Bazaarvoice Launches SyndicateVoice™ to Distribute Customer Ratings & Reviews Across the Web

Retailers can now automatically publish their customer ratings and reviews to consumer portals & shopping comparison sites; portals can syndicate their original review content to retailers

Austin, TX – August 29, 2006 –Bazaarvoice, an innovator in helping brands use online word of mouth to build their businesses, today launched SyndicateVoice™, a new service that feeds customer ratings and reviews to major consumer portals and shopping comparison sites. SyndicateVoice allows retailers to extend the value of customer ratings and reviews by placing them onto sites where most people start their shopping experience. MSN, Pricerunner.com, and Smarter.com are the first major consumer sites in the SyndicateVoice network.

“SyndicateVoice represents the next major step in the evolution of customer ratings and reviews as a key word-of-mouth marketing strategy,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice.  “Our clients can now leverage the voice of their customers to extend their brand and acquire new customers on search engines and shopping comparison sites. Companies who silo reviews to their product pages or a single portal outlet are missing a tremendous opportunity to build their business.”

SyndicateVoice also allows participating portals and shopping comparison sites to extend the reach of their brand by syndicating their original review content to retailers on the Bazaarvoice platform. Now Bazaarvoice clients can choose to receive reviews from portals and shopping comparison sites that match their product set. Bazaarvoice clients benefit from a jumpstart to review volume at launch, so they can immediately help their site visitors make a purchase decision while they build up their own customer review volume. Portals and comparison sites benefit from monetizing consumer generated content, and increase the reach and visibility of their brand. 

Customer Reviews On The Rise
Trust in “someone like me” for advice and referrals has exploded from 20% to 68% in the last two years. (Edelman, January 2006).  According to a recent study by JupiterResearch, the number of online buyers who cite customer ratings and reviews as the most useful shopping site feature has more than doubled from 2005 to 2006. The study also found that ratings and reviews are nearly as valuable of a shopping resource as store web sites, search engine, and in-store visits. (JupiterResearch, August 2006)SyndicateVoice
SyndicateVoice allows companies to extend the visibility of their consumer-generated ratings and reviews to attract new customers, while providing portals and shopping comparison sites with content that consumers increasingly depend on. The SyndicateVoice Network™ is comprised of several of the largest portal and shopping comparison sites and will expand to include many more.  Key features include:

• Forward Syndication:  SyndicateVoice aggregates and normalizes reviews from participating retailers into XML that contains relevant ratings and a review excerpt. SyndicateVoice XML is seamlessly integrated with participating portal and shopping comparison site partners. The retailer’s branding is included in each review with a live link back to the retail site. These links are tracked and measured by Bazaarvoice. Tracking is also supported through Bazaarvoice’s web analytics partners.

• Reverse Syndication:  Bazaarvoice clients can choose to receive product ratings and reviews from the SyndicateVoice Network via integrated XML. Retailers can receive free content in exchange for including the appropriate attribution and links back to the portal or shopping comparison site partner. Alternately, retailers can pay the portal or shopping comparison site partner for their review content.

• Opt-in Participation: Bazaarvoice clients own 100% of all ratings and review content generated from their customers. Each client chooses whether or not to share their customers’ reviews across the SyndicateVoice Network, or they can pick and choose which portals and shopping comparison site partners can receive their review feeds.

SyndicateVoice is seamlessly integrated with Bazaarvoice’s ratings and reviews platform to allow retailers to maximize marketing impact and conversion rates.  Bazaarvoice provides the industry’s most advanced analytics to allow companies to pinpoint product trends, community sentiment, and key influencers based on review activity.  The Bazaarvoice solution is totally customizable and integrates with leading eCommerce tools including web analytics, site search, and email marketing services.

Pricing & Availability
SyndicateVoice is immediately available to all Bazaarvoice clients. The SyndicateVoice Network is open to all portal and shopping comparison site partners. Data feeds are free to portals in exchange for review links back to participating retailers. Pricing for SyndicateVoice to Bazaarvoice clients is based on a pay-for-performance fee.

For information on joining the SyndicateVoice Network, please contact Lisa Roberts at 512-732-9990 x323.

About Bazaarvoice

Bazaarvoice’s Software as a Service (SaaS) social commerce solutions have served more than 50 billion pieces of customer-generated content on more than 525 brand web sites like Best Buy, Costco, Dell, Macy’s, Overstock, P&G, Panasonic, QVC and USAA in 36 countries. The company connects organizations to their influencers through a unique network that reaches hundreds of millions of consumers around the globe, enabling authentic customer-powered marketing. Through syndication, analytics, partnerships, and consulting, Bazaarvoice brings the voice of the customer to the center of their clients’ business strategy, proving “social” can drive measured revenue growth and cost savings for manufacturing, retail, travel, and financial services companies. Headquartered in Austin, the company has offices in London, Paris, and Singapore. For more information and access to client success stories, visit www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at www.bazaarblog.com, and follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice.

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