Opinion Poll Shows 8 out of 10 US Shoppers Put More Trust in Brands that Offer Customer Reviews

Market research finds that a vast majority of US shoppers (76 percent) consider it important to read customer reviews before making a purchase

Austin, TX– July 23, 2007 –Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, and Vizu Corporation, the company democratizing market research, today announced a benchmark survey on current attitudes towards customer ratings and reviews. Results show that approximately 80 percent of US shoppers place more trust in brands that offer customer ratings and reviews. Three out of four shoppers stated that it was extremely or very important to read customer reviews before making a purchase, and they prefer peer reviews over expert reviews by a 6-to-1 margin.

“Customer ratings and reviews have moved beyond a site feature to become an important part of brand identity,” said Bazaarvoice founder and CEO, Brett Hurt. “In the near future, shoppers will not only have more trust in brands that offer reviews but will actively demand this level of participation in the social commerce experience. This will also lead to powerful insights for brand marketers and merchandisers, and better service and products overall.”

According to research from Shop.org and MarketingSherpa, usage of ratings and reviews has nearly doubled in the US over the last year.  The Bazaarvoice and Vizu survey revealed that US shoppers consider ratings and reviews to be the most useful eCommerce site feature (44 percent). Product comparison (15 percent), product navigation (12 percent), and privacy information (11 percent) followed in the distance.

The benchmark survey also polled UK consumers on their attitudes toward ratings and reviews. Customer ratings and reviews were important for over 50 percent of online shoppers in the UK. In contrast to US shoppers, privacy and security information took center stage when making a purchase with over one-third of UK shoppers rating this as the most important site feature. These findings reflect the relatively low number of UK sites offering a ratings and reviews facility compared to those in the US.

“Research shows that UK consumers actively seek out reviews, and the dependence on customer-created content will increase as UK retailers adopt this strategy,” said Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer at Bazaarvoice. “We believe that this change is actively taking place today in the UK market. There is a huge opportunity for UK retailers to increase brand trust and visibility – and sales – through the strategic use of reviews.”

Polling for the report was conducted via the Vizu Answers online market research network from May 16, 2007 to June 6, 2007. Multiple votes were restricted, no artificial incentives were employed and a geographic audit was performed to ensure unbiased and valid results.

“Vizu serves the Web 2.0 world with a fast, accurate and affordable alternative to traditional market research,” said Vizu CEO, Dan Beltramo. “Our geographically targeted research project with Bazaarvoice provides one of the first benchmarks on international usage of customer reviews, which are a great resource for marketers looking to add a social component to the online shopping experience.”

About Vizu
Vizu is an innovative service that combines an easy-to-use polling platform with a diverse network of websites. The technology allows anyone to conduct affordable market research or to provide interactive content through a free polling widget. Vizu users include Glamour, Sephora, Popstar! Magazine, Jobster, Orbitz, Cozi, Second Life, TeeBeeDee, TripWiser and is the polling partner for all Wetpaint Wikis.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company is privately held with funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and angel investors including Bill Hambrecht, Esther Dyson and Ron Conway. To learn more about Vizu, please visit www.vizu.com.

About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice offers outsourced technology, services, analytics, and expertise to help companies enhance the online shopping experience with social commerce applications that drive sales. Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews and Ask & Answer deliver immediate success by minimizing implementation risk and maximizing the strategic impact of user-generated review content through complete customization, deep integration, community management, advanced analytics, search engine optimization, and syndication across the Web and to offline channels.

Bazaarvoice was named a Red Herring Top 100 company in 2006 and received the 2006 ClickZ Marketing Innovation of the Year award. Bazaarvoice currently serves over 90 eCommerce leaders including Bass Pro Shops, Dell, Macy’s, Overstock.com, PETCO, QVC, Sears, and ZipRealty. The company has headquarters in Austin, TX and offices in London, UK. For more information, please visit the company’s Web site at www.bazaarvoice.com or email .

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