The Story of Loblaw’s Success in Using Online Customer Ratings and Reviews to Promote Sales
Satisfied customers bring in more customers.
Canada’s largest food distributor is successfully using online customer ratings and reviews for both its offline and online marketing. By using the word-of-mouth marketing website Bazaarvoice, Loblaw has plenty of customer opinions to use for its marketing efforts.
Loblaw shoppers now have the chance to voice their opinions. Most of the reviews have been positive, encouraging more customers to buy more from Loblaw.
Bazaarvoice is a place where customers can share honest reviews and influence each other to make more informed purchases. With Bazaarvoice, businesses can put their customers at the center of the buying experience. Positive reviews and ratings drive sales — while the negative ones suggest ways for the business to improve.
The Main Benefits of Using Ratings and Reviews Sites
- Decrease the cost of customer service. Reviews and Q&A’s provide answers to common product questions. If the number of product questions decrease in the company’s call centers, the operators are more available to take orders or tend to other concerns.
- Consumers use products correctly. When you have people sharing opinions about products, it’s inevitable that they share information on how to use it correctly. If a product is too difficult to use, negative reviews will force the manufacturer to write better product instructions.
- Reduced the number of product returns. Product returns cost businesses a lot of money. However, studies reveal that only 5 percent of them are actually due to product defects – making it safe to assume that most returns are due to unmet expectations. Reviews and Q&A’s help shoppers make more informed buying decisions. Because they are more informed, their purchases are more likely to be final.
- Creates better products. Negative reviews encourage businesses to create better products and correct product flaws. Additionally, a product that elicits negative reviews can be recalled early to avoid future disappointments.