'Net Features : reviews

Foster User-Generated Videos with Buzztala

Allison Howen — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:15:00 GMT

Obtaining video testimonials from customers is simple with Buzztala, which is a social content marketing company that just released an updated version of its platform that includes a self-service portal for businesses with a website.

Buzztala’s Social Content Marketing platform helps companies take advantage of user-generated content. The platform uses a plug-in that when clicked on, brings up a widget that overlays the page and provides full access to the Buzztala social marketing system.

From the widget, viewers can watch user-generated video marketing clips such as reviews, testimonials or comments, as well as record a comment of their own. Plus, all consumer-generated content is shared across that visitor’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. In addition, when their friends click on the post, they arrive at the business's website, which helps businesses generate qualified leads and increase conversion rates.

Buzztala is also optimized for both computers and mobile devices, as the company uses a patent-pending combination of HTML5 and Flash technology to assist businesses in reaching mobile customers. Plus, Buzztala includes a mobile app for clients, which allows for the rapid creation and publishing of social video content at all times.

Lastly, it is important to note that for a limited time Buzztala is free to install and use. Furthermore, Buzztala’s cloud-based system uses gold-standard Rackspace servers for reliability and security, and the platform’s turnkey system allows companies to simply drop in a line of code to use the platform, as everything is controllable through the browser-based dashboard.

Reviews Come to Listrak Emails

Allison Howen — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Online retailers know how important product reviews are to digital shoppers, which is why Listrak has brought ratings and reviews to email.

The company’s new Ratings and Reviews solution automatically incorporates a merchant’s best reviews into email messages. The solution integrates with Bazaarvoice, recently acquired PowerReviews and Magento’s ratings and reviews module to help improve the performance of email campaigns. This is because user-generated content, like ratings and reviews, can influence a customer’s purchasing decisions, which can lead to increased engagement and conversion rates.

The Ratings and Reviews solution delivers user-generated content into highly targeted emails, incorporates the retailer’s unique branding and messaging as well as delivers messages at the right time in the sales cycle. Moreover, Listrak’s solution filters the ratings and reviews, so only the most impactful are used. By incorporating reviews into campaigns, merchants have the ability to influence purchasing decisions and shorten the sales cycle because consumers won’t need to search for product reviews online.

“In addition to influencing immediate purchase decisions, ratings and reviews result in consumers being more engaged with the brand, prolonging the customer lifecycle and increasing customer lifetime value, which is what all of Listrak’s email marketing solutions promise to deliver,” said Listrak CEO Ross Kramer.

Get Ready for More Fake Online Reviews

Michael Garrity — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:30:00 GMT

Identifying – let alone actually combating – fake online reviews has been a constant source of angst for many business owners and marketers with an online presence. Now, I hate to break it to you guys, but it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. That is, at least, according to some new research unveiled by Gartner.

In the last few weeks, the publishing industry was rocked with news about authors creating fake accounts on Amazon and other sites to pad their product pages with phony positive reviews. The shock and awe, while upsetting to many in the field, was met with a blasé rolling of the eyes by restaurateurs, however, who have long had to deal with embellished (if not completely fake) online reviews, both good and bad, on sites like Yelp. Just ask the owner of a pizza restaurant who was photographed bear hugging President Obama, only to have his Yelp profile take the brunt of users upset by his encounter, who took to the page to post fake negative reviews to ruin his reputation on the site.

Unfortunately for pretty much all of us, this practice doesn’t seem to be going away. In fact, it will likely become more popular. Gartner predicts that by 2014, somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of all online reviews will be paid for by companies seeking to build bigger follower bases, generate video views, get Facebook Likes and, of course, display more positive online reviews. And they’re willing to solicit these things by offering coupons or special promotions or, in some cases, just straight cash.

With so many avenues on the ‘Net that businesses can use to deceptively control consumers’ perception of their brands, it begs the question, “Who can we trust online these days?”

Spread the Good Word About Your Brand

Michael Garrity — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 23:30:00 GMT

Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the people saying nice things about you and wanting to sing your praises. Trust me; I deal with this problem every day. (Well, okay, not really.)

When it comes to online testimonials, it can be incredibly beneficial to your brand to manage all of those raving reviews, and this is why we have testimonial management services like the upstart ServiceKick.

ServiceKick, a NewService company, provides a simple avenue for businesses to collect customer testimonials and then share them with the world.

Users are able to import their social media or email contacts into the ServiceKick management platform, and then select those that they would like to request a testimonial from. Once the requests are sent, customers will (hopefully) return their endorsements, and then the user can approve or deny them as they see fit, just in case some aren’t the most flattering.

After settling on the best testimonials, ServiceKick users are able to share them via email, on social networks (including Facebook), or on their own websites.

NewService felt that many of the testimonial management solutions on the market today were overly complicated, and set out to build one that would be easy for anyone to get started with right away. ServiceKick was built to include only the most essential testimonial management features, and it comes with a step-by-step layout that walks users through the process of importing contacts, requesting testimonials, approving or denying reviews, and then sharing them. It also matches up every client with a personal service representative that will field any and all issues that may arise for that customer.

ServiceKick also offers widgets that let clients show off or request testimonials. The company will generate the code for users to include on their Web pages, and customers can then customize the way the widgets look and function.

Users can try a free full version of ServiceKick for 14 days, and after that, subscriptions are only five dollars a month.

In-Store Shopping Motivates Digital Interactions

Allison Howen — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:12:00 GMT

More mobile phones are making their way into brick and mortar stores to aid consumers in making decisions during their shopping experiences.

In fact, according to Empathica’s Consumer Insights Panel survey, at least half of consumers who own a smartphone use the device to look up product reviews while shopping in-stores, while the same is true for 10 percent of consumers who don’t even own a smartphone.

This data shows business owners that their mobile and social experience strategies are more important than ever, especially because consumers are using these channels to make decisions – even while inside retail stores and restaurants.

According to the survey results, price comparisons are the most frequent in-store mobile action with 55 percent of smartphone owners reporting that they have used their devices to check prices while shopping, while other popular mobile actions include scanning a QR code (34%) and writing a review (9%).

“Today’s consumers routinely perform a variety of in-store activities on smartphones and mobile devices,” says Dr. Gary Edwards, chief customer officer, Empathica. “Whether it’s comparing prices or scanning a QR code for a discount, brands that ignore the use of mobile technology in customer and guest experiences will miss key opportunities to connect with a large pool of potential brand advocates.”

However, mobile isn't the only channel that is being leveraged for making purchasing decisions, because consumers are also relying on social media as an important decision-making tool. According to the study, almost three-quarters of consumers use Facebook to make retail or restaurant decisions, while half of consumers have tried a new brand due to a social media recommendation.

But this shouldn't deter retailers and restaurant owners from posting all user-generated content online in fear that consumers won’t forgive negative reviews, because the survey results show that negative reviews don’t necessarily discourage consumers from trying a brand – especially if the business has a generally positive online presence. In fact, only 26 percent of consumers claimed that they would avoid shopping at a store if they first read a negative online review.

“One of the key takeaways from our latest research is that brands need to proactively engage with their customers transparently through mobile and social channels – and even encourage negative reviews to be made public,” says Edwards. “The credibility brands gain from publishing all reviews far exceeds the amount of damage that can be inflicted by the occasional negative comment. Negative user reviews is not necessarily a brand destroyer.”

Additional data reveals further insights into the complex online relationships consumers have with retail and restaurant brands. For example, 82 percent of consumers are willing to engage retail and restaurant brands in online conversations if they believe it will improve future experiences, but only 62 percent believe that brands monitor online conversations and just 30 percent think that brands act on customer feedback.

“Clearly, if brands go through the trouble of asking for their customers’ opinions and feedback, it’s incumbent on retailers to make those results transparent. Publically disclosing that feedback shows brands’ efforts to go above and beyond their customers’ needs,” added Edwards.

Are Your Online Reviews Hurting You?

Allison Howen — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:00:00 GMT

A new study shows that negative online reviews and comments strongly influence the purchasing decisions of consumers.

The study, taken by Cone Inc., found that 89 percent of consumers trust online reviews, and while 80 percent of consumers have changed their mind about purchases based on negative information that they found online, 87 percent claim that positive reviews reinforce their purchasing decisions.

Additional information from the study showed that 85 percent of consumers research products or services online before they decide to make a purchase, and 85 percent of consumers also claim that they were more likely to purchase products or services when they can find online recommendations.

However, there are many reasons why consumers go online to research products and services. According to the study, 69 percent go online to research a product or service, 64 percent search for consumer reviews, 50 percent search for rating websites, 43 percent search for opinions from experts, 42 percent read articles or blog posts about products or services, and 12 percent solicit opinions from their social networks.

The study also showed that consumers are more likely to research a high or moderate cost item, especially when it is a product or service that they are not familiar with or that they will own for many years.

The industries that the study shows are most researched by consumers are electronics and household appliances followed by automotive and transportation and then telecommunications.

The Yelp Factor

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:30:00 GMT

Have you been doubting Yelp? It's certainly got its fair share of competition in the check in and review spaces, but despite some hiccups related to its review practices, Yelp is growing at a rapid clip.

Yelp released some growth statistics yesterday on Twitter (status) and while the 41 million monthly visitors is certainly impressive it is the number of reviews (15 million and counting) that makes Yelp an increasingly important player.

Another interesting point derived from the information released is that half of all reviews on Yelp fall into the restaurants (26%) and shopping (24%) categories. Beauty and fitness (9%), Arts-Entertainment-Events (8%) and Home & Local Services (8%) account for half of the remaining reviewed businesses.

Some interesting demographic information is also included - 82% are under 50 years old, 68% have either a college education or attended graduate school and over 50% earn over $60K.

If you're a business owner (of the brick and mortar variety) you should definitely consider promoting that business on Yelp.

BazaarVoice Big with Big Brands

E-Commerce Express : feature — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Social commerce solution BazaarVoice announced today that more than 1,000 brands (including Best Buy, Costco, Dell, Macy's, P&G, Panasonic, QVC, and others) now use its services. “Over the past five years, the social web has shifted power...(read more)

In Focus: FeedbackJar, Crowdsourced Support Community

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Reviews are an important component for all businesses on the Web.

While Yelp has the local business review niche all but wrapped up, there are other companies out there that are innovating in the space and aiming to make a significant impact. One of those providers is FeedbackJar, a site which provides a way for customers to communicate with each other and with local merchants. More than a review site alone, Feedback Jar is a "crowdsource customer support community."

The service differs from Yelp in that customers can help answer questions, share ideas, and resolve problems with products and services they use in their community. FeedbackJar encourages merchants to join the conversation with their customers. Businesses can create and claim a profile (and manage it), receive feedback on their business products or services and eliminate repetitive customer support tasks (as users can search popular topics). FeedbackJar is limited to 96 local areas, but covers all the major cities and even a few decent sized towns as well.

Yelp Rolls Out Public Comments for Business Owners

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:06:00 GMT

Yelp just announced a new feature that allows business owners to comment publicly on reviews posted by users.

The portal (a social review site) has been under fire for several months for a variety of issues, including the trading of positive reviews, hiding negative reviews and generally not providing a voice in the process to those being reviewed honestly. While this public commenting feature might not resolve all those specific troubles, public commenting does do a great deal to resolve some transparency issues and a bit of the negative publicity.

To get started commenting on Yelp, business owners needs to claim their page on biz.yelp.com. The company has created a public comment guidelines section within its Business Owners Guide, which might prove useful for those experiencing some reputation issues on the site. The company essentially advises business owners how to use and how not to use public comments for the greatest benefit.

Yelp suggests business owners tell the community what they have done to address a specific concern raised by a reviewer, to provide correct information when a review contains something inaccurate or out-of-date, and - when it is not possible to resolve a dispute through private messaging - to provide a version of the situation. The company also has tips on how businesses should not use the public comments feature. While not making personal attacks should be understood in any business environment, Yelp also advises business owners not to offer incentives and not to thank a user for a positive review.

Local Adds Reviews/Ratings

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:24:00 GMT

Local.com has launched their own consumer ratings and reviews systems. Similar to Yelp or Yahoo! Local, users can comment, rate a business (using a five start rating system) and view available reviews they and others have submitted. Although subject to a user validation process, consumer ratings and reviews will appear immediately on business listing profile pages. Over two million ratings and reviews are currently appearing on the Local.com site (including those from various partners).

“According to Jupiter Research, 77 percent of online shoppers use ratings and reviews when making a purchase,” said Kim LaFleur, Local.com vice president, product management. “We are pleased to launch our own ratings and reviews engine to allow consumers visiting Local.com to both add and access important information on local businesses throughout the U.S., enabling them to make more informed purchasing decisions. In addition, this allows our business customers to more proactively manage their own reputations and understand their customers’ opinions (both good and bad) of their own products and services.”

How Experts Review Websites

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT

I'm fortunate to be able to review hundreds of websites each day. Learning from the successes and failures of others is important to the success of my own current and future endeavors and equally important to readers of Website Magazine. But on what criteria should a website be judged? While there are no hard and fast rules to what makes one website "better" than another, when you look at professional and novice websites day in and day out, you end up getting a pretty good handle on what is going to work and what's not.

Never one to cast the first virtual stone at the hard work of designers and web professionals, here are a few guidelines that I personally use each and every day to assess the overal design of a Web presence:

- Is the Design "pleasing?"
This is completely subjective, but most of us know when a design is pleasing. Mismatched colors and a variety of fonts only cause many to simply back away and perhaps never come back. Not only ugly, such sites look unprofessional and cause feelings of mistrust. How do you know if your website design is pleasing? Ask someone without a vested interest in you business or whom you trust and chances are good you'll get a honest answer.

- Is the website "innovative?"
I am a proponent of using publically available templates for website design, whether they are from sources like OSWD or those that are found individually and used for WordPress blogs. When experts look at thousands of websites and notice that 10 or 20 feature the exact the same design, there is simply no way you'll appear innovative, regardless of how innovative the idea or content being presented.

- Is the content "appealing?"
Here's another tricky one. Content is typically appealing only to specific groups. Some of us are interested in benefits, others are interested in features. How does a designer satisfy both goals? Images assist greatly in developing "appeal." If you know the audience, you'll be able to find an image that reflects their demographic.

- Is the website "easy-to-use?"
There's nothing more discouraging than website features that don't work. Actually, scratch that - in fact there is. It's the complicated, endless stream of navigation that turns off users (who will never return) more than it is broken links. The reason is that Web experts, just like consumers, are forgiving - but only to a certain point. Fail to explain how something works on the site or force detailed registration to access information and you'll elicit some negative feelings with your potential customers. You need to identify your audience and give them what they want with as few clicks and hassles as possible.

- Does the website "meet it's own goals?"
This is perhaps the most important point to consider when assessing a website. Often Web professional think more is better when, in reality, less is more. Not forcing users to make multiple decisions will benefit your bottom line. Have 10 goals for your website's landing page? Cut it down to three and the conversion rate on all will be much better and earnings much higher. Don't make users think - they won't, they'll just leave.