Leverage User-Generated Content To Boost Brands

Sometimes customers can be a marketer's greatest asset in promoting a brand. User-generated content in the form of product and site reviews are a treasure trove of marketing information that can be mined for dynamic ways to market and advertise, especially online.

Customer reviews are the most prevalent source of online content, says Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice, a company that provides online brands with managed solutions to enable, encourage and monitor online customer ratings and reviews. Seventy-seven percent of all customers use them, and 81% of shoppers who spend more than $500 online each month use product reviews when making buying decisions.

The authors of reviews, which more often than not are positive, are known as brand advocates. Diane Rinaldo, senior director/retail category at Yahoo, estimates that 40% of the online buying population is an advocate. Their buying habits and online communications patterns have an enormous sphere of influence.

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Seventy-five percent of brand advocates versus 33% of non-advocates use social media several times a week. Advocates average 48 searches a month. Most importantly, they influence purchases two-to-one over non-advocates.

"Tapping into their voice can allow you to do some radical things from a marketing and merchandising perspective," says Hurt.

Marketers have begun to respond to the power of user-created product reviews--and some, like electronics retailer CompUSA, have even changed their online strategy to support them. CompUSA switched its landing page for users coming from search to a page of user-generated reviews. The result was a 60% higher conversion rate, with users spending 50% more.

In general, Hurt says top-rated product pages convert at a 59% higher rate, and people spend 16% more there.

PetCo and Overstock.com both have created ad campaigns that incorporate user-generated reviews. PetCo saw a 500% increase in its click-thru rate in ads with reviews. In some cases where user-generated reviews have been less than stellar, PetCo has been proactive about putting its customer service department to work in liaising between the negative review's authors and product manufacturers to seek to resolve product deficiencies, Hurt says.

Another suggestion that Bazaarvoice offers clients is to send a post-purchase e-mail in conjunction with a contest. "That becomes a loyalty driver by asking customers to share their opinions, and then they are entered into a contest for writing their review," says Hurt.

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