Bazaarvoice Launches New Solutions to Deepen Consumer Engagement

AUSTIN, Texas, May 13, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BAZAARVOICE SUMMIT -- Bazaarvoice, Inc. BV, the network connecting brands and retailers to the authentic voices of consumers wherever they shop, today announced a collection of new solutions that give clients more pathways to deepen consumer engagement and influence potential buyers. Building on Bazaarvoice Conversations, the market's leading ratings and reviews platform, Bazaarvoice Curations, Local, and Product Sampling help clients reach across sales channels, deliver richer customer experiences, and promote product awareness and conversion.

Key Facts & Highlights:

Bazaarvoice Curations:

• Based on the mature technology acquired from FeedMagnet, Bazaarvoice Curations enables brands to curate and display consumer-generated images, video, and social content on their websites, on retail sites, and other marketing properties. Content can be captured from more than a dozen social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.
• For most clients who are currently on the Bazaarvoice Conversations platform, Bazaarvoice Curations can be implemented with zero engineering or development effort. Once live, automated filters for keywords, users, and content type help identify social content, which is curated and tagged by Bazaarvoice's live moderation teams before it is displayed on a brand's site and any participating retailer sites within the Bazaarvoice Network.
• In addition to enabling image galleries directly on the product display pages of desktop and mobile websites, Bazaarvoice Curations offers APIs, an SDK, and templates to accommodate clients' individual creative needs, such as branded campaign hubs, social-embedded banner ads, interactive digital billboards, and more.

Bazaarvoice Local:

• Bazaarvoice Local helps national brands and retailers increase the effectiveness of their local channels and field sales partners by enabling shoppers to submit and read reviews directly on a local affiliate's website, rather than third-party review sites that can invite competitive advertising.  
• Research into client data conducted by Bazaarvoice in 2013 found that local affiliates with online reviews are five times more likely to receive a customer inquiry. With Bazaarvoice Local, businesses can:

— Increase leads by helping dealers, agents, resellers, and franchisees proactively collect and display a fresh stream of search-optimized review content from local customers.

— Convert more shoppers into buyers with review content protected by Bazaarvoice's Authenticity Policy and anti-fraud capabilities, as well as moderation practices to prevent off-topic and inappropriate submissions.

— Uncover powerful insights with alerts, reporting, and review response capabilities that enable local affiliates and the national brand to understand the customer experience and provide the products and services that increase sales performance and customer loyalty.

Bazaarvoice Product Sampling:

• Review volume and average rating are significant factors in conversion. Bazaarvoice's research of an Internet Retailer Top 25 client shows that, depending on product category, increases in both the number of reviews and the average rating for a product can increase orders 10-50%.
• Bazaarvoice Product Sampling features a white-label portal powered by Bazaarvoice that gives clients the ability to invite their best customers and advocates to receive free products in return for providing accurate, unbiased, and insightful reviews.
• For brands and retailers already benefiting from the presence of reviews, Bazaarvoice Product Sampling can help drive higher volumes of rich user-generated content for existing products, as well as support more effective product launches by proactively collecting opinions about new and pre-released items.
• Bazaarvoice Product Sampling helps clients accelerate word of mouth and sales with highly engaging, rich user-generated content—including reviews, photos, and videos—that can easily be shared across other social networks to increase impressions.

Product Availability:

Bazaarvoice Curations, Local, and Product Sampling are available today to clients in North America and are expected to be generally available for global clients in the first and second quarters of fiscal year 2015.

Supporting Quotes:

Ari Paparo, executive vice president, Product Management at Bazaarvoice:

"For most marketers, there is no longer any question that tapping into people's interaction with social content is a critical factor to helping consumers discover, explore and engage with a brand. Today's most successful businesses are shaping consumer perceptions by weaving real customer experiences into the touchpoints people most often turn to for information about brands and product. That is why the Bazaarvoice network is a pivotal part of our clients' success: we are bringing to market the tools that help our clients build engaging, authentic experiences that promote a deeper relationship with consumers at every stage of the customer lifecycle."

Ryan Brockington, executive director, Global User Experience & Product Design at Clinique:

"By combining the sincere feedback Clinique customers share through ratings and reviews with the social elements of the new Bazaarvoice Curations product, we've been able to develop informative, meaningful, and genuine relationships with a wider range of Clinique fans. Our goal is to celebrate with our customers however they choose to share their love for Clinique—and the fact that we get to join the conversation is just icing on the cake."

Seth Arnold, residential brand director at Mohawk Industries:

"Mohawk is well-known for manufacturing high-quality products but we rely on the reputation of the sales and installation services provided by our local retailers. Because most consumers research online before they enter a store, Bazaarvoice Local provides the critical ability for our retailers to capture and display the authentic voice of their customers on their own company website. Amplifying the great reputations of our retailers not only helps drive customers to their stores, but instills a new level of trust and confidence in their services and our brand."

About Bazaarvoice

Bazaarvoice is a network that connects brands and retailers to the authentic voices of people where they shop. Each month, more than 400 million people view and share authentic opinions, questions, and experiences 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 www.bazaarvoice.com/blog, and follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice.