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How Leading Retailers Use Word of Mouth in Marketing & Merchandising

Brant Barton, VP Business Development Bazaarvoice

Ratings, Reviews & ROI

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Customer Ratings & Reviews . . . Why?

• User-generated content that passes key tests: • Authentic (users say things that Marketing can’t) • Focused on the object of the purchase task • Highly sought out by consumers• Highly measurable

• Proven driver of conversion • 81% of surveyed CompUSA shoppers say reviews are

important to their purchase decisions (August 2006)• PETCO customers ranked reviews #1 site feature most

influential to purchase, beating site search (July 2006)

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Most Widely Read Consumer-Generated Content

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1 2 3 4 5

Rating

% o

f Tot

al

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Customer Ratings Are Highly Positive

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Customers Write Better Copy

“These plants made it through Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and the hot weather that followed. We were asked to conserve water so no sprinklers. These plants were troopers with no watering at all -they bloomed their hearts outwhen everything else was crispy brown. I'm putting in my order for twice the number this year."

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Efficient Fuel for Multichannel Marketing

60% higher conversion(CompUSA)

43% higherclickthrough

(Burpee)

49% higher conversion(PETCO)

55% higher conversion(Golfsmith)

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• Ratings & Reviews case studies from 5 leading multichannel retailers

• Metrics are based on segmentation analysis using web analytics tools (e.g., Coremetrics)

Measuring WOM Retailer Case Studies

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Integrating the Terminology Framework

• Ratings & Reviews are WOMUnits • Retailers act as Senders• Their Actions include:

• Distribution of reviews on retailer web sites & in email newsletters

• Indexing reviews on search engines, on-site & off • Syndication of reviews via RSS

• The ultimate Outcome and ROI measuring stick is Conversion

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Customer Reviews Enhance CompUSA’s Natural Search Presence

CompUSA customers acquired via reviews-related searches convert at 60% higher than the average customer and spend 50% more per order

Reviews-related searches drive 10,000s of visitors to CompUSA each week

CompUSA customers acquired via reviews-related searches convert at 60% higher than the average customer and spend 50% more per order

Reviews-related searches drive 10,000s of visitors to CompUSA each week

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Customer Ratings Define PETCO’s Site Search Experience . . .

Sort by Rating drives 41% higher sales per visitor than conventional methods

Sort by Rating is now PETCO’s default option

PETCO’s success is driving other retailers to use similar tactics

Sort by Rating drives 41% higher sales per visitor than conventional methods

Sort by Rating is now PETCO’s default option

PETCO’s success is driving other retailers to use similar tactics

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. . . And Casual Browsing Experience

Customers who browse the Top Rated Products sections of PETCO.comconvert at 49% higher and spend 63% more than non-TRP browsers on a multi-session basis

Customers who browse the Top Rated Products sections of PETCO.comconvert at 49% higher and spend 63% more than non-TRP browsers on a multi-session basis

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Customer Reviews Drive Higher Clicks For Burpee’s Featured Products

Burpee RSS feed updates that feature customer reviews receive 43% more clicks than the RSS feed’s average daily clickthroughs

Burpee now leverages reviews on its blog as well

Burpee RSS feed updates that feature customer reviews receive 43% more clicks than the RSS feed’s average daily clickthroughs

Burpee now leverages reviews on its blog as well

Slide 14

Golfsmith Lets Its Customers Do the Talking . . . and Emailing

Golfsmith’s use of customer-generated copy in its email newsletter resulted in 55% higher conversion and 54% higher sales per email sent

Golfsmith’s use of customer-generated copy in its email newsletter resulted in 55% higher conversion and 54% higher sales per email sent

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Bass Pro Shops Finds Success With Top Rated Products

Bass Pro Shops customers that browse Top Rated Products pages convert at 59% higher and spend 16% more than the average browser

Bass Pro Shops customers that browse Top Rated Products pages convert at 59% higher and spend 16% more than the average browser

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What’s Next? Syndication & Beyond . . .

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Many Other Benefits & Opportunities

• Reduce product return rates and increase post-purchase satisfaction

• Seize opportunities to redesign and improve products based on customer feedback

• Build deeper relationships with your most passionate and vocal customers

• Use participation to drive loyalty marketing strategies

• Leverage content offline – at the register, in-store signage, in the call center

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is a fully hosted solution for customer-created content

- Hosted technology- Content review- Analytics & reporting- Search & syndication

Who is Bazaarvoice?