Bazaarvoice Analysis Reveals That Positive Online Reviews Outweigh Negative Reviews 8 to 1

Across multiple online retailers, manufacturers, and service providers, 82 percent of online product ratings are 4 or 5 stars

Austin, TX – October 03, 2006 – Bazaarvoice, an innovator in helping brands use online word of mouth to build their businesses, today announced the first benchmark analysis of customer ratings and reviews. Analysis across a diverse set of products and services indicates that positive reviews outweigh negative reviews 8 to 1, with an average rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars across all live Bazaarvoice clients.

This distribution is consistent across a wide variety of product and service categories, including: computer products; pet products; apparel; travel; leisure; real estate; sporting equipment; and other categories. Data reflects hundreds of thousands of ratings from over 30 online retailers and service providers who follow a standard open policy of posting positive and negative product reviews.

"When we first started Bazaarvoice, we talked to advisors, retail experts, and prospective clients who expected to see an equal number of negative and positive reviews," said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. "Our analysis now shows that reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Shoppers are eager to spread the word about great products rather than badmouthing the worst. This leads to exciting opportunities for our clients to further promote their best products through site search, email campaigns, shopping portals, advertisements, call centers, and even their physical stores."

"We are seeing a 'Rating J-Curve' across many clients in diverse industries," said Sam Decker, vice president of marketing and products at Bazaarvoice. "The distribution looks like a J on a graph, where you see a low volume of 1 star reviews, fewer 2 and 3-star reviews, and a huge jump in 4 and 5-star ratings. While surprising at first, this finding agrees with third-party studies that suggest word of mouth is much more positive than we often assume."

Recent research suggests that the customer voice is more often positive than not. According to research by Keller Fay Group, 63 percent of all word of mouth is positive. A recent JupiterKagan study concludes that 60 percent of online shoppers provide feedback about a shopping experience, and are more likely to give feedback about a positive experience than a negative one.

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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