Last fall I bought an iPhone 3G and, despite a few Apple-esque quirks, it has exceeded my expectations, handily. Now I can rarely be separated from it. I’ve used its built-in GPS while traveling on business, streaming audio via Pandora to keep up on the news, and what impressed my wife (which in my case is the ultimate litmus test for technology) is that we were able to access shoppers’ ratings and reviews on products while we were standing in the aisles looking for gifts last Christmas. And I’m not alone. In October 2008, Apple announced they had sold 6.9M iPhones during the prior quarter, bringing the total to over 13M iPhones sold at that time. Those devices are in the hands of consumers, and they’re using it for research on products and services in real time. And those stats are just for the iPhone – nearly every phone sold now is a smart phone.

Since 2009 is undeniably the year of the mobile device, we are celebrating with our announcement of MobileVoice. Announced Monday in AdAge, MobileVoice is Bazaarvoice’s first mobile application that brings consumer word of mouth into stores to help customers make their purchase decisions. Simply put, when you’re standing in the store trying to decide which product to buy, MobileVoice is there to provide you user-generated ratings, reviews, and answers to your questions in real time.

If you’re a retailer, consider the power of giving shoppers in your stores access to product information, user reviews, and recommended accessories in the palm of their hands – on demand and tailored for their specific interest at the time. As a consumer, I can attest that it has helped me in several ways:

• First, and most obviously, having word of mouth in the palm of my hand provides the much-needed perspective of people who have purchased the product, helping me to make a decision.
• Secondly, it displays more manufacturer and retailer information products that what can possibly be displayed on a shelf or on the packaging. Access to specifications, warranties, features, and so on help me to make a more informed decision on the product.
• Lastly, MobileVoice and mobile applications at large are beginning to solve the issue of in-store discovery. Who among us has not asked a Home Depot employee “do you know were _____ is?” It’s a common refrain in any store, anywhere. As for my holiday shopping, I needed to find a Dora The Explorer toy for my niece but I did not like any of the Dora toys I saw on the shelves in front of me. Using the integrated search capablity within MobileVoice, I was able to locate a Dora chair on the other side of the store with just one keyword. Luckily for that retailer, I bought that chair instead of going to another toy store.

MobileVoice is already being used by prominent retailers and suppliers nationwide. Sephora’s clientle can get access to nearly 100,000 reviews on cosmetic and beauty products while standing in the store. And taxpayers headed into Office Depot, Office Max, Wal-Mart, and Staples stores around the country access Intuit’s reviews to see what version of TurboTax and other software packages is right for them. Read the full MobileVoice press release for more details.

As a consumer I hope you enjoy getting ratings, reviews, answers and in-store discovery in the palm of your hands. This is just the beginning of the mobile commerce revolution.

We saw huge spikes on Thanksgiving night, as shoppers were planning their Black Friday shopping in stores. Studies show that 72% of consumers research products online before purchasing (e-tailing group, October 2008), and reviews have a huge impact on offline sales – for every $1 spent in online sales, the Internet influences $3.45 of in-store sales (eMarketer, 2007).

There was another huge spike in review use on Cyber Monday, December 1, when shoppers tend to do their holiday online shopping. We served more than 165 million reviews via Ratings & Reviews and 24 million customer-generated answers hosted through Bazaarvoice’s Ask & Answer solution.

Most significant? Review impressions increased 132% over Cyber Monday 2007, while sales growth is at 2%. So retailers without reviews are clearly losing market share.

As I’ve been saying for months – and our diverse client list proves it: reviews are no longer a “nice to have.” They’re critical to driving sales, especially as shoppers buy more carefully, and turn to trusted sources for making purchase decisions –other consumers like themselves.

Specifically, the study looks at the influence that online consumer-generated reviews for offline services (e.g., restaurants, hotels,  automotive, medical, legal, etc.) has on purchases of those services. 

• Nearly 25% of surveyed Internet users reported reading online reviews prior to paying for an offline service!  
• Online reviews were a significant purchase influence for approximately three-quarters of review users in all eight offline service categories.  Hotels ranked the highest at 87%, while legal services ranked the lowest at 73%. 
• Impressively, 97% of users that attributed their purchase decision to a review felt that the review was accurate. 
• Review users felt that reviews from fellow consumers were more influential than those authored by professionals. 
• Depending on service category, users were willing to pay from 20% more (home) to 99% more (legal services) for services with a consumer quality rating of 5-stars (Excellent) versus just 4-stars (Good).

These are amazing statistics.  The Web is still primarily a research medium but multi-channel brands still struggle to quantify the impact that online content has on offline purchasing behavior.  Reviews are a useful bridge, since both online and offline purchases can be attributed back to specific reviews using web analytics tools, buyer surveys, customer feedback at the point-of-sale, and other means. 

While many local service providers may struggle to engage their customers to review their purchases online, due simply to size and scale challenges, the global and national brands behind those local providers – major restaurant and hotel chains, automotive service franchises, healthcare providers – should take steps to empower their local business affiliates with tools to capture consumer reviews and measure their influence.