Today we are starting down a path that I expect will prove of increasing importance to our users. As of this evening, we will be integrating consumer comments from an initial list of review sites, including Epinions, TripAdvisor, Newegg – a total of 24 sites.
As our users know, we are committed to providing a convenient aggregation of all relevant conversations – regardless of where online these conversations are occurring. And, a wealth of consumer conversations are occurring on review sites that are too often ignored. We are making an initial effort to provide our users both access to these conversations, as well as the ability to respond as appropriate.
I need to emphasize that the functionality we are launching today is only a start. Users will be able to:
- Explore brand – and other keyword mentions – across selected review sites, ranked by our standardized rating system that allows comparison of comments across all sites;
- Listen to any influential or noteworthy commenters whenever they post;
- Engage each consumer directly on the review site, as well as (re-)post the review to user-sponsored sites; and
- Evaluate and analyze comments and consumer opinion, including the ability to compare consumer opinions across multiple locales and local outlets.
Of course, it is probably not too much of an overstatement to say that all consumers consult online reviews before making a major buy decision. So, there is little doubt that our users will find these reviews of interest. But, consumer reviews offer additional and often overlooked benefits. An eMarketer research paper, “Customer Product Reviews: The Next Generation,” Jeffrey Grau, November 2010 offered a compelling summary:
“Customer reviews . . . influence decisions about product management, merchandising, marketing, supply chain processes, vendor management and even finance. Reviews give retailers and manufacturers early visibility into product successes and failures, and they are invaluable for crafting marketing messages that are consistent with what consumers say about a product.”
In addition, a recent New York Times article, A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web, has prompted Google to contemplate consumer reviews in their page rank algorithms. Listen to what Google has said on its official blog:
“A recent article by the New York Times related a disturbing story. By treating your customers badly, one merchant told the paper, you can generate complaints and negative reviews that translate to more links to your site; which, in turn, make it more prominent in search engines. The main premise of the article was that being bad on the web can be good for business.
We were horrified to read about [the situation reported by the NYT]. Even though our initial analysis pointed to this being an edge case and not a widespread problem in our search results, we immediately convened a team that looked carefully at the issue. That team developed an initial algorithmic solution, implemented it, and the solution is already live. I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google’s search results.”
So, as of last week, protecting search engine link equity demands monitoring and responding to online consumer reviews.
eMarketer offers other benefits to monitoring and engaging consumers through online reviews:
- Search engine marketing
- Customer comments are a great source of effective search engine keywords
- Google accepts product reviews in Google Product Search and in natural search results
- Focus marketing initiatives
- Include customer comments and site ratings in ads, email campaigns and other promotions.
- Build on online community by inviting “active” consumers to join an ongoing discussion of the company and its products
- Customer service
- Build and maintain customer goodwill. Again, from eMarketer – “if a brand is fundamentally sound, its customers tend to be forgiving about small problems so long as they are quickly acknowledged and corrected.” No better way to do this than through monitoring and engaging consumer reviews – almost in real time!
- Organize and aggregate customer comments online to facilitate peer-to-peer service
- Learn about – and fix – product problems. Asap.
And more.
But, perhaps the most compelling benefit we expect to provide our users is the opportunity to increase sales! According to the eMarketer study above, Dell reports that “customers who read reviews were both converting at higher rates and spending more than customers who did not receive reviews.” I interpret this to mean that consumer reviews establish an openness and transparency that increases consumer confidence in a company and its products.
So, now that we have introduced consumer reviews to our users, what are our next steps? First, as with all new functionality we release, user feedback will be key. We should soon learn . . .
What sites should we add?
What functionality?
What measurement and analysis tools would help?
Then, we also intend to reach out to the review sites themselves, many of whom are interested in encouraging conversations between our users and their consumers, in an effort to expand the range of possibilities. We have lots of ideas.
Please stay tuned. The conversations are just beginning.
