Posts from — July 2008

In my previous post on social shopping, there was a good comment exchange with Shammara on the role of word of mouth in online retail, which led me to look at the influence of online reviews on purchase behavior.

From this Deloitte study, we find the 82% of online shoppers who read reviews say reviews have a direct influence on what they buy, either changing their minds on which product to buy or to provide reassurance on purchasing their original choice.

This word of mouth influence from consumer generated reviews covers a broad range of products, from electronics to consumer packaged goods.

There also seems to be a wide range of approaches that allow sites to capitalize on word of mouth.

For instance, at Amazon.com you can find not only customer reviews, but also editorial reviews, personalized recommendations, wish lists, tell a friend links, Listmania, and “Customers who bought (or looked at) this item also bought”, etc.

Buzzillions, as Shammara pointed out, is an aggregator of customer reviews of products that collects reviews from retailers across the web, such as REI, Staples, and BH Photo.

What I find innovative about their approach is how they provide verification for all 2.3 million reviews they’ve collected to date and the unique way they use tagging to classify the different reviews across all the categories they cover.  This tagging allows them provide useful snapshot reviews that include summaries of top pros, cons, and best uses for a product.

Yelp is a review site that does for restaurants and other local venues, what Amazon does for books.

By incorporating key features of social networking, including such things as extensive user profiles and connections to friends, Yelp levers social proof and authority, which are two of the four key principles of persuasive social media marketing, in order to bring their site to life.

Each of these resources utilize customer and/or user reviews in different ways, but all are highly effective.  By levering the power of consumer generated word of mouth, they are able to take online (and offline) retail to the next level.

Versus visiting a mall or any other type of shopping center, many online retailers tends to be singularly focused on one aspect of shopping, the final purchase.

There is no sense of wandering through the aisles, watching others as they shop, or having someone with you to provide advice.

What is missing is the social aspect of buying something, which is one of the foundations of the Web 2.0 experience.  And for some online retailers who are not optimized to take advantage of this, this is a missed opportunity.

According to a recent Guidant\Synovate eNation study, more than 60% of respondents report being drawn to online retailers that employ Web 2.0 tools and techniques.

These social tools include soliciting feedback and providing recommendations on products and services, along with welcoming them and making them feel part of a community.

The reason why this is critical is that word of mouth is one of the primary influencers in having a consumer purchase one product over another.

According to this Nielsen Online Global Consumer study, recommendations from consumers are the most trusted form of advertising out there, along with consumer opinions posted online.

An enhanced online shopping experience isn’t necessarily fancier graphics or flash programs.

The best online retail experiences are the ones that lever one of the most important aspects of offline shopping, the social aspect and the opinions of others.

Lately, everyone associated with marketing or advertising is talking about creating “communities” and having “conversations” with their consumers through Social Media Marketing.

What is missing are good examples of how Social Media is being used effectively and, most importantly, how are they measuring that effectiveness to calculate ROI.

I’ve tracked down a couple of recent examples that I feel do a good job in both levering Social Media and tracking results from their efforts.

This case study of Sea World San Antonio (hat tip to Alex Nesbitt at Digital Podcast) shows how working with communities of roller coaster enthusiasts through YouTube videos and Flickr images the marketers at Sea World were able to create significant pre-launch buzz for a new water ride, Journey to Atlantis.

The best part of this example, as demonstrated in this video case study done by Shel Israel at FastCompany.tv, is how they were able to provide concrete measurement of results from the campaign through multiple sources, including use of custom surveys and online site statistics.

Through their research, they were able to clearly separate those visitors who came through their Social Media efforts, versus the rest of the people who visited the park on a daily basis.

Carnival Cruise Lines has had a track record of success in Social Media Marketing for some time now. Tameka Kee of Online Media daily shows how they built on that success through an online partnership with ScrapBlog.com (a community built around scrapbooking) that allows guests from their cruises to share snapshots and video clips with friends and family in a branded environment.

As Carlos Garcia, CEO and co-founder of Scrapblog says of the initiative:

“A Carnival cruiser comes back and has pics and video that are essentially already branded. When they share it with friends and family, they’re sharing the brand. Allowing them to create a scrapbook online increases the number of people that can interact with the brand exponentially.”

Additionally, like the Sea World Example, Carnival also was able to get a better understanding of their initiative through concrete performance metrics by tracking the number of scrapblogs created by their guests, visit stats to the created scrapblogs, and registered conversions at CarnivalConnections.com due to scrapblog visits.

Creating effective Social Media Marketing campaigns is good first step for brands. Measuring that effectiveness on the back end is the critical next step that all brands should be taking as well.