An Introduction to Ratings, Reviews, and ROI (2006)

Online word of mouth takes many forms, from individual blog posts to threaded message board conversations, but one particular form is quickly emerging as the new consumer-generated media of choice for leading online retailers and e-commerce sites focused on extracting both immediate and long-term ROI from their marketing efforts: customer ratings and reviews. Ratings and reviews are highly focused on the objects of the purchase task, frequently sought out by consumers, and highly measurable.

This whitepaper presents case studies from three clients of Bazaarvoice, a provider of online customer ratings and reviews functionality and supporting services. All three companies launched customer ratings and reviews on their web sites in late 2005 and have observed measurable business impact from the investment. Bazaarvoice worked with each company to measure the online conversion impact of integrating and leveraging product-specific word of mouth in existing marketing programs and contexts.