Richard Falconer@rich_falconer

Do you want to increase conversion rates, improve customer loyalty and build visibility in search while your customers do the hard work...and enjoy it?

Use UGC to provide a layer of emotion to the online retail experience.

The UK’s Top Sites

The top 18 non-search engine sites in the UK according to Alexa.com

Allowing users to create or curate content as well as respond to and share their own content and that of others.

“Very good if you want to write on paper.”

Thanks, Daniel

Social Commerce

Customers trust...

Source: Fly Research Online Survey, March 2011

90% of users trust recommendations from people they know.

70% of users trust opinions posted online.

32% of users trust online banner ads.

Source: Nielsenwire

Who trusts consumer reviews?

Source: Fly Research Online Survey, March 2011

Worried?

Some common reasons for hesitancy:

• Negative reviews• Worry about removing control from the marketing

team• Cost of managing and monitoring the content

Don’t worry, embrace it...

• Marketing should be involved more than ever, UGC is just another tool

• 88% of product ratings are 4 or 5 stars out of 5• Products with lower scores still sell better• ROI on reviews (and UGC in general) is high

• 83% of all holiday shoppers are influenced by customer reviews

ChannelAdvisor "Consumer Shopping Habits Survey", August 2010

• Availability of user-generated or consumer product reviews was a factor for 57% of UK shoppers

eConsultancy Survey, July 2010

• Bazaarvoice - 26% increase in conversion rates• Reevoo - Sales uplift average 18%

SEO

CONTENTENGAGEMENT

SEO Benefits

• Improved on-page optimisation• Increased long-tail traffic• Increased traffic for “review” terms• Improved clickthrough rates from

Rich Snippets• More Likes / Tweets etc.

Review Rich Snippets

Traffic increase as a result of review Rich Snippets

Best Buy – 30%

Bazaarvoice – 15%

bigmouthmedia – 12%

Reviews SEO Investigation

Does having reviews on a site increase unpaid referrals from search engines?This question is more difficult to answer than you might think.

• Reviews sit on microsites which are not linked from the main sites

• No deliberate link development had taken place

Case Study 1

• > 4.5 million visits• 82% non-paid search traffic• 15% conversion rate increase• No link development used

Case Study 2

• > 700,000 visits• 82% non-paid search traffic• 12% higher conversion rate• No link development used

Case Study 3

• > 1 million visits• 81% non-paid search traffic• 18% higher conversion rate• No link development used

Uniqueness

Data from

Google’s Panda Updates

Shopzilla.co.uk: 77% Dooyoo.co.uk: 80%

Based on a dataset of one million keywords before and after Panda was introduced internationally.

Stats: http://www.sistrix.com/blog/990-google-panda-on-its-way-to-europe.htmlPhoto: http://marksecology.blogspot.com/2011/01/angry-panda.html

Reviews SEO Tips

• Get unique reviews• Display directly on your pages• Link it correctly• Use structured markup • Encourage users to share externally

Transforming your site

Tip #1

You don’t need to be sexy and fun to be engaging

Tip #2

Request reviews from customers. Send requests on Tuesday or Wednesday between 10am and 4pm.

Tip #2A If you run an office, the best time to catch your staff skiving is Tuesday or Wednesday between 10am and 4pm

Which would you pick?

A B

Number of stars

% o

f rev

iew

s

The reviews are from the same product.

Active Passive

Number of stars

% o

f rev

iew

s

TIP #3Don’t host a Microsoft PartyUnderstand what motivates your users

• enjoyment of creating content• social status• rewards for achieving status• self promotion• social gratification

Look after your power usersMake life easy for your casual usersLove all your users

Jakob Neilsen http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html

Wikipedia vs Knol

• Wikipedia allows you to add information easily then editors tidy it up

• Wikipedia appeals to two complementary types (geeks and edit freaks)

• Knol expected you to do everything

TIP #4Be different. Innovate

Allows users to curate and share their own style collections

http://www.google.com/insights/search/

Polyvore.com

Build a camera-phone not a camera & a phone

Tip #5

Encouragement to participate should be integral to a site

• 3 Types of users• Design the site for all three• Incentives for power users• Product features that make contribution easy• One-time contribution without registration or other hassles

for “casual contributors”• Non-contributors are great too, they make you money

Texts From Last Night

Clients From Hell

“A brand is no longer what a marketer says. The consumers now have the power to decide what that brand represents.”

Graham Jackson, Bazaarvoice

slideshare.net/a4uexpo