Bazaar Voice

Onedirect breaks new ground by integrating Bazaarvoice reviews and SEO solutions into a B2B environment

• Customer reviews are at the heart of Onedirect’s multi-channel sales strategy and increases conversion rates by 45%
• Conversations between customers increased website traffic by 24% and improved Onedirect’s online visibility
• Reviews boost customer service responsiveness and provide feedback to suppliers

To continue expansion in Europe, France’s top seller of business telephone equipment has followed social trends by adding consumer opinions to its website.

The company followed best practices recommended by Bazaarvoice, and quickly achieved increases in web visitor conversion rates and natural search traffic.

Customer reviews are at the heart of Onedirect’s multi-channel sales strategy and increases conversion rates by 45%

As a B2B retailer, Onedirect faced the challenge of gathering enough customer reviews from business buyers. The company employed the Bazaarvoice best practice of sending a Post-Interaction Email (PIE) to drive volume, inviting customers to rate and provide opinions on products three weeks after their online purchase. “We have received between 150 and 200 customer reviews for our best products, which is excellent in a B2B context, where our range of products is relatively restricted,” explains Adrien Velter, eCommerce Manager at Onedirect.

According to Adrien, “ratings and reviews have had a very positive impact” and have become the most visited tab on each product page. Between September and November 2011, conversion rates soared by 45% for visitors interacting with Bazaarvoice products, making customer opinions a key component of Onedirect’s sales strategy.

Onedirect is a multi-channel business that not only sells online, but also by telephone via its catalogue. “Ratings and reviews content is also printed within the catalogue, and each product features a customer review and average rating alongside its description,” says Adrien Velter. Reviews are also used in promotional emails and other forms of marketing collateral, thereby leveraging the content across multiple channels.

Conversations between customers increased website traffic by 24% and improved Onedirect’s online visibility

“Our website is a critical component of our strategy, and we want it to develop and grow quickly. We therefore found it essential to feature customer opinions,” Adrien Velter explains. This strategy has quickly paid off.

Bazaarvoice integrates customer content into Onedirect’s website in a way that optimises product pages for search engine indexing and keyword searches. Since transitioning to Bazaarvoice’s updated implementation method in November 2010, Onedirect’s natural search traffic has increased significantly. Within three months of implementation, natural search traffic to Onedirect’s website increased by 24%, with individual product page views also increasing by 15%.

Reviews boost customer service responsiveness and provide feedback to suppliers

“In terms of customer service, Bazaarvoice solutions have drastically changed our organisation,” reports Adrien Velter. Thanks to a process enabling to route negative feedback directly to the sales team, employees can now keep in touch with customers in real-time and resolve any problems they may have. “We can now ensure we are listening to our customers and that all post-sales problems can be handled proactively in order to improve levels of satisfaction, maintain customer relationships, and encourage repeat visits to the site.”

These customer opinions can also be used to make the Onedirect supply chain more dynamic. “We wanted to encourage our customers to share their opinions about our products so that we could pass the information on to suppliers,” Adrien Velter explains. “In many cases, this systematic follow-up of information has allowed us to improve our relationships with our manufacturers and improve our products.”

The company is now looking to develop its social network strategy, to extend these customer conversations even further."

The bottom line

By adding reviews to their site, Onedirect has increased conversion rates, boosted natural search traffic, and improved customer service and supplier relations. Their results prove the value of customer conversations for B2B retailers.