4 of its 100+ years the store was fervently engaged in educating customers about quality, style and fashion. As customers have more sources for all of this information, Neiman Marcus is less in the education business.

What do you see as the future of luxury retail?

There will always be people who want the best, and the luxury retailers who are great storytellers will prevail.

Luxury retailers, as well as brands, are late adopters to letting customers review their products. Should they be?

No. They need to understand it is happening whether they support it or not. I have hundreds of customer letters from my 30 years at Neiman Marcus that testify to our customers’ willingness to compliment and criticize. Compliments are fine, but criticism helps you improve your business. Today, the tools available for really useful interaction with customers should be embraced by all businesses.

***

We’re seeing more and more luxury brands embrace the customer voice online to drive social commerce. Keep an eye on this blog for more insights from niche brands.

Tags: luxury, retail

User-Generated Content, Word of Mouth

Real-time Reviews

December 22nd, 2009 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

Like it or not, your brand will be under review in 2010.

Trendwatching’s December 2009 Trend Briefing covered the “10 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2010.” The entire report is worth the read, but we gave special attention to trend number three: real-time reviews.

With authentic, real-time, 24/7 customer opinions available to anyone and everyone via the internet, shoppers in 2010 will know exactly what others think of your brand at any point in time.

Our inherent need for instant gratification – Trendwatching calls it “NOWism” – leads consumers to share, in real-time, everything they’re doing, buying, and experiencing.
Universal online access through netbooks, laptops, and mobile allows consumers to broadcast these experiences immediately.
The sheer mass of available online opinions makes this content real-time, as at any moment someone somewhere is sharing their authentic opinion on a topic or brand via the internet.
Social media encourages the immediacy of this content, and search engines are shifting toward a similar model.
These platforms make it increasingly easier for consumers to group the flood of real-time UGC into useable streams, to discover what’s being said about topics or brands right now.

So what’s a brand to do?

Feed the NOW

Give your customers what they’re hungry for: encourage real-time review of your products, services and brand by making UGC contribution and consumption as easy as possible.

Make your content available everywhere potential customers may be researching your product. The reviews you gather on your e-commerce site are the most informative and helpful. Make these reviews available on mobile sites. Manufacturers, push this content to retailer sites.
Push customer opinions into the conversational space of social media. Brands like Walmart and Best Buy are doing this very well, encouraging discussion of their products on Facebook and Twitter.
Draw customers back into the purchase path through these conversations. Tools like Social Network Accelerators let your contributors push their opinions out of your e-commerce site and into their own networks, linking back to product pages to draw in new customers and contributors.

Your customers will be talking about your brand in real-time in 2010. Brands who act now to use this coming trend to their advantage will be the e-commerce leaders of the new year.

Tags: NOWism, real-time

Customer Centricity, Interviews, Social Commerce Summit

Douglas Rushkoff: How New Media (Unlike Marketing) Forces You to be Competent Again

December 21st, 2009 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

Douglas Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other’s values. He lectures around the world, and will keynote the 2010 Social Commerce Summit. He has a unique view of brands and how new media changes the game (or takes it back to its core) for brands.

At the Social Commerce Summit, you’ll be speaking to hundreds of manufacturers, retailers, and service providers who want to open themselves up to learning from their own customers. How does “thinking inside the box” relate to them? How have brands responded thus far to your message?

Well, brands can’t actually respond to anything. Maybe that’s the whole point. Brands aren’t alive. They’re myths. The brand was invented in the earliest days of corporatism, as a way to recreate the experience of a human relationship with the person you used to buy from. You bought shoes from a cobbler, beer from the beermeister, and so on. You had relationships with those people.

The industrial age meant separating producers from consumers, so brands needed to be invented to bridge that gap. The Quaker on the box of oatmeal helped people feel as good about a long-distance, packaged product as they did about the one made by their friend. And mass media arose to broadcast those myths and images across the country, so that people would have relationships to brands before they ever even saw the products. (more…)

Ratings & Reviews, Research

CMOs Plan for Higher Social Media Measurability in 2010

December 17th, 2009 by Sam Decker Chief Marketing Officer

We recently surveyed global CMOs in conjunction with the CMO Club, an organization of CMOs with both global and domestic P&L responsibilities. As suspected, social media initiatives will be even more important in 2010. What was surprising – and encouraging – is that CMOs realize their social efforts must track to the bottom line.

Here are the major points our survey found.

Social must drive revenues, not just web metrics. 81% of respondents expect to link their annual revenues to their social media investment in 2010, up from just 44% of CMOs in 2009. Social marketing metrics that focus solely on web goals (traffic, page views, fans) are starting to be supplanted by metrics like conversion, revenue, and average order value that track to the bottom line.

CMOs unsure about the exact impact of current social tools. 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. 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, number of page views, and number of fans. 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.

In short, social isn’t just for the “cool” factor anymore – now it must drive real sales results, just like any other media. Download the full study here for all the details.

Tags: CMO Club, webinar, white paper

BazaarblogIdeas to Help Customers Build Your Business

Author Archive

Forrester recognizes USAA as social media innovator

Pizza Throwdown puts Domino’s Pizza Turnaround to the test

Don’t dare a hot dog

User-generated Holiday Card winner!

Luxury getting social

Real-time Reviews

CMOs Plan for Higher Social Media Measurability in 2010

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