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?

1. It means that hundreds of millions of people worldwide have made better purchase decisions (including you).
2. It means that hundreds of retailers and manufacturers are getting “Customer Oxygen” into their company, transforming the way they do business.
3. It is evidence that markets truly are conversations (See chapter 4 of Cluetrain Manifesto and the meaning of "Bazaarvoice").
4. 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.
5. It means that if you haven’t started yet, you have less to fear from facilitating customer conversations than ever.
6. It means there is an ecosystem of relevant product and service conversations across the web, which can amplify the voice of your customer.
7. It means that you will see more search results come from product-related customer content.
8. It’s evidence that customers are more likely to read this type of content than other ‘community’ content that is not relevant to shopping.
9. It means that social commerce is a scalable marketing strategy, proven by over 750 brands.
10. 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!

The numbers don't lie: shoppers online trust the opinions of other shoppers like them.

Second only to recommendations from people known, opinions posted online are the most valued information source by consumers. According to the new Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, 70% of people trust recommendations from unknown users online, up 9% from 2007.

Jonathan Carson, president of online, international at Nielsen Co., attributes this increasing trust in online recommendations from strangers to the “explosion” of available user-generated content in the past few years. “… Consumers' reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don't, has increased significantly,” Carson says.

And trust in online recommendations is even higher in some segments. A recent study from BabyCenter, LLC found that 73% of mothers online trust the information they find on products and brands through online communities focused on their interests.

Trust in traditional forms of advertising increased as well, the study shows. Trust in brand websites increased 10% over 2007 to 70%. Carson asserts that this increase in trust could be due to the swell in available consumer-generated media (CGM) as well. “… It’s possible that the CGM revolution has forced advertisers to use a more realistic form of messaging that is grounded in the experience of consumers rather than the lofty ideals of the advertisers,” he says.

This comes as no surprise to Bazaarvoice; our clients know that the mere presence of user-generated content on brand sites builds trust in the brand and drives sales, even for products without reviews.

As the presence of online UGC continually grows, online consumers will become increasingly dependent on feedback from shoppers like them in their purchase decisions. Are you giving your customers the information they need to make a purchase?

Ryan Thomas, Head of Direct Channels at Comet, says the decision was a natural progression in the evolution of the retailer’s UGC strategy. Comet noticed that customers in its online community were already using the reviews platform to ask each other questions; Thomas is confident that A&A will give the retailer clearer insight into customers’ needs. “The website has a vast product set with questions not always answered by product specifications, so we wanted to give customers their own platform to air product-related queries,” Thomas says. “As well as creating a new space for customer interaction, it will give us clearer insight into our customers and their product needs.”

Read more about Comet’s decision in our press release, and check out our related blog posts to see how other Bazaarvoice clients are using Ask & Answer to drive customer engagement in their own brand communities.

At Bazaarvoice, we don’t think of search in terms of just search engines. To us, “search” includes any way that consumers look for information, anywhere along the consideration or purchase path.

Social Amplification is a big part of this. Social Amplification is about extending your user-generated content beyond your site, wherever people congregate and influence others. This content is found on Facebook or in shopping portals, but it drives traffic right back to your site.

For example, ShoutIt! is a capability available for all Bazaarvoice products that lets consumers easily share their review, answer, or story on their own Facebook or MySpace page, or in their Twitter, digg or del.icio.us accounts.

One way shoppers are influenced is by people like them – or like they aspire to be – on their favorite sites. They read reviews, look for people like them, then visit that profile to discover other products this person reviewed and enjoyed. Deploying profiles helps companies amplify search within their own sites. A great example of this is how Free People highlighted their Top Reviewer on their blog. Now Christina influences Free People shoppers every day.

At Bazaarvoice, we firmly believe that searchers and shoppers will find information to fuel their buying decisions on their own terms – it’s about creating flexibility, not walled-garden destinations. That’s why we help our clients amplify their user-generated content so that users can find it where they want to find it – and where they are already looking.

Learn about our holistic view of search in our blog that introduces our Social Search Framework, and read our overview of technology that Bazaarvoice clients use to increase their search results.

When you look at search in the new social economy, it’s a whole new ballgame. In 2010, 70 percent of all online content will be user-generated, so optimizing this information – in addition to traditional content – is key to winning new traffic. MySpace and Facebook alone have more than 450 million users – this is where people are congregating. And consumers are getting smarter in the way they search. There’s huge growth in specific search terms – those that use five or more words are growing, while those using one or two words are declining.

When considering the search problem in this social economy, you need to optimize all the user-generated content (UGC) that customers contribute, find ways to work with popular online destinations rather than compete against them, and deliver information in the ways that searchers want to find it. At Bazaarvoice, we’re helping clients fulfill all these opportunities.

It’s obvious that product or brand content won’t capture all these searchers. It’s too generic, and it’s full of “marketing speak.” UGC speaks the same language as these searchers, even going so far as making common spelling errors users make. And retailers may find that their product copy is identical – or very similar – to that on competing sites. In this case, retailers would have to focus on expensive search engine marketing campaigns to simply stand apart and capture search traffic.

UGC also excels at fueling long-tail search, which has been shown to indicate that a searcher is closer to making a purchase. For example, if you are searching for “Nissan Sedan,” you may just be looking for generic information. However, if you search for “2009 Blue Nissan Sentra SE Austin,” it’s an indication that you know what you want, and you’re looking to buy it.

From the contributor’s angle, posting a review is often just the beginning of their contribution – they often want to share their recommendations with friends and family, which opens up a whole other area of search optimization. For example, when a user reviews a product or answers a question, they can share it on their Facebook page, so the members of their social network can read it. Now that content can be found by their friends and colleagues, and it’s linked back to the product page.

Searchers also rely on experts in certain categories. Experts build credibility by the content they create and recommendations they make, and such experts often make themselves known via profiles on sites that offer UGC. Searchers go to their favorite sites that have UGC, find profiles of people like them or experts, and uncover new products those contributors recommend. All the cross-linking within the page also creates new opportunities for search engines to find this content, again bumping up the search quotient.

In short, Bazaarvoice is creating a new way of thinking about search, and a new framework to help our clients optimize all the search possibilities. Our current SearchVoice Platform, which includes inline search, search-enabled landing pages, and cross-linked microsites, provides the technology that increases search across the entire purchase funnel. Social Amplification enables our clients to share their content beyond their site – via Facebook and other social networks, in shopping portals, and on other sites. Dynamic Merchandising lets UGC fuel successful search engine marketing programs to maximize results.

We help optimize search as soon as a client starts the implementation process, then each client’s Bazaarvoice Community Manager assesses their search performance using our Search Playbook and helps them advance across the search maturity model. We continuously innovate in search to help our clients win the battle for more search traffic via UGC.

Look for more about search on this blog in the coming weeks, and request our white paper, “Boosting Natural Search Traffic using Ratings and Reviews."

The theme of the Summit was “The New ROI: Return on Influentials”. Executives and managers from top retailers, manufacturers and financial companies came to the new AT&T Conference Center in Austin (on UT’s campus) for 3 days to learn how to build and show the impact of customer voice in their business. See the agenda here.

In the coming weeks we will blog cliff notes from the sessions. But you can also see the stream of Twitter notes here.

I didn’t hear everything (I was running around emceeing the event), but here are some of the biggest takeaways I had:

• Anyone can be an influencer. You can unearth them by facilitating their contribution and amplifying its impact.
• Measurement and marketing impact is easier than most think. Measure the impact of UGC on existing marketing campaigns (examples from Helzberg, Sephora, others)
• Getting C-level buy-in dramatically accelerates the evolution of transforming the business with the voice of customer (ex: Sam Taylor, CEO of Oriental Trading pulled together cross functional team to leverage reviews in supply chain and strategy)
• Brands realize that the voice of the customer is transformational, but are challenged to accelerate organizational change.
• We are all working on a comprehensive way to operationalize and measure all the impacts of social commerce initiatives.
• There’s a big opportunity in merging social content and data with email strategy. Bazaarvoice Social Alerts with JCWhitney had 100% open rate and 50% click through!
• We’re scratching the surface on the database marketing opportunities with influencers. Those who contribute can help identify others who contribute. Some thought leadership discussed with our partner, Merkle.

And we had fun too…

• We were in Austin…so we’ll start there!
• During the sessions, Sunni Brown drew graphic recordings on each session (will post soon).
• Tuesday night we took buses out to the Salt Lick Pavilion (best BBQ in TX, in my opinion) and hosted the Bazaarvoice Bull Ride contest again.
• Leslie from Williams Sonoma took the prize this year (Omare from Geico won last year).
• We had live music from Jeff Hughes and Chaparral
• We played Chicken Shit Bingo (sorry…that’s just what it’s called!)
• Attendees grabbed their beverage from the backs of Beer Donkeys!
• As an unorthodox way to evangelize our message to clients, last year we debuted the video “More than Words”. This year we created two videos, “The Influencer Abduction” and “Freedom! ’09 (Let Their Content Free!)”. Share them with colleagues that need to ‘get’ social commerce!

Abduction of Influencers

Click here to view the embedded video.

Freedom! '09 (Let Their Content Free!)

Click here to view the embedded video.

To give you a Bazaarvoice “inside perspective” on the event…

Last year’s event received a Net Promoter score of 9.3 out of 10. We were excited to get such positive feedback on our first event, but it also meant we had a high bar to jump over. We want to continually improve. We’re tallying the on-site surveys now, and we’ll be sending out an additional email survey, but just based on our experience and comments from clients, we were thrilled with the results. The majority of the event experience was based on the presentations and interaction between clients, as we learn from each other. One of my favorite quotes “the Summit is an amusement park of ideas.” And because so many clients came, our community management, support, implementation, and sales team members were able to put faces to voices. The entire Bazaarvoice team worked on making this successful. It takes a lot of work and requires juggling a lot of details. I want to give special thanks and recognition to the three folks on my team who were the producers of the event: Sarah Loyens, who quarterbacked the invitations and logistics to get folks there; Chris Wellington, our designer who took the event experience to the next level and tied it all together (including the Polaroids in the notebook!); and Amber Quist, who was the overall Producer of the event with RedVelvet Events. And of course, thank you to our partners who added to the content and made the event possible.

Stay tuned for cliffnotes of the content! For those who attended, stay tuned for presentations and conversations posted to the SCS Community.

p.s. If you're in Europe or the UK, register for our Social Commerce Summit London on September 22!

Although sales saw a sharp overall decline in 2008, traffic held. Right now, consumer spending is driving the economy, creating a hyper-competitive environment in which only the strong survive – an example of accelerated Darwinism.

“Cutting costs is kind of like a death march,” Freed said. “Price is important, but experience is just as important.” ForeSee asked customers an interactive question: How satisfied were they with holiday sales in 2008? The answers were mostly positive, rating between 7-9.

Measuring satisfaction is crucial because the consumer’s satisfaction drives conversion, as well as freedom of choice. ForeSee Results found that the old metrics are no longer relevant: Consumer satisfaction is everything when it comes to a company’s future success. Freed suggested an important equation:

Satisfaction = [What the customer expects] + [What the customer gets]

Highly satisfied customers were more likely to purchase online than offline.

Satisfaction is driven by a combination of content, functionality, merchandise, and price, according to ForeSee Results. eCommerce as a percentage of total retail sales has seen a significant uptrend, Freed said. According to a University of Michigan study, eRetail amongst buyers, at 82 percent, outperforms offline retail at 75.2 percent. During the holiday season, discounts improved customer satisfaction ratings. Some of the most successful companies in this area were Bazaarvoice clients QVC, Walmart, and L.L.Bean.

So how can businesses optimize customer satisfaction? “We will see more retail casualties,” Freed said. “Retailers are going to need [social media] in the future to stay competitive.” Online channels have more opportunities than offline: Ninety-two percent of consumers said that they had been influenced by user-generated product reviews, while 65 percent said their purchasing decisions were influenced by social media.

Mobile media usage in stores is low at 29 percent, but growing rapidly. While only 31 percent of consumers said they had used a mobile app for in-store shopping before, the results proved social media had a very high impact within the ranks of its users. Seventy-two percent used their mobile device to ask someone about a product, 40 percent to send a picture to someone, 24 percent to comparison shop, and 15 percent to look at product reviews

Most companies said that they did not have mobile apps for their retail companies, although 17 percent said “Yes” and 16 percent said they soon would.

“We are in the fight of our lives,” Freed said. “Now is the time to rise above the competition.” Satisfying customers is the key to victory. Will your company rank amongst the winners?

Points to Remember:

1. The consumer is in charge: Costs of switching vendors are low, the competition is high, and knowledge is power

2. Consumer expectations for the Web continue to rise when it comes to social media: Make sure your company doesn’t end up playing catch-up to its competition

3. Customers want free shipping, consumer reviews

4. Your most valuable acquisition sources: Consumer familiarity with your brand, campaign emails

5. Social media. Enough said.

6. Consumers will go where they’re satisfied

7. Satisfaction drives conversion, loyalty, and word of mouth

8. Measure what matters most – your customers. Satisfied consumers are an asset, while unsatisfied ones are a liability

9. You cannot manage what you can’t measure: “UGC is a must-have in today’s world”

10. Garbage in/garbage out: Measurements must be accurate, precise and reliable – Web analytics must be implemented properly

This post was guest-written by Meghan Meehan, Bazaarvoice Community Manager.

Call me stereotypical, but I’m not ashamed to admit I watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials.  One of my favorite ads this year was Cars.com’s “David Abernathy – Lifetime of Confidence” spot. The ad chronicles the life of David Abernathy, an ordinary man born with extraordinary confidence. Despite his inflated ego, when it comes to car buying, David is just as nervous as the rest of us. So he turns to Cars.com, where he is able to find the perfect car at the right price. The ad was directed by Lars & the Real Girl director, Craig Gillespie, who won a DGA for Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials in 2006.

Cars.com continues to build momentum for the spot by letting it live on their website. Upon watching the video, visitors are also given the ability to search for Ratings & Reviews on vehicles! This is a fantastic example of a tightly integrated campaign, tying together TV spots, online advertising, and User-Generated Content. Cars.com even created a Facebook celebrity profile for David Abernathy, further extending the promotion’s reach.

Ratings & Reviews are a perfect fit for this campaign. There is no better way to feel confident about investing in a new car than to read what people like you have said about the vehicle. And if there ever was a site built for UGC, Cars.com is it. Last fall we conducted a joint case study, where we learned customer reviews improve Intent-to-Buy metrics for Cars.com. We looked at ready-to-purchase metrics such as lead conversion, click-through to dealer maps, and seeking finance options. In each of these cases, visitors who read Reviews were more likely to convert.

It’s always exciting to see my clients infusing traditional advertising with Ratings & Reviews, and Cars.com’s campaign does not disappoint. If you missed the spot, you can view it here. While you’re there, take a moment to read or write a review on your car!