This year we conducted similar research with Keller Fay in the UK. We found – believe it or not – similar results! We conducted a post-review intercept survey across several Bazaarvoice retail clients and found that Brits are driven by altruism when they write product reviews. We surveyed almost 3,800 Brits who wrote reviews on online e-commerce sites, and 94% of them said it was important to write reviews to help other consumers make good purchase decisions.

And their altruism doesn’t end with consumers; 82% of those surveyed said they wrote reviews to help companies make better decisions about the products they offer.

Also, most UK reviews are positive – 86% of UK reviewers said they left positive feedback online, and 11% said their comments were equally split between positive and negative. This reflects what we continue to find in the ratings J-Curve, which we discovered in 2006.

> See the press release here

> Download the full study results here

Retail growth, even online retail, is declining. However, the decline is steeper if you are losing market share and customers to Amazon. The Morgan Stanley reports customer satisfaction and recommendations are key drivers to Amazon gaining market share. I just heard Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, present and talk about how their focus on customer service (and they have a lot of reviews) has driven their sales to $1B.

Show this graph to your CEO, CMO and CFO if you're having a difficult time getting buy-in to social commerce initiatives. Every day you are not capturing your customer's voice is a day that you are not building a marketing asset and annuity that pays off, as evidenced by this graph of Amazon capturing UGC for 12 years. NOW is the time to begin or accelerate your use of social commerce to attract and retain customers.

ForeSee Results annual retail study suggests that sites with reviews garner 21% increase in customer satisfaction vs. sites that don't. The use of the data and content are driving retailers to improve product selection and merchandising, and to reach out to dissatisfied customers. And this user-generated content is driving real top-line and bottom-line numbers – natural search, conversion, AOV, lower returns, and many other financial benefits. See the case studies; see the stats and research.

Amazon has been featuring reviews for 12 years, but now many of our clients are embracing social commerce and we're helping them accelerate the impact of their customer voices to compete effectively. Because of our focus, as a partner we can deliver a superior user-generated content experience for contributors and visitors….faster moderation turnaround, more robust functionality, flexible integration with your partners, alerts/analytics, and best practices to drive contribution and marketing through our dedicated community managers. Plus, we go beyond reviews and help you change your culture, bringing customer oxygen across the functions of your organization.

Amazon is a great company. The impact of UGC and Social Commerce for them has been under-reported. It has been their best kept secret. No more. We've been at this for three years now with nearly 300 clients as of today. We passionately believe that the future of online shopping is here through customer contribution and leveraging influentials. Reviews are table stakes of retailers (those aren't our words), and there are other UGC applications (such as Ask & Answer and Stories) to take the impact of customer contribution to a new level.

Maintaining growth includes not losing market share. Your best customers are the ones you keep. Get them involved in writing and reading the most compelling content you can have on your site — the content that doesn't come from you!

I apologize if this comes across as "selling," but as a former retailer myself, I firmly and passionately believe this is something that deserves urgency and acceleration. The studies, results, ROI, and now the macro analysis of market share shown above reinforce my conviction that if I were in your shoes, I'd get the organization focused on Social Commerce to retain (and grow) your market share.

We started answering that question today with the launch of our newest feature, called ShareThis(tm). It is a FREE feature for our clients allowing their shoppers and customers to share a review, profile or product to their favorite social networking or bookmarking site. And because we’re already hosted in their site, we can turn this live within days without IT involvement.

Dow Jones covered the launch, including commentary from Dell. Here’s a snippet from the article:

The feature enables a person who is, say, excited about the Dell monitor he just bought to share the news by posting on his Facebook profile a link to a review that he or someone else wrote. The post, which can also include an image of the monitor or the Dell logo and brief comment from him, will show up on his profile mini feed and in the news feed his Facebook friends see. Bazaarvoice says no money will change hands; shoppers won't be paid for posting reviews and Facebook won't get fees.

"It's making (consumers) an advocate" for brands on sites where the audiences are highly desirable to marketers, yet tend to be skeptical of online marketing, says Greg Sterling, of Oakland, Calif., consulting firm Sterling Market Intelligence. "It's trying to leverage a more trusted environment" and a form of marketing — word-of-mouth — that is particularly trusted by consumers.

It is also an effort to engage people who online-marketers have come to call "influencers" — people who through their expertise and efforts to share that expertise in online forums have gained outsized influence over other consumers. Sites like Facebook, del.icio.us and Digg are places where these people, and other less-active Web users, love to express themselves and have access to large numbers of other people.

"Now, for the first time ever, whenever (consumers) see a product they like, they can post it as a representation of who they are and what they like," says Sam Decker, chief marketing officer at Bazaarvoice.

I couldn’t have said it better myself!

You can see it live on these sample product pages from Dell, Toshiba and Jewelry Television.

We have future plans for this functionality, plus other ideas on social network integration with user generated content. Drop me a note if you’re interested in discussing them (sam at bazaarvoice.com).

If you’re a client interested in adding this to your site, it just takes a call or email to your Community Manager…otherwise you’ll be hearing from them! Remember, it's free! I mean FREE!

Having attended WOMMA's first research-focused event, Measuring Word of Mouth, back in July 2005, it is truly amazing to see firsthand how successful the organization has been in bringing executives, marketers, and technologists together to share WOM strategies, case studies, and lessons learned.  WOMMA now boasts over 300 members, and these companies are helping to shape the discipline of word of mouth marketing.  WOMMA's phenomenal growth is definitely an indicator of a larger industry trend, one that we write about often on Bazaarblog – the gradual but inevitable shift of marketing strategies and budgets towards more customer-centric, even customer-generated, messaging and focus.  If you aren't a member of WOMMA, please consider joining.  I would personally love to see more participation from direct marketers and retailers.  

In addition, I also want to bring your attention to WOMMA's second volume of WOM research papers and case studies, Measuring Word of Mouth, Volume 2.  The book is "WOM University" in printed form, containing 20 original papers from WOM practicioners and leading companies in the space.  I'm happy to say that "Ratings, Reviews & ROI" is included!  If you are interested in just our whitepaper, you can obtain a version of it by request from our website at "Ratings, Reviews & ROI" whitepaper but I highly recommend that you read up on what other WOMMA member companies are doing to advance the practice of ethical word of mouth marketing.

We didn’t know what to expect then, but we do now.

Across many clients in diverse industries this “U” curve turns out to be more like a “J” curve…almost a reverse "L" (see below). The average rating across all clients is 4.3 out of 5 stars. The distribution looks like a J, where there are more 1s than 2s, but far more 4s and 5s than the lower ratings.

Why is this? Aren’t people more likely to share their word of mouth about bad experiences? Perhaps they are more likely to share negative opinions when they have personal experiences with a company (service, sales) than the product they buy?

And perhaps customers are interested in sharing their opinion about great products they buy, because there are so many mediocre products. So there’s some satisfaction in sharing the news when we find a product we love.

We’ll learn more and share more here. But in the meantime, this “J” curve is part of the answer to the conern: “What about negative reviews?”

One of the primary reasons:

Circuit City and Amazon have product ratings and reviews. Walmart and Best Buy do not.

From the study: 

In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has ratings and reviews. If executed properly, ratings and reviews can boost the confidence in making purchases as well as foster a trusted relationship with site visitors.

 

————————–

Competitive Online Report Reveals Amazon And Circuitcity Preferred Over Bestbuy And Walmart

eVOC Insights & RelevantView
4/5/2006 11:42:52 AM

SAN FRANCISCO, CA and WESTPORT, CT —April 5, 2006— eVOC Insights, a customer experience consulting firm and, RelevantView, a leading technology provider of Web-based research solutions, announce the release of a new syndicated retail report Ratings, Reviews and the Customer Decision Process: Amazon vs. BestBuy vs. CircuitCity vs. Walmart. This report takes a closer look at how consumers interact with four leading online retail Websites and provides insights into what drives purchase preference.

As consumers research and purchase more complex items online, such as electronics, travel, and automobiles, online retailers want to identify what factors drive purchase decisions and what role online features and functionality, such as ratings and reviews, play in the customer decision process. The competitive retail report addresses this need and answers the following questions:

- Are users simply shopping for the best price or does the user experience drive purchases?

- How can online retailers empower users to quickly and intelligently narrow the pool of products online to best inform a purchase decision?

- Whether searching or browsing online, what tools and features are most likely to convert a shopper into a buyer?

-  What role do ratings and reviews play in the decision process?

More and more people are going online to not only research, but also purchase products online. While travel has made the fastest transition, retail and electronics in particular are following suit with close to half of users (47%) conducting research and also purchasing online. However, where users go to research and purchase is often not the same place. The Ratings, Reviews and the Customer Decision Process Report reveals best practices for improving the likelihood of attracting and converting shoppers into buyers.

Overall purchase preference is highest on Amazon and CircuitCity, despite BestBuy having almost twice the initial preference compared to the other sites prior to interaction. Among the four sites evaluated, BestBuy exhibits the least loyalty from its customers (only 29% compared to Amazon’s 58%). Despite some positive aspects to its customer experience and highly competitive prices, Walmart still does not garner the same following as Amazon and CircuitCity.

One of the key differentiating features that drives higher purchase preference is ratings and reviews, which both Amazon and CircuitCity employ. In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has ratings and reviews. If executed properly, ratings and reviews can boost the confidence in making purchases as well as foster a trusted relationship with site visitors.

Download a free Abstract for this report: www.relevantview.com/sr_ora.asp

For more information about purchasing the full report, contact Liz Edison (415) 359-9802

To learn more about upcoming Syndicated Research or custom research provided by eVOC Insights and RelevantView, please visit: www.evocinsights.com or www.relevantview.com

About eVOC Insights

eVOC Insights, LLC is a customer experience consulting firm that focuses on Web strategy, usability, and
"voice of the customer" research. We combine innovative technology, comprehensive market research, and expert analysis to deliver actionable insights into the behavior, thoughts and attitudes of customers. It provides the most appropriate, cost effective methodology to meet customer’s research needs. eVOC is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. More information is available at www.evocinsights.com.

About RelevantView

RelevantView, LLC is a leading technology provider of web-based market research solutions, serving market research firms, advertising agencies, website design firms, usability professionals and website owners around the world. RelevantView supports web site usability and concept testing. RelevantView is headquartered in Westport, CT. More information is available at www.relevantview.com.