Bazaarvoice's Sam Decker to Present on Customer Centricity at Forrester Marketing Forum 2007

Word of mouth expert will share insights on how companies can incorporate the customer voice into operational processes to drive strategic marketing and build their brands

Austin, TX – April 6, 2007 – Bazaarvoice, an innovator in helping brands use online word of mouth to build their businesses, today announced that Bazaarvoice Vice President of Marketing and Products, Sam Decker, will speak on a panel about operationalizing customer centricity at the Forrester Marketing Forum 2007. The panel, titled How Leading Companies Are Moving To Customer Centricity, will take place Thursday, April 12 at 1:30 pm at the Intercontinental Miami Hotel.

“The customer is at the center of the marketing relationship today, but most companies struggle to cultivate this relationship to drive profitability and improve sales,” says Decker, a word of mouth marketing expert and frequent speaker at industry events, who was recently elected to the WOMMA board of directors. “There's nothing more authentic to a business than customers talking to each other. When companies systematically listen – and respond – to these conversations, they take a big step toward becoming customer-centric. I’m excited to join three stellar speakers in this panel to give attendees practical, real-world tips on how to put the customer at the center of their brands and businesses.”

Decker will be joined on the panel by Brian Carpenter, vice president of sales, marketing and advertising at Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc.; Chet Van Wert, strategic marketing director of consumer marketing at Conde Nast; and Sucharita Mulpuru, senior retail analyst at Forrester. These marketing thought leaders will discuss the tactics, organizational structure, and key performance indicators they use to drive successful customer-centric marketing and customer service initiatives.

Decker will also present recent survey data that shows how important customer-centricity has become in driving strategic marketing. For example, more than 80% of shoppers consider product ratings and reviews “important” in researching or planning a purchase, and those that read customer reviews often have a 50% higher conversion rate than customers who do not. He will also present tips on getting top management to embrace the voice of the customer, and will offer best practices to accelerating adoption and sustaining progress in customer-centric programs.

About the Forrester Marketing Forum 2007
Media fragmentation, new communication channels, fast-changing customer behavior, and the pressure to prove the effectiveness of marketing spending require that companies rethink marketing's role, redefine the marketing organization, and radically change age-old processes. The Forrester Marketing Forum 2007 brings together leading Forrester analysts to present research on how marketing organizations are leading their firms toward customer-centricity. Industry executives will also share their companies' experiences and best practices for transforming their organizations and effectively partnering to reach their clients within this changing environment.

The Forrester Marketing Forum takes place April 11 – 12 in Miami, Florida. Complete event information is available at www.forrester.com/marketingforum2007.

About Bazaarvoice
Based in Austin, Texas, Bazaarvoice offers outsourced technology, community management services, analytics, and syndication to encourage and harness word of mouth marketing, and bring it closer to a company’s brand and customer experience. The company’s flagship hosted and fully managed customer ratings and review service allows businesses to enable, encourage, and analyze customer ratings and reviews on their website. With Bazaarvoice, companies can empower their customers to share honest opinions and influence each other to make more informed and rewarding purchase decisions. Clients like Bass Pro Shops, CompUSA, Overstock.com, Macy’s, and PETCO benefit from a credible and reliable customer-to-customer community, without having to delve into complex IT work or the laborious process of community management. Bazaarvoice was named Marketing Innovation of the Year in the 2006 ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards and received a “Red Herring 100 North America” award by Red Herring magazine. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.bazaarvoice.com or email .

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