Driving Consumer- generated Review Content

Transcription

1 Increasing Volume

2 There is never too much review content: Increasing Volume Bazaarvoice analysis across hundreds of brand, retail, and services clients makes it clear that the volume of consumer-generated content (CGC) on a site has a direct impact on return on investment (ROI). We have also discovered that there are three important inflection points of value that clients should consider when collecting review content. The second important volume inflection point drives SEO benefit, which manifests when around eight reviews are collected on a product. Because freshness is such an important driver of SEO value, continued volume increases preserve and increase SEO value well into the future, as hundreds or even thousands of reviews are collected. Conversion is the first inflection point. The biggest leaps in sales come as a result of the first several reviews on a particular product. Conversion rates see a steep incline as reviews stack up, and continue showing incremental increases well past INCREASING VOLUME REVEALS ZONES OF ROI 1,000 reviews. Several forms of ROI manifest at different levels of review volume, extending beyond conversion increases to drive search traffic and reveal product improvement suggestions. The final inflection point comes at the 100-review mark, when you can begin to derive product insights. At 100 reviews, content volume is high enough that you can get a clearer understanding of product suggestions, flaws, and insights. Range: 1+ reviews Increase in conversion is sharpest during early stages of volume growth Conversion SEO Range: 8+ reviews Businesses begin to see significant gains in natural search traffic. Product insights Range: 100+ reviews Trends in feedback reveal product suggestions and sentiment insights.

3 Five marketing initiatives/tactics to drive content volume The rule of driving consumer-generated content is to always remember: if you do not ask, you will not receive. 1. Post Interaction s (PIE) PIE is consistently the biggest driver of review content across the Bazaarvoice client portfolio. For ecommerce clients, the is sent after a purchase is made on the website. However, the use of PIE extends beyond ecommerce into other interactions such as filling out a rebate offer or registering a product. Here are some tips for making your PIE as effective as possible: a.in today s mobile-first world, simplicity is key. 55% of PIEs are opened on mobile devices, so the less images and excess text the better. That means that the call to action should be clear and easy to follow, and images and text should be minimized. b.with 55% of PIEs opened on mobile devices, both s and submission forms should be designed for mobile responsiveness. c.consider your PIE timing. Think about your purchase and delivery process and send PIE after the consumer has received the product and had time to experience it, but while that experience is still fresh in their mind. Testing timing to see what yields the highest response rate can be a useful approach. d.enhance your PIE program by adding a follow-up PIE as a reminder to write a review. Follow-up PIE has been shown to add up to 68% more volume. When adding follow-up PIE, it is required to implement the Bazaarvoice opt-out feature, which allows consumers to unsubscribe from PIE s. The opt-out feature allows more s to be sent since the consumer can opt-out of specific types of s and makes users less likely to mark s as spam if they can unsubscribe. Follow-up PIE can be configured to send a specific number of days after the first PIE. e. Sending PIE after offline interactions is also effective. If you are able to collect addresses at the time of purchase, while services are being rendered or during/after experiences, see if you can begin sending PIE to those offline shoppers to increase your volume.

4 2. Sweepstakes Motivating your consumers who have had a good experience with your product or service to leave a review for a small prize or giveaway can increase CGC by as much as 400%. a.holding sweepstakes/giveaways throughout the year can help drive volume consistently or in preparation for key seasons such as holidays or back-to-school. b. Prizes do not have to be expensive. A hamper of products or coupons can be a very compelling prize. c. Feature products or services that would benefit from increased volume - new products or products with few reviews are excellent candidates. d.promote the sweepstakes to consumers. Consider adding it to any newsletters, on your homepage, and on your social media channels to let your advocates know this is an opportunity for them to leave feedback. Increased Review volume by 1230 % Essie collected over 3,000 reviews with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars. Increased review volume by 400%

5 3. Product Sampling Allowing your consumers to test and try out products and asking for a review of their experience is a great way to increase CGC volume. a. We have found that four types of products benefit the most from sampling campaigns. a.new products, to support market launch with reviews already in place b.seasonal products only available for a short time that are not in market long enough to build critical mass c.products without reviews d.products with low average ratings and low volume b. We advise companies to sample products with their advocates. Tap into the communities of loyal customers, like top reviewers, subscribers, and social media communities. The more you engage your best advocates, the better results you will achieve. c.bazaarvoice has typically seen a 70-90% response rate of reviews submitted following a sampling campaign. We recommend increasing the sample size of your program by about 15% to ensure you achieve your target volume of reviews. d.be sure to have a clear call to action when developing sampling campaigns. Make it easy for consumers to leave CGC as they are signing up for samples and in follow-up materials. e. Product sampling is a form of what Bazaarvoice classifies as incentivized reviews. An incentivized review indicates that the contributor received a free product or service to review. Bazaarvoice requires these reviews to be badged to establish the authenticity of the contributor's review and increase consumer trust. The badge allows visitors to easily identify this content as incentivized. For more information about badging, please visit knowledge base or contact your client success director. With the sampling program, Scotch Brite collected over 400 reviews in 30 days with 98% being approved during moderation and an aggregate score of 4.2 out of 5 stars.

6 4. Tradeshows and events Sometimes sampling campaigns aren t practical due to the value or size of a product. In those cases, consider other times and places where consumers or experts interact with your products or services and ask for CGC at that time. Trade shows and events are a great example of this. a. Make it easy for testers to leave feedback right away. Have tablets available at the booth ready with submission forms to collect feedback. b. Let people know where they can see their feedback once it has been published. Advocates are likely to share their review or photo with friends once it has been published, bringing more awareness to your products. c. To ensure success of tradeshows and events, it s important to have clear objectives in place and a way to measure these. A few examples would be the number of new reviews and the star-rating, a hashtag that measures impressions, or a comparison of the changes in number of leads/ contacts year over year at tradeshows. Lawn equipment maker Briggs and Stratton encourages people to test new products at events, share content via social media, and leave reviews. Using this tactic, they gained more than 1.4 million social impressions and 460 new reviews with an average rating of 4.77 out of 5 stars. 5. Asking your existing communities Always remember that asking people to write a review is the best way to get content. With this in mind, be sure to tap into your existing communities of advocates to ask them periodically to leave feedback. Leverage social media followers, your customer database, or any other communities you have established. a. Be clear in your ask. Give them specific directions on what hashtag to use, where to leave a review, and what type of content you want. b. Feature a variety of products to gather content throughout your product catalog. c. When asking for content, feature content you have already collected to inspire advocates to add their opinion.

7 Driving volume is a central element of a healthy, valuable CGC program. Your client success director can help you to customize a volume plan that matches your business objectives and overall marketing strategy Stonelake Blvd., Austin, TX Toll-Free: Phone: Fax: