User-generated content: Not just for retailers anymore…

Shelf space, “voice space”: it takes both.

As manufacturers strive to differentiate their brands among the shelves – and web pages – of retailers, user-generated content can help brands rise above the noise of traditional advertising, allowing input from real users to help drive consumer buying decisions. Manufacturers who help collect and share user-generated content – in the form of ratings and reviews, answered questions or user experiences – will incrementally drive more sales through retailer sites and stores.

In effect, user-generated content helps increase the overall attention and content for a manufacturer’s products– enhancing their online “shelf space.” Using user-generated content to do this also means that a manufacturer is not required to pay for additional advertising space with the retailer.

User-generated content is not only a cost-effective way to get attention on a retailer’s site, but we know that marketing has changed dramatically; consumers don’t listen to advertising or marketing messages anymore. They want to hear from other consumers like them.

Because of this shift, marketing best practices have fundamentally changed:

Consumer opinion, not advertising, controls the message – meaning marketers must focus on fostering customer conversations to understand the most impactful selling points. The New York Times found that 71% of survey respondents list "word-of-mouth" as the key influencer in swaying purchase decisions.
Brand discussions are taking place all across the Internet. Forward-thinking brands must be directly engaged in these conversations today.
Authentic, customer-created content can be used online and offline to drive sales and build brand loyalty across the channel.

Brand impact extends beyond direct sales

Manufacturers that do not sell direct, or count direct sales as a sliver of their business pie, still benefit tremendously from capturing consumer-generated content. Engaging customers and making them part of the brand builds loyalty and increases customer satisfaction. For example, a 2007 study from the IBM Institute for Business Management shows that while those adults who use social networking do so to attain a feeling of community, 17% of the adults surveyed say they do so because they like to participate with brands they favor.

It’s time to join the conversation. If you don’t give customers an opportunity to share their opinions at your site, that won’t stop them. They’ll still consult each other. They’ll inform each other. They’ll conduct marketing campaigns with or without you facilitating the process.

When you choose the Bazaarvoice solution, here are just a few ways your brand benefits:

Drive direct and channel sales
User generated content such as reviews has increased conversion as much as 30% in eCommerce environments. Syndicating this content to your top channel partners creates a multiplicative effect on online and offline sales. The Dieringer Research Group recently found that “for every dollar spent online, at least $1.70 is spent offline after doing online research.” Read more statistics about online research driving offline sales here.
Reduce returns in the channel
Retailers know that a more informed customer is a more profitable customer. Our research shows that return rates drop by more than 20% when products are reviewed, versus products without reviews.
Increase brand awareness
Syndicating content to channel partners increases the number of times your products will appear in email campaigns and site searches, and increases the exposure you receive in print and online advertisements. It also increases the time customers spend on your product pages.
Increase Brand Loyalty
Enabling your customers to interact with each other increases their level of engagement and loyalty. McKinsey Consulting found that users who submit reviews become twice as loyal.

Bazaarvoice helps you tune in to the customer voice.

Bazaarvoice offers cutting-edge products to acquire customer input, study it closely, and amplify it in other channels where it can be heard by an even greater number of potential customers.

The Ratings & Reviews™ solution combines technology, services, and expertise to harness customer opinions and help you build a dialogue with your clients.

Bazaarvoice Stories™ allows your customers to share their personal experiences without being tied to a numerical rating system. This gives them to chance to talk about the overall buying process, showing the “how” and “why” attached to the purchase decision and share experiences after their purchase.

The Ask & Answer ™ solution taps the power of online communities to address consumers’ unanswered questions that can stop a purchase decision and send them to a competing site. You’ll also save time and money on the customer service side—when customers inform one another, there is far less strain on your organisation to provide all of the answers.

You take care of your brand; we’ll handle the rest.

Bazaarvoice provides the only complete framework that allows manufacturing marketers to capture, manage and market authentic, customer-created content. We’ve developed this as our core competence so you can stay focused on what you do best.

We’ll make it easy for you to start listening, fast.

Our fully-customisable white label solution blends seamlessly with your brand, customer authentication, and user experience. You’ll also benefit from custom integration available with more than 30 eCommerce partners in site search and navigation, email marketing, Web analytics, personalisation and recommendations.

User-generated content helps create sales, and we can help you prove it.

Actionable analysis of customer review content and trends drives greater impact from word of mouth. Bazaarvoice leads the industry by providing user-generated content analytics access you can use to improve merchandising, messaging and advertising, customer support, and product development.

Need help? New ideas? You’re covered.

Your Community Manager gives you dedicated, personal word of mouth marketing consulting, so you have access to the most effective promotional techniques and best practices. We show you how to maximise your investment in user-generated content.

Spread the word just about anywhere.

Our solutions enable you to extend the business impact of customer-to-customer conversations by amplifying customer-generated content beyond your web site to attract new customers.
See what some of our customers have to say