Company News • 20.07.2015

Consumer-generated content alters traditional consumer behaviors

Impact of consumer-generated content on product exploration and purchase

Sara Spivey, chief marketing officer at Bazaarvoice: "The information that guides purchase decisions is no longer contained in a single channel."

Source: Bazaarvoice

Bazaarvoice has released The Conversation Index Volume 9, which examines how consumers' online and offline shopping behavior is influenced by consumer-generated content (CGC) such as ratings and reviews, questions and answers, photos, videos, and social posts.

The latest edition of The Conversation Index is based on an analysis of sample data from the Bazaarvoice network, including more than 57 million reviews and 35 billion product page views as well as supplemental data obtained via an April 2015 survey conducted by Bazaarvoice using Google Consumer Surveys.

Buyers who research online and buy offline (ROBO) are a new marketing opportunity for retailers: Fifty-four percent of surveyed consumers aged 25-34, and nearly half of consumers in the 35-44 and 45-54 age brackets, state that online CGC has an influence on their in-store purchases. Even among consumers aged 55-64, 40% acknowledge that CGC plays a factor in their decision-making process.

CGC plays an equally significant role in purchases of high- and low-consideration purchases: For relatively low-dollar purchases such as those common in the food and beverage industry, site visitors who use CGC buy 73% more often than those who did not. Likewise, high-value purchases such as those among automotive retailers and brands have seen as much as an 86% and 97% lift in offline sales conversion, respectively, among consumers who used CGC compared to those who didn't.

The Conversation Index Volume 9 details the impact of consumer-generated content on product exploration and purchase, and where consumers shop on- and offline.

Service-oriented industries are increasingly influenced by CGC that conveys customer experience: When customer service is an essential component of a business, CGC is more likely to speak to interactions between customers and employees. For example, financial service organizations like insurance companies, banks, and credit unions experience one of the highest proportions of CGC that mentions customer service at 14%, 9%, and 7%, respectively.

Sara Spivey, chief marketing officer at Bazaarvoice: "The information that guides purchase decisions is no longer contained in a single channel, yet brands still struggle to link the online and offline experiences for their consumers. CGC provides the bridge between the in-store and online experiences and the means to pivot from a shopping environment based on company branding to one informed by consumer experience."

Source: Bazaarvoice

channels: online trading, e-commerce, customer relationship management