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Page 1: How to Turn User Generated Content into Revenue with Ratings and Reviews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A MARKETING GUIDE BY GIGYA

How to Turn User Generated Content into Revenue with Ratings and Reviews 3 ways to grow awareness, SEO results, and customer loyalty

Page 2: How to Turn User Generated Content into Revenue with Ratings and Reviews

   

   

HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS

In the age of the connected consumer, customers are continuously talking and sharing about your brand, product or service - and everybody’s listening.

When consumers have the power to tweet about the nasty cashier while she’s ringing them up, or that fantastic filet mignon directly from the table, brands’ reputations precede them. Social networks have given consumers proverbial megaphones to broadcast their experiences in real-time, and brand image and perception is increasingly shaped by social opinion. In fact, while 70% of Millennials consider it their responsibility to share feedback with companies after both positive and negative experiences (AdAge), 90% of consumers admit that their purchase decisions are influenced by consumer ratings and reviews (MarketingLand).

Letting disgruntled customers or brand advocates slip through the cracks can be the difference between widespread success and fast failure. By providing customers with an open forum for posting ratings and reviews, businesses can effectively monitor and react to consumer opinions in real-time. Smart brands are learning how to leverage consumer connectivity and feedback to build brand awareness, influence brand perception, and foster authentic relationships with both potential and existing customers.

This white paper examines three ways brands can start effectively harnessing ratings and reviews to stimulate both new and repeat conversions:

1. Boosting brand awareness and referral traffic 2. Improving long-tail SEO 3. Building a transparent, brand-loyal community

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HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS

 

Boosting Brand Awareness and Referral Traffic

In the golden days of advertising, a catchy slogan and flashy image were enough to catch consumer attention. But with the rise of digital, mobile and social technologies, consumers are so inundated with ads across such a variety of devices that ad response rates have massively declined. While the average consumer is served about 1,700 banner ads each month, the average CTR for display ads is a mere 0.1% (HubSpot). Today’s connected consumers are increasingly relying on word-of-mouth to discover new brands, ranking recommendations from friends and family as the most trusted source of brand information, followed by online reviews (Digital Intelligence Today).

HOW SHARING IMPROVES RATINGS & REVIEWS RESULTS

Not only are smart brands adding ratings and reviews to their sites to help break through the advertising noise with authentic feedback about their products or services, but they are also giving users an easy way to share this feedback with their preferred social networks. Enabling influential users to syndicate ratings and reviews among their social circles is a proven way to increase brand awareness and boost valuable referral traffic, resulting in new customers and increased conversion rates. In fact, 81% of people say that posts by friends on social media influence their purchase decisions (Forbes).

90% of consumers say their purchase decisions are influenced by online reviews.  

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HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS

 

Improving Long-Tail SEO

SEO is a huge pain point for many marketers as they struggle through keyword discovery and fight against the conglomerates that be to surface under phrases that people actually use. When it comes to search rankings, relevant, quality content is key, and customer reviews provide valuable user generated content that improves keyword performance. User generated content is especially useful because it puts your product or service in terms typically used by consumers, uncovering new keywords and increasing search ability. Websites that feature ratings and reviews typically experience a 10-20% increase in CTR on search engine results pages (Inchoo).

HOW GAMIFICATION IMPROVES RATINGS & REVIEWS RESULTS To encourage consumer ratings and reviews and reap the benefits of increased user generated content, successful brands are offering consumers rewards for sharing feedback by making it part of an engaging gamification process. Participants can earn badges to display on their profiles and accumulate points that can be redeemed online or in-store by posting ratings, reviews and comments. One brand that has effectively taken this approach is cosmetics retailer Lush. Consumers can earn points toward various achievements by leaving comments, and user rankings are displayed across the site to encourage user-generated content with a fun, interactive competition.

Websites that feature ratings and reviews typically experience a 10-20% increase in search engine results.  

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HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS

 

 

Building a Transparent, Loyal Community

Most brands spend valuable time and resources carefully crafting the right messaging and visuals to accurately convey their products and services and shape consumer opinion. However, in the age of the connected consumer, customer reviews are trusted 12x more than descriptions that come from manufacturers (Brick Marketing). In turn, 76.5% of shoppers say that a site looking credible and trustworthy is an important factor in their decision making processes (BigCommerce). Not only does generating authentic customer feedback help brands more effectively optimize their products and services, but it also creates a connected and brand loyal community, increasing consumer trust and transparency to foster authentic relationships that result in new and repeat customers.

HOW SOCIAL LOGIN IMPROVES RATINGS & REVIEWS RESULTS

Social login allows users to register for and login to your site using their existing social media accounts. Using social login is an easy way for users to authenticate their identities, greatly increasing the quantity and quality of user generated content on your site. Seeing genuine reviews from real customers increases the validity of your website to both new and returning customers, fostering increased consumer trust and shopping cart conversions. Implementing social login also allows you to tie all user feedback and activity to a single identity to help identify, reward and leverage brand advocates.    

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY

By implementing Social Login, Dallas Morning News saw a 92% increase in comment activity and a 95% decrease in labor needs for spam moderation!

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HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS

 

DID YOU KNOW…  

Customer reviews and testimonials are considered an important purchasing factor by 40.9% of consumers (BigCommerce), and featuring reviews on your website can improve sales by up to 18%! (Brick Marketing).

Where to Start

To effectively leverage ratings and reviews to build brand awareness, increase SEO and boost consumer loyalty, be sure to follow these three strategies:

1. Make ratings and reviews sharable 2. Incentivize consumer feedback with gamification 3. Authenticate user generated content with social login

About Gigya Gigya provides clients with the rich data, intelligence and tools needed to reach consumers with the right messages, on the right platforms at the right times. Gigya drives user acquisition and engagement for over 700 enterprises and reaches 1.5 billion unique users per month, ensuring that today’s businesses stay relevant in the age of the connected consumer.

For more resources and information on how to successfully implement a ratings and reviews strategy, visit Gigya.com. To get started right away, you can speak with a product expert by calling: 888-920-1702