0:00 [MUSIC PLAYING] Hi, everyone, and thank you for joining today's webinar, Increasing conversion with quality reviews, part of our Retail Talk series featuring Petco. 0:25 My name is Sarah Berman, and I'm a business development manager here at Bazaarvoice. I've been with Bazaarvoice for about three years now working closely with some of our largest retailers on increasing brand engagement and driving user-generated content strategy. 0:38 Fun fact-- I have a 2 and 1/2 year old goldendoodle named Franklin. So I'm super excited to be hosting this webinar today to talk about one of my favorite retailers, Petco. 0:47 Today's webinar will be using our recent Petco case study as the foundation. Petco rolled out their Spotted Sampling Program which, along with their existing solutions, completed a full funnel, user-generated content solution. 1:00 Before we dig in, I do want to note that there will be a live Q&A at the end of this webinar with myself and Erin Finnegan, our client success manager. Let's get started. 1:11 Before I dive into the details of the case study, I want to start off with a quote said by Hannah Kredich, one of our e-commerce category specialists at Petco. 1:19 She said, "The idea of getting not only reviews but higher quality reviews with images for our own brand products was really enticing. We were looking to boost conversions and visits, and now we've seen that happen across sampled products." 1:32 So the reason I shared this quote with you is because I kind of want to set the basis of what the whole goal was for running this case study. And the three key goals of the case study were to build brand awareness, drive SEO traffic, and increase conversion. 1:46 So let's dig in to what this case study found. So the products on Petco weren't necessarily generating the number of reviews that they were hoping for. 1:58 So as I mentioned, we were really looking to drive brand awareness, build out SEO traffic, and increase conversion. And we did this by diving into really four key areas, as you can see here-- discover, consider, purchase, and champion. 2:11 Starting with discover, how do we get these products more discovered in search? How do we get people looking at them? How do we drive traffic to them? And if there's no reviews on it, that's kind of difficult to do. 2:22 So as a result of the case study, the products that went through the sampling program, we saw an 80% increase in clicks from organic search as well as a 67% increase in the number of pages that were ranked organically. 2:36 Next is the consideration phase. How do we really generate new content on these products so that people will consider to buy them in the future? And again, as a result of the sampling program, the products from Wholehearted and Reddy saw a 405% lift in review volume and a 9% lift in average rating and, overall, just the general quality of the reviews increased, which is really important. 2:58 And we'll touch on that a little bit later on in the webinar. The third phase is purchase. How do we create this experience that's going to create an increase in revenue, and we're going to see the direct results on our product pages? 3:10 And we saw exactly that. We built that brand awareness. We built that conversion. And as a result, we saw 48% revenue increase on these sampled products driven by a 28% increase in conversion and a 15% increase in average order value. 3:25 Lastly is the champion section. How do we start collecting quality content and really champion these products for our customers? And we did that by, as mentioned before, creating that full funnel, user-generated content strategy and curating and amplifying high-quality content at scale across the board that hopefully will be rolled out-- or will be rolled out to all other products. 3:48 And we did this in the form of ratings and reviews, questions and answers, and visual and social content. So now let's take a look at how you can get discovered and stand out in search, so really building that SEO and lifting your review volume. 4:04 We all know that reviews are a really critical part of the shopping experience. And I think now more so than ever in the past, people are using reviews and people are shopping online. 4:14 I don't know about you guys, but ever since the pandemic hit a few years ago, I have predominantly shopped online. And I am a big shopper. So I know I am looking at reviews when I'm purchasing a product. 4:26 I won't really buy a product if there's no reviews on it. So long story short, they matter. And 81% of shoppers are actually researching brands and products before making a purchase. 4:37 And then, I want to point out the chart on the right-hand side of the slide. We asked our customers where they consult before making a purchase. And the vast majority of them are looking at product reviews, looking at social media, looking at retailer and brand websites to really help them make an informed purchasing decision. 4:58 As a general rule of thumb, more reviews means more sales. As I mentioned before, Petco saw the review volume increase by 405% with organic search rankings and traffic also boosted. 5:09 This was all by leveraging the existing user-generated content that was being created by their community. When Bazaarvoice took a look at our top-performing retailers, those who focused on a well-rounded user-generated content program saw considerable lift in sales. 5:22 The statistics which you're seeing on this graph focus on the number of reviews per product and lift in orders for a small set of top-performing retailers. In addition to seeing an increase in purchases, you'll also begin seeing SEO benefits emerge as well as insights and trends in customer sentiment. 5:40 So Bazaarvoice did some research. We studied some clients, and we determined that the three key pillars of a healthy ratings and reviews program, in no particular order, are quality, quantity, and recency. 5:54 So breaking this down piece by piece, quantity-- I don't know about you, but I will not buy a product if there's say less than five reviews on it. 6:04 I want to see what everyone's saying. I don't care if it's positive. I don't care if it's negative. I want to read customer feedback. And I want to learn about how they're using the products, what they like about it, what they don't like about it. 6:14 And you can't really get that understanding from just having one review on it. The more product reviews you have the better. And we've seen that brands experience a 37% increase in sales when they grow from 0 to 100 reviews. 6:26 And I know 0 to 100 reviews is a pretty big window, but you can imagine that, even from 0 to 10 reviews, that's still going to give you a significant lift. 6:36 The second being quality-- what kind of reviews are customers leaving? Are they short, one-word answers or three-word answers saying this is a good product. 6:44 Or is it a descriptive review that has a picture and has a really good explanation as to how they used the product. That's really what people are looking for versus just the quick little, it was a good product, kind of review. 6:58 And the last one is recency. Recency matters. And similarly to all other content on the web, if it's not recent, it's really not relevant. 7:07 So shoppers are-- 85% of shoppers are really looking for that recent content. Reviews from say a year ago versus five years ago are probably much more beneficial to the shopper overall. 7:21 So with all of that being said, I think I've driven home the point of how important reviews are. So now you're probably thinking, well, Sarah, how can I get these reviews? 7:29 So before we get into the sampling program, I want to take a minute and revisit some of the findings from the case study specifically focused around the purchasing section. 7:41 So the Spotted Sampling Program drove some pretty impressive metrics when it came to making a purchasing decision on these Wholehearted and Reddy products that went through the sampling program. 7:50 Just as a refresher, they saw a 48% increase in revenue on sampled products driven by a 28% increase in conversion rate and a 15% increase in average order value. 8:00 Those are some pretty spectacular stats if I may say so myself. So with all of that being said, I'm going to dive a little bit into what this Spotted Program is and how it benefits you as a brand and your content at Petco. 8:13 So the Spotted by Petco program is a program that puts your products in the hands of loyal Petco shoppers in exchange for honest reviews on petco.com. 8:23 This is best used periodically across the year for strategic items, whether they're seasonal, new, or products with maybe some older, outdated reviews. 8:32 And I did want to take a moment to point out a quote that was stated in the case study by Hannah where she said, when you're on one of our product pages and you compare a Spotted sample review to a non-spotted review, 99% of the time, the Spotted reviews are longer, they're more specific, and they talk about things they like. 8:49 And frequently, they include images." And I think this is really important to point out going back to those three key pillars because she kind of hit on every single one of those pillars. 8:59 You're getting a quality review that includes photos and includes a description. You're probably going to get a handful of reviews, depending how many samples you do choose to send out. 9:08 And they're all recent. You're collecting them at the time that you send out that sample. So they're up to date, and you know they're relevant. 9:17 Something else important about the sampling program is thinking a bit more strategically about how to utilize it and when the best time would be to put a product through the sampling campaign. 9:29 The great thing about the Spotted Program is that there's really no wrong answer for it. There's not really a wrong time. And you can put pretty much any product through the sampling program. 9:40 It is important, however, to keep certain dates in mind, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which I know is kind of crazy to think about considering it's the end of March. 9:48 But I know it's important to start planning ahead and making sure that these products go through the program, and they have content in time for the busy holiday season. 9:59 So focusing in a little bit more on the fall and summer months, right now is really the time to start planning out your roadmap for the sampling program. 10:08 So while the timeline may vary, this is a general outline of when you should start begin planning, collecting content, putting products through the sampling program so that you can see reviews on petco.com in time for the holidays to come around or in time for set product launches if that's what you're utilizing it for. 10:29 It does take a little bit of time, but it is really an effective way to get those quality reviews on your products. And something else I want to point out-- we're going to drop a link in the chat for a Bazaarvoice sampling calculator. 10:41 And this is a tool that can be utilized by you guys as brands. And even if you're a retailer and you want to plan accordingly for, say, a private brand sampling campaign, but you can actually go into that calculator and you can put in an exact date when you want to see reviews live on the website. 10:56 And it'll give you a step-by-step breakdown with dates as to when each step of the sampling process needs to be completed. So it's a really good guide when it comes to those quarterly or brand or product planning sessions to utilize that calculator so that you can have a better idea as to when you should start sampling to see that content when you want it. 11:17 So now that you're collecting all this content, what else do you need to do to scale and amplify it to really inspire your customers to buy your product? 11:26 We know reviews are important, but we're also seeing the introduction of visual content within different stages of the shopping funnel. As you can see here, this is broken down into three sections of product imagery, first being show me, next thing convince me, and finally inspire me. And I'm going to go through each of these and give a bit of an explanation as to what I mean. 11:46 So the first section, show me. These are typically more traditional images, just enough information needed to tell someone that they maybe need to make the purchase. 11:56 But it's really just showing them the item in its most basic form. Next is convince me, convincing a shopper to buy, really showing the durability of the product. 12:04 You can see the dog is interested in that little toy. They're using it. If I saw that, I would probably buy it for Franklin, I'll be honest. 12:13 And this is really where user-generated content comes into play. It's really telling them, is this a product that's going to fit into my lifestyle and fit into the needs of my pet? 12:23 And the newest one and probably the most exciting one and most inspiring one is the inspire me part, really taking the content a step further. 12:31 So as you can see, this customer-- or this customer is showcasing an experience in something that I could be inspired to buy for my dog's third birthday. I might not know that I need the product, but I'm inspired to buy it based on the content. 12:44 I'm sure we could all use a little help envisioning products being used by real people or pets, in this case, in the real world. And that's really where social content comes in. 12:53 User-generated content such as ratings and reviews won't always convince your shoppers to purchase your product. And that's really where you need that little extra bit of inspiration. 13:02 So I know I can't see you guys, but how many times in the past year have you been influenced to buy something from Instagram or TikTok or maybe Twitter or Facebook? 13:11 I know, in the past few years, honestly, even months, maybe even days, I have gone down that rabbit hole too many times. And I am 100% influenced by people posting things on Instagram or TikTok. 13:23 And that's all thanks to social commerce. So while there are plenty of tools that exist out there to get content onto social media, the big issue is really taking advantage of that content. 13:34 How do you get the content that people are posting about your product and about your brand and allow people to shop it right then and there? And you'll really need a solution that can syndicate content to multiple customer touchpoints, whether that's a brand website or a retailer website to make that content shoppable. 13:51 Shopping anywhere requires shoppable content everywhere. Not only can you collect content through the sampling program, but with the Bazaarvoice visual syndication network, you can acquire high-quality social content about the products you carry scaled by your brand partners. 14:07 This will help in driving increased conversions with a cutting edge customer experience. So as a brand, you'll actually be able to see and choose the content that users are sharing about your product, tag those products, and then share the content out via the network to retailer sites such as Petco to inspire customers and increase conversions. 14:25 As you really begin to think about those seasonal activations, as we touched on earlier, this is another great way to acquire some more of that inspirational content. 14:34 Who would want to see a dog in a taco costume? I know I would. Taking a step back here, here's a full frontal approach to user-generated content. 14:43 Today we focused specifically on ratings and reviews, social commerce, and syndication. However, it's important to keep in mind that your customers are looking for all types of content regardless of where they're shopping, whether that's on your brand website or a retailer website like Petco. 14:58 For one last roundup, let's revisit the key findings from this amazing Petco case study. As I mentioned at the beginning, Petco's big goal was to increase brand awareness, drive SEO traffic, and conversions for Wholehearted and Reddy, which are two of their biggest private-label brands. 15:12 And I think, based on the outcome of this case study, they achieved all of those goals. So now I want to address a few key takeaways as a result of this webinar. 15:23 Number one, always remember the three pillars of a healthy user-generated content program-- quantity, quality, and recency. Number two, increase the quality of your user-generated content by leveraging what's out there on social media. 15:38 Number three, leverage the Spotted Program for seasonal activations or really just generally throughout the year when you have a big product launch or a big holiday or big event coming up. 15:48 And lastly, scale and amplify through social commerce and the visual syndication network, which can extend the reach of the content you're collecting. 15:56 Thank you all for joining today's webinar. If you haven't already, please feel free to put your questions into the Questions panel, and Erin and I will begin answering them shortly. 16:06 And if you have any further inquiries, please visit bazaarvoice.com/petco, and a colleague of mine will be in touch with you shortly. Thank you.
