Bazaarvoice Launches CGC Index to Help Marketers Use the Power of Consumer-Generated Content to Maximize Sales, ROI, and Customer Loyalty

Groundbreaking new research draws on data from 45.6 billion product page views to describe the next chapter of consumer-generated content and identify the five key traits of best-in-class CGC marketers

AUSTIN, Texas (PRWEB) April 19, 2016

Bazaarvoice, Inc. BV, the network connecting brands and retailers to the authentic voices of consumers wherever they shop, today launched the inaugural Bazaarvoice CGC Index, a first-of-its-kind deep-dive analysis of the business impact consumer-generated content (CGC) has on sales conversion, return on investment, and long-term customer loyalty across multiple industries.

The benchmarks in the CGC Index are drawn on client data from more than 2,000 Bazaarvoice global brand and retail sites and illustrate the business value of CGC. Brands and retailers have seen significant impacts to shopper conversion, average order value, and measurable influence of online content on in-store purchases. The CGC Index shows that 50 percent of retailers and 91 percent of brands plan to increase their usage of CGC across the consumer journey in the next 12 months. Also detailed in the report: the massive explosion in visual content during 2015, how CGC influenced search, and how leading companies are leveraging CGC to improve products and customer service.

"Knowing that nothing like it exists, we created the CGC Index to serve as an incredibly valuable asset for businesses to see how leading brands and retailers use CGC so that they can better understand how to incorporate it in a meaningful way," said Sara Spivey, Chief Marketing Officer at Bazaarvoice. "The research proves beyond a doubt that CGC has evolved beyond a marketing tool to a true business imperative for brands and retailers that are placing more focus – and consequently, marketing spend –on consumer content."

Through detailed analysis, Bazaarvoice found that the CGC programs of the world's leading brands and retailers include five key traits:

• Focus on the fundamentals - A powerful program establishes and executes against a proven set of tactics that ensures a healthy volume of content and coverage to drive shopper conversion, and is constantly measured and fine-tuned to optimize program performance.
• Play the long game - Best-in-class brands and retailers see beyond initial conversion and seek to identify ways to unlock CGC's strength to drive long-term brand loyalty and customer value.
• Really listen to the customer - Industry leaders can pull insights from customer content and use it to improve the shopping experience, product performance, and customer service.
• Let customers tell their story – The best brands leverage CGC across their marketing mix, bringing the authentic voices of their advocates to a wide variety of digital and physical touchpoints, including the product detail page, category page, store signage, product packaging, and brand advertising.
• Everyone is a stakeholder – The most successful companies recognize that CGC is much more than an e-commerce tactic or even a marketing tool. It is a corporate imperative, with enduring bottom-line impacts across an entire organization.

"In our experience, it's become clear to us that it's no longer a question of whether brands will use CGC as a strategic advantage, but how, when, and where that is deployed across the business," said Indar Chanicka, Director of eCommerce at The Body Shop Canada. "The Bazaarvoice CGC Index has been a crucial asset in helping us understand where we stand across our competitive set, what our best opportunity is to leverage CGC across all of our consumer touchpoints, and how we can most effectively advance our own company objectives by calling on the voices of our customer database."

About Bazaarvoice CGC Index
The Bazaarvoice CGC Index is the first industry research study showing the business benefits of CGC, drawing on client data from more than 2,000 Bazaarvoice global brand and retail sites to deliver insights about the state of CGC across numerous industry categories. The analysis spans 127 million transactions, 45.6 billion product page visits, and 36.4 million pieces of consumer-generated content submitted in 2015. It is complemented by qualitative insights gleaned from a corresponding client survey on the value of consumer-generated content.

To download the full Bazaarvoice CGC Index, or to find out how your company's program stacks up to the industry's best-in-class brands and retailers, visit: http://www.bazaarvoice.com/cgcindex.

About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice powers a network that connects brands and retailers to the authentic voices of people where they shop. Each month, more than 700 million people view and share authentic opinions, questions, and experience about tens of millions of products in the Bazaarvoice network. The company's technology platform amplifies these voices into the places that influence purchase decisions. Network analytics help marketers and advertisers provide more engaging experiences that drive brand awareness, consideration, sales, and loyalty. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Bazaarvoice has offices across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. For more information, visit http://www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at http://www.blog.bazaarvoice.com, and follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/Bazaarvoice/cgci/prweb13350055.htm