It all boils down to credibility.  Customer reviews simply have more credibility than your sales copy, so they inspire more confidence in the buyer.  And negative reviews lend credibility to the review process itself, standing as visible proof that the reviews are not edited.

Makes sense right?  Sure it does, until you find yourself staring at the (perceived) ability of a blisteringly negative review to crush your sales of a given product or service. Then those other statistics and facts are easier to overlook.

So if you’re in that position, just consider this quote from an Amazon.com review:

“…You may find it extremely interesting that I am leaving a review on Amazon because the company I actually bought the product from DID NOT post my lukewarm review. In fact, all the reviews on their website are nothing but 5 star, positive and glowing. I abhor this manner of conducting business and felt the public had a right to know ALL personal experience with this product, not just the 5 that are wonderful…”

When it comes to possible venues for negative online reviews there are:

• forums for any number of interests
• scores of review sites available online
• blogs,
• and FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, and new social media platforms popping up every day.

There’s simply no shortage of online venues for posting negative reviews.

And what do you think happens to your credibility when negative reviews (of one of your products) are easy to find on the web, but non-existent on your website?

Here’s another example:

About three weeks ago I installed some Dream Home laminate flooring in my recently enclosed garage.  I bought it from a nationally known flooring wholesaler, Lumber Liquidators.  The product was supposed to be “click & lock,” floating flooring, except there was no click, and the boards didn’t really lock together.   So the boards could, and in fact did, come apart as I got several layers into the project.  Gaps would appear and I’d have to undo and then redo all those layers to fix them.

Unbelievably frustrating and a total pain in the butt.

Yet the product reviews, which were balanced between 4 and 5 stars, never said anything about this.  The FAQ never said anything about this.  Customer service said they’d never had customer encounter this problem before.  Apparently, it was just a freak, unexplained phenomenon – a flooring mystery!

Then I Googled “Dream Home Laminate Flooring” and was led to a DIY-forum full of people who experienced the exact same thing I had.  We’re talking like 30 posts of customer experience with the product.  And yet none of these mixed or bad reviews had ever ended up on Lumber Liquidator’s site and they – the only people who sell this product – had never heard of the main installation problem mentioned.

To be fair, some of these reviews/forum posts were very positive, mentioning the reviewers installation struggles in passing or in good humor, and some of the forum members/posters were outraged, trashing on the product and its country of origin.  But all these reviews, both good and bad, were available to me from the 1st search engine result from Google.  It’s not like they were hidden or I had to hunt these down or anything.

The point: Your brand and product perception is not what you say it is anymore but what Google says it is.

Removing negative reviews from your site doesn’t mean they disappear; it just means there’s now a mismatch between what you say and what Google tells me your customers say.  I mean, how much credibility do you think Lumber Liquidators had with me after I found that forum?

While I couldn’t say for certain whether they were editing their reviews, by that time, you could say I was rather suspicious.  So I wrote my own fair but not overwhelmingly positive review.  I gave the product 3 stars, said the installed floor looked nice and was a great price, but that it was a total pain in the butt to install and that the click & lock feature neither clicked nor locked.  I even confirmed my identity to ensure the review went through.

About a week later, my review has still not posted.  Yesterday I called to find out why and Customer Service couldn’t answer me, said someone would get back to me on that issue.

Of course, I still can’t say for certain whether or not Lumber Liquidators is editing their reviews.  It’s possible I’m the first person who has ever given that product a negative review.  It’s possible that all their products, just about every single one, actually do score 4s and 5s with nary a low score in the bunch (though I DID see one 2-star review for one of their products when I went hunting for lower-scored reviews – but only ONE of them, mind you).

Still, for the sake of example, let’s just say – hypothetically speaking – that they do edit negative reviews, including my review.  Let me ask you this: did that strategy work for them?  Did they stop the review, or did they just switch its location?

And had I known about the difficulty of the flooring, would it really have ruined their sale, or just helped me to expect and work around the installation challenges – or even just pushed me to buy a more expensive (and easier to install) product from them?

Personally, I think negative reviews would have worked in their favor.  And I hope you now grasp the emotional (as well as the statistical) truth of that, too.

P.S.  While I continue to be suspicious of the Lumber Liquidators website, I have to say that their Pensacola branch, and the people working there, were very pleasant to do business with and I’d still recommend them to friends and family looking to DIY install hardwood, engineered, or laminate flooring.

If you’ve been to one of our trainings over the past few years, or seen any of us present at a conference, you’ve probably heard the line about the average tenure of a Chief Marketing Officer being less than the gestation period of an elephant.  Well, it’s time for some new material.  New research from executive search firm Spencer Stuart shows that CMOs are making it into their 3rd year with the same organization, on average, based on a review of the 100 most advertised brands in the U.S.

The CMO Strategy column in Ad-age does a good job postulating why CMO tenure is rising, and soliciting feedback from the folks who put together the research for Spencer Stuart, as well as a few who currently hold the position of their firms marketing top dog.  I’m encouraged to see most interviewed recognizing the (necessary) shifting role towards more accountable marketing- establishing hard measures of success and utilizing Analytics tools to help achieve the organization’s underlying objectives:

“Elisabeth Charles, who starts a new post as CMO of Petco in mid-February, also credits analytics and measurable results for the increased tenure. “You see a lot more folks doing marketing ROI studies, using more direct marketing that can be measured and shows a payback, as well as really scrutinizing the balance of brand investment vs. traffic or sales driving initiatives.”

Ms. Charles goes on to point out an area that has improved but “is still highly underleveraged”, that of utilizing technology & tools to better tap into consumer insights- listening to the voice of the customer.  Interesting she brings that up, as it dovetails with a another piece of research on CMOs, seemingly far more negative.

Bestselling author Scott McKain (@scottmckain) points to a new study by the CMO Council, and opines:

“While we often first point the finger at the Chief Financial Officer as being disconnected from customers, the truly shocking part of the study is that it is the Chief Marketing Officer who fails to listen to, and learn from, the very people they are marketing to!”

Now before you get all hot and bothered by Scott’s comments, he’s simply reacting to the CMO Council’s published statistics.  MediaPost spoke with the Executive Director of the CMO Council, Donovan Neale-May, and when you understand the lens through which he views the role of CMO, it makes sense why he’s led Scott to the conclusion above.

Donovan defines the CMOs most critical role as “owning every facet of listening, learning, interacting, engaging, and optimizing the relationship with the customer, and understanding where the attrition, pain and aggravation is, and doing this in real time.”  I like that definition, although I’d offer we need to add an explicit benefit/outcome- optimizing the relationship with the customer, to what end?  As long as it’s help them achieve their goals, and by extension, our business goals, I’m on board.  Doing so also reminds ourselves of our responsibility to our organization to be new age accountable marketers   I digress.

“Neale-May argues that the study shows that marketers tend to view customer services reactively, as a function for resolving a problem, not enough as an opportunity to engage or interact. Only about 37% of companies surveyed gather customer insight from customer engagement situations, per the firm. Only 15% use such situations to identify and cultivate potential customer champions and advocates. Only a third reported that they look for ways to turn problems into new sales opportunities, and only 16% introduce new products or services to further monetize the relationship.”

Apparently this research seems to validate what Elisabeth Charles expressed in her Ad-age quote, underleveraged indeed.

However, I think these two pieces of research, taken out of context, simply show (or aim to show) extremes on a continuum.  This shouldn’t be a sky-is-falling blog post, there’s good news and opportunity here.  As a marketing community as a whole, there’s still plenty of room for growth, but collectively *I think* we’re improving.  I look at brands like Comcast (with Frank @ComcastCares), Dell (@RichardAtDell), JetBlue (@JetBlue), Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) as signs of a positive trend.  I look at service providers like BazaarVoice, who not only get it themselves, but can be legitimate resources to helping their client organizations improve their efforts to better listen and serve their customers.  I look at CMOs like Barry Judge (BestBuy), Sam Decker (BazaarVoice), Patrick Moran (Mzinga) who are clear examples of accountable marketers, who know the value of (and have the discipline to) measure success and continually optimize, not to mention constantly listen, learn & interact with their customers.  These signs point me to this trend accelerating in the future, despite the current research.  I choose to see the glass half full, although I know, hope is not a strategy.

All that said, I can be as optimistic as I choose to be, but I’d much rather listen to the marketing practitioners themselves, you guys out there with your feet on the street.

• Do you see a shift in your organization towards aligning your business objectives with your customers?
• Do you see the Marketing group and the Sales groups breaking down silo walls and collaborating on the same performance goals?
• Are you finding service providers and tool makers who help you leverage the social web to get closer to your audience, to better understand them, and to better service them?

If so, we’d love to listen and learn from you, so please share with your community here and don’t be a stranger.

The list of favorite things we would want as gifts:

1. iPod Touch

2. A day of Helli skiing or Cat skiing.

3. Old-school snowsuit so you can feel like you’re a kid again.

4. New snowboarding boots- Women’s size 7 please (not for me, of course).

5. Educational toys like a Marshmallow Shooter.

6. Nikon D90 – shoot pictures and video on a DSLR – Cool! (I received a D60 for father’s day, just before this came out, but happy to upgrade).

7. Ed Hardy t-shirts- X-Small (again, not for me – XXL shirts for Jeffrey, who wears Tall, and me)

8. A Bacon scarf – for the geek who loves food (is this kosher?)

9. An Audible.com gift certificate.

10. iMuffs MB220 Wireless Headphones

11. A vacation anywhere – so we can disconnect for a while (keep the wi-fi far away).

12. Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator

13. A. G. Russell Italian Wine Steward’s Tool

14. Fly Stick Van de Graaff Levitation Wand

15. MX-1 World’s Smallest R/C Copter

16. A Cardscan (now for the Mac) – for all those business cards we collect.

17. Rock Band 2 for Xbox 360 or Wii

18. A MacBook Pro – Once you go Mac, you never go back.

19. TiVo TCD658000 HD XL DVR

20. Pure Digital Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder

If you are feeling generous, feel free to send us something. Our address is here.

If you are a web geek, then let us know what are you wishing for. Feel free to leave it in the comments below.

I hope you get everything you wish for and more.

So why would I want to read reviews when I could examine the stroller first hand?

Because I was a yet-to-be-first-time parent and I knew that what really separates good from mediocre strollers are the things that only become apparent with longer-term use and/or at least some parenting experience.  I wanted to know things like: does the stroller hold up to continued use; how easy is it to load in the car; are there things that start to come in handy that I might not already know about, like one-handed operation, extra cargo room, tight-turning radius, etc.  In short, I wanted to know the kind of things I’d be more likely to read about in reviews than I’d be likely to see or think about by taking a 5-minute stroll down the Babies”R”Us aisle with no baby in the stroller.

As it turns out the persuasive appeal of long-term thinking isn’t new to the internet age.  In Breakthrough Advertising, Gene Schwartz specifically advises copywriters to “Stretch Out Your Benefits in Time.”  But while product copy can do an adequate job of that, it’s nowhere near as credible as a customer review that mentions a product’s enduring or longer-term benefits.

So it was with an overpowering sense of deja vu that I read Holly Buchanan’s post on gender differences in product reviews.   Seems men are more likely to mention the product’s immediate usefulness and performance while women are more likely to talk about a product’s longer-term ability to fit into her lifestyle, which might explain why the stroller reviews leaned heavily towards long-term benefits.

My question and suggestion is this: what is your company doing to solicit / elicit long-term product reviews from your customers?

Seems like this would be especially important if your product is in the higher-quality, higher-price-point part of the curve.  If your product shines best in long-term performance, what are you doing to ensure those traits and stretched-out-in-time benefits are showing up in your customer reviews?

Bryan will be presenting the session “Pay Per Conversation” together with Brett Crosby, Group Manager of Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer, on the 18th at 11:15am and immediately after, Bryan will be available to sign copies of his book being provided as a courtesy by Google.

Get there early since Google will only be giving away a few hundred books. If you can’t make it there you can always sign up for our next Always Be Testing webinar for your chance to win 1 of 3 signed copies (by both of us).

Want to know more about the book? Watch the interview below or read one of the online reviews:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click Z (Mike Grehan):
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630480

100 Dollar SEO (Carlos Del Rio):
http://www.100dollarseo.com/always-be-testing-a-cookbook-for-web-optimizer/landing-page-optimization

DamnIWish (Andy Sernovitz):
http://www.damniwish.com/2008/08/use-reviews-to.html

Click here to view the embedded video.

Better yet, why don’t you buy a copy for yourself and send us your own review to link to.

The product copy had this to say about the helmet:

“The ergonomic designed padding and an additional pad set for the perfect individual fit guarantee ultimate comfort.

The product review had this to say about the helmet:

“The helmet fit both girls well; ages 10 and 12. They must be comfortable because they wear them every time without reminding.”

Which description do you think convinced more parents to buy this helmet?

Not only did the review use more simple language, it also touched on one of parent’s biggest concerns with bike helmets -will their child actually wear it?

Mine your product reviews for ways to improve your product descriptions and convert more buyers.

Truth be told, what stopped me in my tracks when digitally thumbing through the Globe was not the headline, but the leading image of CC Chapman, all-around Podcaster-extraordinaire. Seems CC’s tv was on the fritz during a little thing called the 17th championship in Boston Celtics history, and he twitter blasted Comcast to make himself feel better (he should’ve realized in title-town, it takes a lot more than OD [original def] to keep a team down .) Here’s the amazing part – Comcast responded, via Twitter, within minutes. They also had a technician out to solve the problem…before the tip off of the next game!

We get asked a lot from clients about how to build communities online, or how to shape the conversations that exist online to be more favorable towards their company or product. I can understand and empathize with their perspective, but more often than not, the companies asking these questions haven’t done the basic fundamentals yet. Don’t worry so much about figuring out the 1-3-1 full court trap; rather focus on perfecting a well executed free throw. Not sure where to begin? How about:

1) Setting up Google alerts for your company and/or product name, and commit to spending an hour per day reading and responding honestly and in a human voice to the comments you read. Remember in the age in which we currently live, our heroes are more flawed like Jason Bourne, than the Rockwellian images of yesteryear. It’s ok to not be perfect, but you’ll get torched for not being honest. If you don’t believe me, see Pettitte, Andy and Clemens, Roger.

2) If Google alerts doesn’t give you enough fodder, try Technorati, or Twitter or Niche sites in your space, like Techmeme. Despite what the old commercial said, it’s tough to reach the end of the internet. There are plenty of services out there to help you comb through what’s out on the ‘net, but you may be surprised to see how much you can learn through sweat equity alone.

3) Go to sites that sell your product and have reviews. Mine through the treasure trove of data that your audience gives you about what works and what doesn’t about your product or service. What’s the vocabulary they use? In addition to learning why they hate your product or service at times, I’ll bet you a quarter you find new benefits you never considered that your audience is realizing as a result of your efforts. Bonus points if you use those benefits to rewrite some product copy.

4) If you don’t have reviews on your site (why not?- Is there something you are afraid of hearing?), read your competitors’ reviews, and instead of trashing them, learn from them. Reach out to the consumer base, and offer a few free products in exchange for free flow of feedback. You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

Those are just some top of mind ways you can get started. I’m positive the GrokDotCom audience base has far more, and even better, ideas for how they overcome these challenges, and learn from their current and past customers. Perhaps if we ask them politely, they’ll even share. Anyone care to share their stories & ideas in the comments below?

As a former music journalist and current karaoke champion [in my own mind], I know a bad remix when I hear one. That’s why I’m particularly impressed with this outlandishly cheesy/brilliant rework of Extreme’s soft “rock” hair ballad chart-topper from 1991, “More Than Words” — one of the most yack-inducing songs known to man — used by our pals at Bazaarvoice to kick off last week’s Social Media Summit in Austin, TX. Watch this video and see how a few men in wigs can pick an even worse song and still do a better job of inspiring brand affinity and laughter than Mr. Softy himself:

Lyrics:

Sayin’ you should buy this, are not the words they will believe from you
It’s just they have YouTube, and every search brings up blog entries too
How easy it could be to find out how they feel

More than words is all you had to use to make it real
Then you wouldn’t have to cry over costs per click
‘Cause you’re Google’s top guy

What you do with Ratings and Reviews?
More than words to keep it real
Let them say just how they feel
What would you say
If they took those words away
Then they wouldn’t buy things new
Without reading a review…

Now your market wants to
Talk for you and help others understand
All that you have to do is open up and just reach out your brand
Then you’ll see word of mouth for you and me to read
More than words is all you ever needed to make more sales
Then you could easily say “Mr. Bossman, it’s time I get a raise”

How sweet it’d be
A freed marketing annuity
More than words to show they feel
That they like a brand that’s real
Why would you pay
For research to guess and play
More than words to show what’s true
Then hear your market say “I love you”

. .

Hat tip to Linda for transcribing these righteously dorky lyrics.

Success in testing doesn’t necessarily indicate success in customer insight. For example, you can test landing pages, determine the best landing page, and enjoy an increase in conversion. But do you know why it converts better? Oftentimes marketers gain knowledge of customer behavior, which is inferior to customer insight (defined as learning why customers are behaving the way they are).

While it’s possible to optimize and see increases without customer insight, you’re chasing diminishing returns. Exclusively chasing better numbers gives the marketer a weaker 2-D approach in a rich 3-D world. Gaining customer insight is more efficient and typically more powerful in maintaining an upward trend toward your goals.

Gaining Customer Insight

How do you gain this customer insight? Customer surveys are one means.

Web analytics expert Avinash Kaushik collaborated with iPerceptions to give marketers the 4Q survey platform. 4Q is a free, permission-based on-exit customer survey. It’s delivered post-conversion and asks customers four powerful questions:

• What is the purpose of your visit to our Web site today?
• Were you able to complete your task today?
• If you were not able to complete your task today, why not?
• If you did complete your task, what did you enjoy most about the site?

At the recent eMetrics Summit in San Francisco, iPerceptions shared some early results of using 4Q. For retailers, it learned that 39 percent of visitors went to learn about products, while 27 percent went to buy. Of the 27 percent who went to buy, roughly only two-thirds actually completed that task. Visitors also told why they did not convert: 31 percent wanted better product selection, 24 percent desired better shipping options, 17 percent cited problems with the online shopping cart, and 14 percent said prices were too high.

Analytics will only tell you what people are doing, but knowing why they are doing it is a powerful optimization tool.

In this case, the retailer can make much better optimization decisions. While a retailer may already be working on an initiative to offer more shipping options, it now has data to support accelerating the project. Knowing that 17 percent said they had shopping cart problems, the retailer can dig into the analytics and gain better insight into what is happening.

You can also use this data to create personas to help your marketing initiatives.

Customer Insight and Product Reviews

Another simple means of customer insight are customer product reviews. Here’s how you can optimize using them:

1. Look for products with low look-to-book ratios and reviews with 3 to 4.5 stars out of five stars.
2. Pull the trigger words from each review.
3. Plot them as “logical” or “emotional.”
4. Modify your product descriptions based on the results.

For example, here are two bullet points from the product description for a lady’s watch before optimization:

• Contemporary style adds bold look to any wardrobe.
• Water resistant to 30 meters.

Now, here are two snippets from “emotional” customer reviews for a lady’s watch:

• It’s like wearing two silver chain bracelets with a beautiful watch centerpiece.
• I’m a constant hand-washer, and I don’t have to worry about “time stopping” just because I have to have clean hands.

Now here are the optimized bullets:

• This unusual double chain bracelet band and watch is an instant attention getter.
• No worries while washing hands, because this watch is water resistant to 30 meters.

Which description do you think converts better?

Conclusion

With customer insight you can more easily duplicate your successes, create more effective campaigns, and apply that insight to other site areas. And with our current economic situation, you can better budget and prioritize your optimization efforts.

Now go and learn what your customers are saying about you and your Web site.

*This article is cross-posted on ClickZ.

. .

About the Author: Bryan Eisenberg is co-founder and Chief Persuasion Officer at FutureNow. Join Bryan on June 3rd in Manhattan at the Call to Action seminar, the popular one-day course based on his New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Call to Action: Secret Formulas for Improving Online Results. Not only will you learn the most effective online persuasion and website optimization techniques, you’ll get a chance to chat with Bryan over hors d’oeurves and cocktails at our “Happy Hour with the Experts” reception.

Why aren’t product descriptions more helpful?

Here’s one thought: Men and women may care about different things. Product descriptions may not be speaking to both genders’ needs. In product reviews, men talk about what they care about, and women talk about what they care about. This may be one reason why reviews help increase conversion.

Here’s a real life example. I searched for reviews for gas grills. Although the reviewer’s gender isn’t always obvious, I picked two that had a good chance of being either male or female.

First, an excerpt from a gas grill review by “dickiedo” — I’m guessing that’s a man:

Pros: It is sturdy, attractive and cooks good.
Cons: I wish the control knobs were on the front of the grill.

I bought this grill at Home Depot in the morning and that afternoon I grilled the best steaks I have ever cooked using the cooking instructions provided by Weber. The next day I grilled some great tasting hamburgers. Before cooking the burgers I heated the grill and easily brushed off the residue from the steaks leaving the cooking surface clean. I really liked cooking on my Weber charcoal grills, but I am now a firm Weber gas grill fan.

Now, an excerpt from a gas grill review by “juliet166″ — I’m guessing that’s a woman:

Pros: weber quality, even cooking, portability, easy cleanup
Cons: 14oz. propane canisters, lack of warming tray, no side trays

I became a weber convert several years ago after purchasing a genesis silver c, and experiencing the exceptional cooking found in weber grills. Due to a divorce and move to a small apt without a deck, I was desperate for a grill that I could easily transport outdoors to use, but would not take up a lot of space inside my apt. Because of the dome shaped lid, it easily fits a small roast, or vertical rib stand. Clean up is easy just by letting the grill run a few minutes and then brushing with a wire brush.

I have not had any issues with the automatic ignition. I have been using my grill for 3 months now, and it always starts on the first or second push.

Here’s what’s interesting about these two reviews: They’re an example of the gender preferences Joseph Carrabis of NextStage Evolution talks about on the iMedia Connection blog, where he insists that women purchase strategically while men purchase immediately:

Men make purchasing decisions based strongly on immediate or present needs.

Women want to know that today’s purchase will meet their immediate needs, mid-term and even their needs long-term needs. Long-term and far-term usability can even be a stronger consideration for the female purchasing persona than immediate need

Notice that in Dickiedo’s testimonial, he’s talking about purchasing the grill that morning and grilling that afternoon — great job of speaking to a guy’s immediate and present need.

In Juliet’s review, she’s commenting that even after 3 months, the grill still starts on the first or second push, meeting a longer-term durability need.

Carrabis discusses another gender difference:

Men are willing to make a purchase once it has been demonstrated that someone else was successful with the same purchase; kind of a, “that worked for Joe, so it’ll probably work for me” mentality.

Women posit things differently. It’s good to know if something worked for Sally; it’s better to know what Sally’s motivations were for her purchase. Success in itself isn’t meaningful unless the conditions leading to success are the same. (So much for women not being cut out for the sciences!) This can be thought of as, “it may have worked for Sally, but Sally bought it for reason A and I’m interested in reason B, so the same purchase might not work for me.”

Juliet shares her background motivation for purchasing the grill. She’s recently divorced and moved to a small apartment without a deck. She wanted something she could transport outdoors but wouldn’t take up a lot of room. Now a woman can compare her motivation to Juliet’s to see if it’s a good match for her situation, for her motivation.

How can manufacturers and e-commerce sites use this information to create better product descriptions that sell more products?

1. Talk about both immediate and long-term value. “Take it home this afternoon, grill steaks tonight”; “Our grills start at just the touch of a button now, and for months/years to come.”
2. Talk about different motivations for buying the product and successful uses of it. “With our even heating system, grillers of all skills can cook the perfect steak every time”; “If you live in an apartment but still want the that backyard grill experience, this is the grill for you. It’s small and portable, but with a domed lid, so it’s big enough to cook family meals like a small roast or vertical rib stand.”

One more hint. While both Dickiedo and Juliet mentioned “easy cleaning”, Juliet got very specific with what that means (”Let the grill run for a few minutes and brush with a wire brush”). This may also tie-in with women’s need for longer-term value. I know a woman who’s sworn off a famous cookware brand because their products are very sensitive and hard to clean. Remember, she’s not just thinking about cooking dinner tonight, she’s picturing how she’ll use the product for months, even years to come. Make sure you’re talking about what it’s like to use and maintain the product in the future as well as the present.

By using keywords that address the underlying motivations of both men and women, your product descriptions are sure to pick them up before the competition.

. .

About the Author: Holly Buchanan is co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth — Today’s Female Consumer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys. If you’d like to become a customer pickup artist like Holly, join her on June 2nd for FutureNow’s Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar in Manhattan.

Bazaarvoice* recently started tracking their networks total “reviews served” and placed a counter on their homepage. If you’ve ever wanted to know how quickly the market’s demand for social commerce reviews is growing, this pretty much says it all.

Just yesterday, their CEO and founder, Brett Hurt, emailed to let me know that they had passed the 10-billionth-review milestone. And amazingly, since I grabbed the image you see here from their homepage about 30 minutes ago, Bazaarvoice has syndicated another five million reviews.

Is there still any doubt that customers want product reviews?

If you want to learn how to harness the word of mouth (that’s already out there) to boost sales and conversion on your e-commerce or brand website, I hope you’ll join me at the Bazaarvoice Social Commerce Summit, May 28-30 in Austin, Texas.

. .

*Disclosure: Bryan Eisenberg is an advisor to Bazaarvoice.

What: From the event website:

Today there’s no denying that power has shifted to the consumer. You’ve heard this message amplified through books, blogs, articles, and events. “User-generated content,” “word of mouth,” “Web 2.0,” and “social networking.” Ok, you get it. However, many exciting marketing tactics classified under these terms don’t always show measurable impact to the P&L. So we decided to pull together a group of 200 retailing and manufacturing executives — authors, researchers, designers and other thought leaders – to separate hype from ROI, once and for all. This is the “get down to brass tacks” learning event. We’re getting together to share how to turn customer conversations into measurable results. We’re getting together to help build your social commerce strategy.

Where: InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel | Austin, TX

When: May 28, 2008 – May 30, 2008

Why: Because the list of guest speakers proves that the people at Bazaarvoice have some very smart friends, and you refuse to let them keep all of that insight to themselves. You’re sick of hearing people say “2.0″-this and “social”-that without any regard for what it will actually do for your business. Besides, it’s in Austin. Who wouldn’t want to go to Austin?

How much? $695 is a bargain for this five-star event. Visit SocialCommerceSummit.com for details.

It seems the majority of online shoppers want to hear what people like them have to say about the product they’re researching. Almost 70% of customers looked at more than 4 reviews before making a purchase.

The study also gives a sense of how long visitors spend reading reviews before their purchase (50% spend over 10 minutes) and found that most people read reviews once they’ve narrowed down their search to 2 or 3 products.

Just having reviews isn’t going to cut it, though. E-tailers must give the would-be customer something more if they want them to come back to their sites — not just to research, but to buy. If more than 50% of customers spend over ten minutes looking at reviews, that shows they’re looking for more than just an overall “star rating.” For instance, one way of boosting your reviews’ credibility is having a “pros and a cons” field for visitors to fill out. This will show visitors that you welcome criticism and are confident in your products, while making the reviews that much more valuable to other visitors.

Here are some tips and a screencast from Bryan to help plan and optimize your review system.

Bad news first. In aggregate, online retailers fall far short of offering good or even adequate customer experiences. A pathetic 4 out of 330 sites would get a passing grade in Customer Experience 101. It’s frightening to consider how much money is being left on the table and how many conversion opportunities are missed.

The good news? Companies show improvement over the last survey, though they’re falling short on many basics. These basics, however, can be relatively easily addressed and fixed. Companies committed to improving their customers’ online experiences can prioritize lower-cost and less-complex changes to improve their customer experience scores.

Improving Customer Experience Basics

While it’s easy to stare at the puddle of spilled milk and fight back the tears, there’s little profit in it. It’s a bit painful to get a less-than-stellar grade, but the smart marketer will look at missed opportunities and be sure not to miss them again. Provide an intense customer focus, and you’ll see more customers vote for you with their wallets.

Here are some actions retailers can take in the four key customer areas:

• In product presentations, provide:
  • Better and more enticing product descriptions.
  • Better-quality product images.
  • Multiple images.
  • Customer reviews.

• For fulfillment options, offer:
  • Product availability.
  • Easily visible return policies, shipping policies, and guarantees.
  • Customer-friendly and easy-to-read and -understand return/exchange policies.
  • Gift options.

• For checkout options, include:
  • Multiple payment options (e.g., by check, PayPal, etc.).
  • Estimated delivery times, and show in-stock availability for items.
  • In-store pickup where physical stores exist.
  • A progress indicator in the checkout process.
  • Simpler or fewer steps or both in the checkout process.
  • Third-party seals and security assurances.

• For customer service options, implement:
  • Faster and more accurate replies to customer e-mail inquiries.
  • Chat options.
  • A visible phone number for questions and problems.

All these are significant factors that customers have come to expect online. Your customers notice little things that can make a huge difference. Companies that lavish attention on improving customer focus will reap more sales and will experience superior customer-retention rates in the long term.

You can continue reading on my column on ClickZ or read the full study on GrokDotCom.

Probably not, so long as the employees are told to be transparent about it, and not hype products in which they don’t believe. But what’s especially interesting about a multi-channel behemoth like Wal-Mart is that, given its size, this little feature might just change how CPG (consumer packaged goods) like toothpaste, razors and hair dye products are sold — and how they’re made.

What could Wal-Mart do with its online product reviews? How about placing rating or reviews from actual customers and employees next to actual products on actual shelves? After all, consumers find reviews extremely credible. Wouldn’t a scenario like that actually help drive sales?

(I know, I know… We’ve been blogging a lot about Wal-Mart lately. But there’s good reason for that. We are in the midst of witnessing the evolution from “always the low prices” to “always the voice of the customer.” They’re the world’s biggest living, breathing multi-channel case study.)

In just 15 minutes, I’ll guide you through more than a dozen websites to show you the best ways to capitalize on featuring reviews on your website in order to maximize your conversion rate. Watch it now! (See the video player below to view.)

Featured sites include: Amazon, Best Buy, CircuitCity, Trip Advisor, eBags, Burpee, BackCountry, Dell, Wal-Mart, Petco, Radio Shack, SupermediaStore, emitations, GolfSmith, OverStock, and CoffeeForLess.

If you recently purchased something online, has a review influenced your purchase decision?

Reviews on e-commerce sites are becoming a critical feature over the past couple of years. Roy Williams wrote about why this word-of-mouth feature has become so influential (PDF) when it wasn’t as critical 3 or 4 years ago. New research further illustrates its value:

• 77% of online shoppers use reviews and ratings when purchasing (Jupiter Research, August 2006)
• Reviews drive 21% higher purchase satisfaction and 18% higher loyalty (Foresee Results Study, January 2007)
• In a study of 2,000 shoppers – 92% deemed customer reviews as “extremely” or “very” helpful. (eTailing Group)
• 59% of their users considered customer reviews to be more valuable than expert reviews. (Bizrate)
• 63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. (CompUSA & iPerceptions study)
• 86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend’s recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (MarketSherpa)
• According to the survey, 92.5% of adults said they regularly or occasionally research products online before buying them in a store. (BIGresearch)
• 63% of all word of mouth is positive. Across all of Bazaarvoice clients, 80% of product ratings are 4 or 5 stars out of 5. (Keller Fay)

Whether you enable review functionality from your ecommerce platform, or from a 3rd party hosted solution like Power Reviews and Bazaarvoice, it’s important that you test and optimize for conversion and persuasion by focusing on the following areas:

• Placement for Visibility
  • Above the fold
  • Size
  • Stars or other graphic
  • Near point of attention or action

• Review Interaction
  • Ease of reading
  • Sorting
  • Rating Distribution
  • Use across the site

• Single Dimension versus Multi Dimension Reviews
  • What are the key attributes across different categories
  • Can review content influence purchase decision

• Credibility Factors
  • Negative and Positive reviews
  • Review Approval policy
  • Reviewer Characteristics

• What does a review mean
  • Number of Reviews
  • What questions are you asking
  • Qualitative versus quantitative

(If video doesn’t load, click here.)

P.S. Congratulations to Bazaarvoice on closing $8.8 Million in their Series B. Brett Hurt and his team continue to deliver wonderful results and service, and deserve the continued success. (Disclosure: I’m on Bazaarvoice’s advisory board.)

That was Bryan Eisenberg’s morning riddle today. It’s a great question, and one I was sure to answer incorrectly — Bryan isn’t known to ask rhetorical questions without punchlines.

Now, before you read my response, close your eyes for a moment and think of three possible answers.

Seriously, stop cheating and humor me…

Eyes back open? Good. It’s easier to read that way.

I guessed:

1. Shoddy image stabilization — With all the hype over new image-steadying technology, I figured the camera marketers were on to something. Besides, how many commercials of parents taking pictures of kids on tire swings can I handle?
2. Grainy low-light images — This one was a (fine, I’ll say it) shot in the dark, but it’s one of my biggest complaints about non-SLR [define] digital cameras.
3. Poor red eye reduction — The human cornea reflects light differently than other mammals. Lucky us. But why, in 2007, must we endure blinding rapid-flash settings only to look like evil deer in headlights?

Just as I’d suspected, each of my guesses was wrong. It turns out that the biggest complaint among automatic digital camera owners is “shutter delay time” — not “shutter speed,” mind you; rather, the response time between clicking the button and the damn thing actually taking a picture.

Yes! Exactly! That’s my least favorite thing about point-and-shoot digitals, too! So, why didn’t I know that?

Am I backpedaling from my previous answers? Absolutely. Would your customers likely do the same thing? Absolutely. Why isn’t “shutter delay time” addressed by most retailers? Let’s stick with threes:

1. Customers don’t have the vocabulary to describe their needs in the terms of manufacturer’s jargon.
2. Manufacturers don’t want to admit how bad the shutter delay is on their cameras.
3. Retailers aren’t doing their homework on how to help customers buy on their own terms, and in their own language.

After years of hearing “megapixel”-this and “stabilizer”-that, shopping for digital cameras becomes intimidating for people who just want to take good pictures of the people, places and things they love. Some do a good job overall, but miss the big picture when it comes to shutter delay. Others have pretty decent emotional copy, but it ends up sounding generic. And with each boring, overly-technical description, digital camera retailers are flushing money down the drain. Some don’t say anything; they just list technical specs.

Here’s what camera retailers should know if they’re to fix it:

1. Surveys are flawed. Had Bryan explicitly asked if “shutter delay time” were the biggest problem with automatic digital cameras, I’d have said yes. Since I was left to my own, limited vocabulary on the subject, I gave three plausible-yet-unsatisfying answers. Such are surveys. Ask people what they really want and you’ll hear plenty about what they think they really want — which can be horribly misleading, if not altogether useless.
2. Focus on motivations. What questions would your customers ask if they had the vocabulary? What are their underlying needs? How will they be using the camera? To address motivations, learn how to create real customer personas that transcend demographics and stereotypes.
3. Search engines value relevant content. Original, engaging copy is worth whatever you paid for it, and then some. Don’t rely on the manufacturer to sell its products for you. Their perspective is biased, and they don’t know your audience like you do. Grokking customer motivations gives insights into missing persuasion barriers like “shutter delay time”; things the competition isn’t addressing. It’s also how you know you’re buying the right keywords.

For example…

I have no problem geeking out for a week, digging through review sites like CNet until I stumble across a review like this one where, halfway down the page, a graphic (not the video) introduces the concept of shutter delay. But I’m the exception. I’m the gadget-obsessed 18-35 year-old male who knows megapixels alone aren’t the measure of a camera’s worth — and I still guessed wrong about my own biggest concern about digital cameras. So much for demographics!
Meanwhile, other people may not do the research.

What if my step-mom were in the market? She’s owned her current digital camera for three years. It’s in great shape, but she’d buy a new one today if she knew it would take the shot fast enough to capture those rare moments when my 6 year-old nephew looks directly into the lens — that’s what matters to her, not techno-babble like this description of the Canon PowerShot SD800 on Amazon:

[The DIGIC III Image Processor] takes the performance and speed of DIGIC II to even higher levels of processing power including new face detection function, up to 1600 speed ISO, high-ISO noise reduction, lower power consumption, increased speed for SD media cards, and higher resolution image processing for enhanced LCD viewing.

Um… Parle vous Ingles? Any chance she’d know off-hand that ISO refers to light-sensitivity, or that “noise reduction” means it will reduce graininess of poorly lit images, or that “enhanced LCD viewing” means quickly viewing the pictures on the camera’s screen? What was “DIGIC II”? Why would she care?

Luckily for Amazon, customers have always done the selling for them. So, unless you’re Jeff Bezos, it’s good to invest in persuasive copy of your own.

. . . the panelists will address a comprehensive list of topics including:

- What is User Generated Content?
- Why does it matter?
- What about the downsides like negative reviews?
- Does it help Manufacturer-to-Consumer companies too?
- How much effort is involved?
- What kind of results can I expect?
- How can I maximize its effectiveness?
- What are my options?

This is a great opportunity for e-tailers seeking to improve the customer experience with reviews. Oh, and it’s their co-founder Jason’s birthday, so be sure to ask some tough questions during Q&A.

UPDATE — If you missed the webinar, watch it here.

Nearly all survey respondents thought ratings and reviews were either extremely helpful or very helpful “as consumers.”

“Tapping into social commerce can be a great way of gaining a competitive advantage, for example through ratings and reviews,” Linus Gregoriadis, E-consultancy’s head of research, said in a statement. “But apart from the early adopters, this is something a large proportion of online retailers are only just starting to think seriously about.”

Mr. Gregoriadis said one-third of online sellers were concerned about negative reviews — a major barrier to adoption of ratings and reviews — “but retailers are finding that they can improve conversion rates, drive sales and increase customer satisfaction even if customers aren’t necessarily singing their praises all the time.”

Of course, some are better at implementing customer reviews than others, but it’s clear that reviews are becoming an expected part of buying online. The Church of the Customer blog calls this trend “a no-brainer” and we couldn’t agree more.

Well, well, well… It looks like one “Web 2.0″ darling is all grow’d up!

Yelp.com, the popular consumer-generated review site, is about to leave sites like SuperPages.com and YellowBook.com too worthless to line a digital birdcage.

Why’s Yelp such a big deal? Because it’s powered by actual customers; people who care enough about a small or emerging local business to spend their time reviewing it.

But that’s just the beginning. This week, Yelp (finally) showed that it’s flirting with local adversing. They’re even opening up the platform so developers can integrate reviews with maps, photos, phone numbers, and anything else one might need to quickly find the best stuff our neighborhoods have to offer. All of this adds up to big news for local businesses that want to engage with customers directly.

Do you Yelp? If not, you’re missing out on the best thing to democratize American taste since the Zagat Survey.

Scratch that. Yelp’s better. Where else can you find nerdy, ridiculous, artful, concise, trashy, sublime, scathing, and/or funny reviews of restaurants, bars, accountants, tattoo parlors, or anything else that’s odd, hidden and local? Sure, they have reviews of chain stores and restaurants, but the weirder extremes is where Yelp proves its value. Need a mime that speaks three languages but won’t talk? Yelp it. Need to find a deli that delivers vegan pastrami sandwiches that taste like the real thing? Good luck, but Yelp’s your best shot.

Now that big chains like Wal-Mart are getting hip to consumer-generated reviews, Yelp has the power to do the same for small business.

Just one thing, though… Why is it that Yelpers still can’t disagree with me?