In February 2008, Kingston, the independent world leader in memory products, launched Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews on Kingston.com, attracting customers who wrote product reviews. Meanwhile, Office Depot also collected Kingston reviews on OfficeDepot.com, where they had launched Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews in January 2008. By October 2008, Kingston products on the Office Depot site averaged one customer review per product. In mid-October, using the BrandVoice program, Kingston began syndicating their product reviews on OfficeDepot.com. Within weeks, Kingston increased their reviewed products on OfficeDepot.com by 283%. BrandVoice enables manufacturers such as Kingston to gather and display customer-generated product reviews on the manufacturer site, then syndicate these reviews on leading retailer sites.

Office Depot agreed to accept syndicated reviews from Kingston.com, and after less than one month, the results were as follows:

• Kingston product reviews catapulted from an average of one review to an average of 10 per product on OfficeDepot.com. Other memory products from competing brands have an average of just 1.5 reviews per product on OfficeDepot.com.
• For Kingston products with syndicated reviews, conversion shot up 92% that month
• Conversion for Kingston products without reviews increased 35%

BrandVoice and the “halo effect”

Clearly, Kingston was able to exponentially increase reviews on OfficeDepot.com, so conversion on those products almost doubled. However, an almost even more compelling statistic is the 35% conversion increase for products that are not yet reviewed.

This metric indicates that, overall, Kingston products have a higher visibility on OfficeDepot.com, and consumers tend to trust their products overall, due to the high overall review volume for Kingston products in the memory category. The increased review penetration dramatically lifted brand equity for Kingston.

The bottom line

Syndicating customer reviews via BrandVoice enables Kingston to build its user-generated content on OfficeDepot.com, gaining valuable “shelf space” on the site. This is critical, as JupiterResearch (2006) found that 77% of consumers seek product reviews before purchasing a product.

The reviews also increased Kingston’s conversion and increased the likelihood that shoppers would find Kingston products on OfficeDepot.com, both major benefits of using product reviews online.

“BrandVoice offers a measurable and transparent channel marketing program that delivers real results,” said Mark Leatham, Kingston Director of Flash Business Development in October 2008. “By syndicating reviews, we’re able to amplify the voices of our brand advocates and provide shoppers with the information they need to make the right purchase decision. As a result, we’re able to improve our brand image for channel shoppers, while increasing sales and decreasing returns. In this competitive holiday season, BrandVoice is a powerful add-on to our traditional channel marketing initiatives for Kingston.”