You’ve been served retargeting ads before, some more effectively than others. Some sites (not naming names, Amazon) love to retarget you with ads for items you’ve already bought. These ads are useless when the item they’re showing is one you (hopefully) won’t need to repurchase soon, like a toaster or a pair of headphones.

But sometimes, you see that cute top you were waffling over, or those pants you love now come in another color…and they’re on sale. 

This is the kind of retargeting you want your company to do: the kind that reaches high-potential buyers with info that will convince them to convert. Campaigns that can do this are a great option for online retailers, especially small and mid-sized outfits. They have a fantastic ROI and can help you increase sales among newcomers as well as returning customers.  

Okay, but what if you’ve never done retargeting marketing before? It may seem like a big world to jump into, especially given the looming changes to third-party cookies. But you don’t need to feel overwhelmed. Here’s how to sell your boss (or your boss’s boss) on green-lighting a campaign — and how to launch and administer it so their investment proves itself worthwhile. 

Chapters:

1. What is retargeting in marketing?
2. Three benefits of retargeting marketing
3. Elements of a good retargeting ad campaign
4. How to get started with retargeting marketing
5. Win at retargeting marketing with contextualization

What is retargeting in marketing?

Retargeting marketing campaigns exist to reach out to prospects who have already shown interest in your company or products in the hopes of convincing them to buy. The clue’s in the name.

As a marketer, you probably know the rule of seven. This guideline tells us that most customers need to encounter a brand at least seven times before making a purchase. It’s a concept that was born pre-internet but has been reaffirmed multiple times in the digital age.

Retargeting helps your brand reach that magic number by tracking your online visitors across the web to serve them branded ads. You can use retargeting for display ads on any website or to reach your prospects on social media. 

And now that the modern e-commerce funnel has changed (read: collapsed) and purchases can happen anywhere at any time, retargeting marketing increases your chances of driving purchases even further.

Preferably, these ads call back to a shopper’s interactions with your brand and products. Even if your target doesn’t click an ad, seeing it will increase their familiarity with your brand while keeping their shopping (sorry, browsing) experience top-of-mind.

The idea is to build enough trust and remind your would-be buyers about your products enough times to finally earn that sale. 

Three benefits of retargeting marketing

Anyone can launch and benefit from a retargeting marketing campaign. However, the upsides are especially big for small and mid-sized retailers. National and multinational brands have more to spend on marketing and, therefore, have a much easier time staying top-of-mind with audiences.

Retargeting marketing allows your small brand to do more with less and reach niche audiences much more easily.

1. Generate (targeted) awareness for less

Because people typically need familiarity with a brand before they choose to buy, merchants have to do a lot of work upfront to woo potential customers. Large brands can plaster the web (and the physical world) with ads and other buzzy marketing campaigns. Smaller brands simply don’t have that luxury.

Retargeting allows you to build awareness on a budget by focusing on a narrower (and high-potential) audience. When you spend money to retarget people who have heard of your brand and products at least once, you’re speaking to an audience that’s already somewhat engaged.

You’re not spending money on thousands of views that won’t result in any interest, you’re being smart with your ad spend to find those who already are. 

2. Easily promote new items or collections

A successful product launch requires significant investment in marketing. As with your awareness campaigns, using retargeting allows you to make a smaller investment without losing your chance to make a splash. 

Done well, retargeting allows you to segment your audience by behavior and/or interest. You can use your existing retargeting lists to pinpoint would-be buyers who are most likely to care about a new product.

For instance, shoppers who have previously looked at women’s activewear might want to know about those new yoga pants in stock. Those who have been browsing your phone cases might be a good target for ads sharing your stylish new power banks.

3. Increase customer lifetime value (CLV)

You don’t have to limit your retargeting efforts to prospective customers — why not reach out to those who have already bought from you to see if you can entice them to return? You can share a new product as mentioned above or maybe to let them know your company’s having a sale. If you sell items that need to be replenished regularly, maybe showing a new series of ads every other month will remind them and bring them back to your store.

Retargeting gives you a way to do personalized marketing on a small scale and effectively reach audiences who are likely to make a purchase. 

Elements of a good retargeting ad campaign

A retargeting marketing campaign isn’t guaranteed to work just because you’re reaching out to customers who have recently expressed interest in your brand. Your ads still need to speak to your audience’s needs and desires and reach them in the right place and at the right time.

Keep your campaigns effective by following these criteria.

Highly specific ads

Retargeting campaigns aren’t just about reminding people your brand exists. It’s about reminding people why they were interested in your brand to begin with. That’s why these ads typically feature products rather than generic brand imagery or content.

The more your ad speaks to a target’s reason for visiting your site in the first place, the better chance it has of achieving its desired goal — to bring them back so they’ll complete the purchase. Display the exact item(s) your target viewed, products within the same category or that share a use case, or items you know are popular among the demographic your target is part of. 

Specific ads give viewers a concrete reason to check out your site again, and when they come to your store with that reason in mind, they’re more likely to make a purchase.  

Coordinated landing pages

This is a must-have for any ad campaign, and it’s no different in the world of retargeting marketing. Your ads are specific, so your landing pages must be, too. 

Ads that tout the product someone was looking at but then bounce them to your homepage will leave a bad taste in your audience’s mouth by wasting their time. They know what they are after — so take them straight to it, explain the benefits, and make the purchase easy to complete! 

Adequate longevity

Retargeting campaigns aren’t one-and-done. You’re looking to slowly build up familiarity with and trust in your brand. That means you should expect and want your audience members to view your retargeting ads more than once. You’ve caught them during a decision period, and you want to keep reaching them as they weigh your brand and product against other options.

The length of the decision period varies from product to product — someone who’s looking for a new TV is likely to spend more time browsing reviews than someone who just wants a fun new accessory for their summertime socializing. 

One thing to keep in mind is how often during the decision period a person sees your ads. Especially if they’re likely to spend a lot of time considering different options, constantly bombarding them with ads is more likely to annoy them than to win them over.

Most brands set frequency caps on retargeting ads for this exact reason, so no one feels like you’re following them around incessantly. 

Smart targeting

Retargeting ads are meant to go after potential buyers, but not everyone who visits your site is one of those. Don’t let these campaigns exceed their usefulness by casting too wide a net. 

For example, targeting everyone who hits your homepage will mean a lot of money spent on people who looked around and decided your brand didn’t match their needs. The same goes for targeting someone who spent ten seconds on a product page before bouncing. 

Make sure your retargeting marketing is aimed at individuals who have engaged with your brand. What that means may vary based on your industry and typical customer behaviors, but typically, it involves interacting with a product page by looking at product details or reading reviews, visiting multiple pages on your site, or signing up for an account. 

How to get started with retargeting marketing

Sold yet? If not, we’ll wait while you refresh yourself on the small percentage of buyers who actually make a purchase on any given visit to your e-commerce store. If yes, we hope you’re ready to get started — because jumping in doesn’t have to be a big deal. 

Don’t be afraid to start small with retargeting. Your initial campaigns can help you gather data and prove the effectiveness of the method. Here’s how to launch your very first one. 

Add a retargeting pixel to your website (and start gathering customer data)

The very first step in launching a retargeting campaign is finding ways to identify your audience so you can find them elsewhere online. You’ll want to add the Google Remarketing Tag and Facebook’s Conversions API to your site. 

Note that Google’s retargeting tag may not be helpful for long. In response to customer demands for more privacy (and governmental pushes for the same), third-party cookies like the tracking pixel are being phased out. Google is already blocking them for a small percentage of browser users and testing new advertising tools and techniques on that population. The company is still refining its new ad offerings, but it seems traditional cookie-based retargeting won’t have an analog in this new system. 

Therefore, you need to get something a bit more stable than a browser cookie. Facebook’s Conversions API is one example of a tool that will outlast this change — other sites may or may not release their own. You can take matters into your own hands by convincing visitors to sign up for your email list or share their phone number for text message marketing purposes.

Once third-party cookies are gone for good, customers’ contact information will be the best, if not the only, way to retarget them.

Link your pixel (and upload customer data) to retargeting ad providers

You can retarget ads through multiple platforms: Google Display Network, the Google SERP, and social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok. (Note that the latter two also have their own retargeting pixels for you to install if you choose to use these platforms.)

The setup for each site is a little different, so we’ll let them explain best practices to you. 

For now, you may simply need to follow the steps on each site to set up your third-party cookies. However, if the option is available, we recommend you get used to uploading your email lists. You’ll have to start doing it someday, so why not build the foundations for your next-gen retargeting efforts now? 

As a plus, you can start learning how to best segment these audiences when cookies aren’t doing all the work for you.

Segment your audience by behavior and preferences

Personalized ads tend to work better, and the best way to personalize retargeting ads is by looking at what your customers do on your site. Of course, this type of retargeting marketing may become more time-intensive once third-party cookies are fully out of the picture. Still, let’s talk a little bit about what this kind of retargeting can do.

Even if your store has a very narrow niche, your shoppers likely came to the site looking for a specific item or type of product. The more you know about what they were after, the better; you can reach them with retargeting ads that promote the product or product category they were browsing. Ads that understand your audience’s needs will, of course, do a better job of bringing them back to your site.  

However, this type of retargeting requires the ability to track each user closely and then transmit their browsing data to an ad server, which will become much harder when third-party cookies are no longer allowed. It may be easier to build retargeting ad campaigns around your most popular products — the ones that your visitors are more likely to have looked at or at least know about.

You can then break out these ads by demographic, so you have a campaign aimed at millennial women, one for Gen Z women, one for millennial men, and so on.

Finally, sometimes audience behavior isn’t just about what they view on your site, it’s about how far they get in the customer journey. A person who browses your site for ten minutes has a different relationship to your brand than one who makes an account, and that person needs a different approach than one who put some items in their cart but then decided not to buy. 

To recap, here’s the ways you can segment your audience (and tailor ads accordingly):

• By product viewed: Serve ads that show the exact product(s) a visitor viewed on your site. This reminds viewers of the item they liked while building brand awareness and trust. 
• By product category: Serve ads that display the same type of products (for example, women’s going-out tops or healthy snacks) a visitor viewed on your site. This keeps your brand top-of-mind for any shopping your audience wishes to do in the same area.
• By audience demographic: Serve ads that speak to the various market segments you serve, whether that’s different generations or just “people who like running” vs. “people who like swimming.” These ads promote the demographic’s most-bought items to invite audiences to get in on a trend with your brand.
• By onsite behavior: Serve ads that target the most engaged customers — those who abandoned their carts (or, if your site has the capability, those who favorited items or added them to a wishlist). Use this campaign to remind shoppers of the items they almost bought and invite them to come back and finish the purchase.

Of course, there’s multiple ways to dice up audiences within each of these options. Choose one to get started with, and try different methods of targeting (or different types of ads) to see what works best. Or save time and work with a contextualization partner who can segment for you based on AI-powered insights.

Convince on-the-fence shoppers with UGC-based ads

Now, it’s time to create the actual ads! You’ve likely seen retargeting ads that follow you around the web with product pictures. They’re noticeable because of the familiarity, but this format doesn’t bring a lot to the table in terms of convincing audiences to give you a second look.

Ads that feature user-generated content (UGC) stand out and have a better chance of connecting with your audience. Imagine if, instead of seeing that set of dinnerware displayed against a white background, you saw an ad that showed the dinnerware in use at a fantastic party. Or, if the ad used reviews to tell you previous buyers thought it was “sturdy enough that you don’t have to worry about putting it in the dishwasher, despite the decorations.” 

These authentic product experiences can only be found in UGC, and they do a lot more to build trust because they show that other people trust you, too. 

Choose or create landing pages for your retargeting campaign

Whether you’re using existing pages as the target of your ads or creating new ones, make sure the content of the page matches what people saw in the ad. If your retargeting campaigns feature one item, you can probably just link audiences to that product page. Just make sure it’s easy for them to buy the item once they get there.

However, if you’re featuring more than one item in your retargeting ads, consider linking to a collection or product category.

The other option is to create a unique landing page with the item(s) you featured and a streamlined checkout — in other words, to save shoppers the hassle of doing the add to cart > visit cart > check out dance. You may see more conversions from this type of page, especially if you target it toward people who spent a long time on an item’s product page or denoted their interest in some other way. 

Either way, think about including UGC on your landing page as well. We’ll assume you already have reviews turned on, but do you share product videos or images, including the one(s) you used in your ad campaign? Showing that media again will make the interaction feel more cohesive and remind users why they clicked on your ad in the first place. 

Set your budget for your retargeting campaigns

You don’t have to spend a lot on retargeting campaigns to be successful. It’s possible to start off with just a few dollars a day when you’re only looking to reach a very small number of people. If you’ve never done retargeting marketing before, we recommend starting small. Retargeting tool AdRoll suggests smaller retailers can launch a campaign with around $50 per day. 

If even that’s a difficult sell to make, it might help to remind stakeholders that your budget will determine the quality of the results and data you gather. You shouldn’t build a campaign off “insights” you gathered from ten or twenty people. Likewise, hitting a larger number of people for a very limited amount of time (say, a week or two) is unlikely to show results because retargeting is about repeated exposure to your brand and products. 

Marketers who face budget constraints may consider limiting ads to one platform — try starting with your best-performing social site if you’re in this situation. You can also set frequency caps to make sure you don’t pop up in any one person’s feed too often. This allows you to keep the scope small without hampering your ability to retarget a good number of visitors. 

Track important retargeting metrics

The most important metrics in a retargeting campaign are your click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and cost per conversion. You may track other data points as well to help you understand how many touches it takes to convince a target to return to your site and how many people come back even if they still aren’t ready to buy. But these are the big three.

• Click-through rate tells you how effective your ads are. You can compare your CTR across platforms to see which method is the best for reaching consumers, and across campaigns to see which ads are enticing the most customers to return to your site
• Conversion rate tells you how many of those clicks result in a sale. This is where you get the ROI from your retargeting marketing efforts, so you want to make sure you have these numbers on hand to prove your experiment is working!
• Cost per conversion helps you understand how efficient your ad campaign is. It helps you understand how retargeting ads perform compared to your other (non-retargeting) campaigns. This is another number that can work as justification to support continued retargeting efforts

Of course, not all retargeting campaigns result in someone clicking the ad and making a purchase — they may return to your site on their own accord after viewing a certain number of ads. While this behavior can’t be directly attributed to your ads (at least right now), keep track of when this happens. 

You may find your ad campaigns correlate with changes like a smaller gap between first visit and eventual purchase, visitors needing fewer site visits before they make a purchase, or other behavioral indicators that your ads are making a difference. 

Win at retargeting marketing with contextualization

The magic of retargeting marketing is that these ads directly respond to consumer actions, making personalization easy. You’re addressing a warm lead instead of trying to nurture a new one. Of course, this means you have to retarget your audience soon after their visit to your site.

Retargeting campaigns can’t be set up as a response to consumer behaviors, they have to be prepped and ready to deploy as soon as an individual shows sufficient interest.

You don’t have time to waste when setting up your retargeting marketing. Even if the first ads aren’t perfect (and when are they ever?), it’s more important to reach people while your brand and products are still top-of-mind. So, don’t let hesitation hold you back. Get started with a limited-scope retargeting campaign that uses UGC you’ve already gathered. Then, watch those customers who are “just browsing” come back and engage further with your brand. 

Retargeting is all about serving personalized ads based on user behaviors. Watch our new on-demand masterclass How contextualization is transforming online shopping to learn more tips that will boost your retargeting (and other marketing) campaigns. 

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How modern marketing strategies miss the mark for shoppers

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Marketing personalization gets the second date — or in this case, clicks and conversions.

Why’s that? Because personalized marketing is all about tailoring your campaigns to provide a customized experience for your e-commerce site visitors. And in the modern market, the majority of customers expect it, which means brands that design the same messaging for all their customers are so last season.

This is why Bazaarvoice partnered with Klaviyo — to help brands elevate their personalization strategies. It all starts with gaining knowledge about your customers and using it to provide them with an exceptional, tailored shopping experience.

Chapters:

1. What is personalized marketing?
2. Why is personalized marketing so important?
3. How to build a personalized marketing strategy
4. Personalized marketing examples
5. How to get started with personalized marketing

What is personalized marketing?

Personalized marketing uses information about your customers to create individualized, relevant messages and offers. For e-commerce businesses, this data-driven approach matches consumer demographics and behaviors with tailored website and marketing content.

There’s many applications of personalized marketing, from geo-sensitive push notifications that send discounts when you’re near a coffee shop, to abandoned cart emails that remind you of products you looked at but didn’t buy, to product recommendations based on order history. Just to name a few.

And personalized marketing is growing at a rapid pace. Nearly 40% of marketing decision-makers ranked personalization as the most important consumer experience. And a recent survey revealed that 33% of marketers in the US and UK devote over half of their online marketing budgets to personalization projects and initiatives.

The report predicts this trend will continue, driven by advancements in technology, data, and analytics that make personalization more widely available, as well as the rapid rise of generative AI tech.

Why is personalized marketing so important?

Personalized marketing allows you to gain extensive knowledge about your products and customers. You can learn what products, services, features, and messaging attracts customers and leads, then adapt your marketing and product strategy accordingly.

Customers receive marketing materials they actually want and make them feel connected to your brand. This leads to purchases in the short term and brand loyalty and customer retention in the long term.

Valuable information like this lets you focus on what works and scrap what doesn’t. If you only have blanket messaging and offers on your website and in campaigns, you’re missing out on opportunities to target visitors with effective content. According to McKinsey, personalization can

• Increase revenues by 5 – 15%
• Lower customer acquisition costs by up to 50%
• Increase the efficiency of marketing spend by 10 – 30%

Increasing online privacy regulations makes user activity more secure and protected, but targeted marketing — like personalization — more challenging. The restrictions prohibit third-party data tracking that has historically helped marketers target campaigns to their website visitors.

This is why it’s extra important to know how to implement personalized marketing in the wake of new obstacles and a changing marketplace. Without the third-party tracking data that gives a broad view of users’ search behavior on various websites, marketers will need to rely on their own data and create campaigns based on that to reach their customers.

How to build your personalized marketing strategy

The basis of personalized marketing is having comprehensive and organized data about the people you’re trying to target.

Once you’ve assembled all your relevant data, you can use it to segment customers based on preferences, demographics, or order history. Then, you can identify the primary channels where customers engage in order to focus your distribution. Either your website, email, social media, live chat, or a combination.

1. Gather customer data and insights

Collect all the pertinent information on your customers that will be useful in serving them personalized content. This includes demographic data, like gender, age group, location, and income level.

Another big piece of the puzzle is shopping behavior, like purchase history and spending habits. With the advent of third-party tracking restrictions, this means relying heavily on collecting first-party data.

There’s different routes you can take to collect these insights, which require varying levels of oversight. Customer data platforms (CDP) are a primary resource for aggregating data from across multiple customer touchpoints. CDPs record when a customer visits your e-commerce website, is shown an ad, or opens a promotional email. And then how the customer interacts with each. CDPs then combine all this information into a single, data-rich customer profile.

A good example is our Bazaarvoice homepage. It appears slightly differently depending on whether you’re a social media manager or e-commerce manager. Each page is tailored to suit the relevant persona.

A personalization engine is similar to a CDP but with AI and machine learning that can assist in designing data-based, targeted campaigns.

Individual data sources also offer insights into your customers. These include social media and SEO management software, e-commerce and retail point of sale (POS) systems, and Google Analytics. These platforms will give you insights on customers who visit your website, engage with your brand on social media, and purchase your products or services.

2. Create customer segments

Next, you can create customer segments based on your data. Look for demographic and behavioral patterns in the data to determine how to segment your audience. Personalization engines and CDPs can combine and organize this data for you, or it can be done manually.

Some examples of customer segments to use for marketing personalization include age groups, occupations, spending amount tiers, product interest categories, and date of the most recent purchase. Once you have your different customer segments set up, tailor your messaging and offers according to the qualities and characteristics of each segment.

Segmentation is a planning tool for personalized marketing. To personalize content, you need to take it a step further. Personalized marketing takes customer segments and then individualizes content for the members of that segment.

For example, a segment could be a group of customers who regularly purchase higher-priced items. To create personalized content for a customer in that segment, you could send an email with product recommendations for luxury items in their size.

One brand who knows segmentation well is Little Sleepies. Wanting to boost their Black Friday sales, the apparel brand leveraged Klaviyo’s segmentation capabilities. Little Sleepies sent two campaigns in a day: the first to their full nurture list and the second to the segment that engaged with the first email but didn’t make a purchase.

They also targeted specific segments with personalized features like a countdown timer. Using Klaviyo’s segmentation paid off with a 138.2% year on year growth in revenue from email during Black Friday.

3. Personalize experiences based on UGC interactions

Leveraging the insights you find from consumer interactions with user-generated content (UGC) — like reviews and frequently asked questions — can be a powerful way to identify and segment audiences for win-back campaigns for unhappy customers. Or for surprise and delight campaigns for your biggest fans. 

Some example use cases include:

• Send review requests: Integrate flows to send post-purchase review request messages to your customers from Klaviyo. This ensures that any email communication is configured and managed within the Klaviyo platform, giving your teams a singular view of the communication with your customer
• Powerful segmentation and flows: Create flows within Klaviyo to thank your customers for writing a review, or segment based on review submissions to contact customers after they leave a positive or negative review
• Personalize your messages: Leverage past review data to notify satisfied customers of an upcoming promotion on a product they love or trigger a refer-a-friend invitation following a positive review submission 

Businesses can now incorporate Bazaarvoice data into their Klaviyo platform to drive additional intelligence to their marketing strategies and personalization triggers. Through the Bazaarvoice and Klaviyo integration, customers can leverage real-time UGC interaction data within email and SMS to create relevant shopping experiences for each customer and influence more purchases.

This integration enables brands to unlock the full potential of UGC while leveraging Klaviyo’s robust marketing automation capabilities to deliver personalized and impactful messages at scale.

Personalized marketing examples

Collecting and organizing customer data is only half the battle. The next step is putting that data to use with different types of personalized marketing tactics and campaigns.

Personalized email marketing

Only 8% of brands think email is important, which is surprising. Because not only do nearly a third of shoppers think personalized emails are important, but email is the top digital channel used for personalized marketing because it’s fairly easy to create customized email content for individual recipients.

After all, consumers have been getting promotional emails with their name in the subject line for years.

There’s multiple different types of email marketing campaigns that brands can personalize. Review request emails are the perfect opportunity to personalize content. They’re a direct response to a customer’s action, whether that’s a website visit, a cart abandonment, or a purchase.

Other types of emails, including product feature announcements, out of stock emails, newsletters, and special offers, can all be personalized. The most basic method is to simply include the customer’s name in the subject line or body of the email. Emails with personalized subject lines improve open rates by 26%, but this can also come off as heavy-handed. Product recommendations based on the customer’s preferences and order history are a more advanced way to appeal to the customer’s personal interests.

Enhance these emails with customer reviews and visual UGC of recommended products. UGC provides consumers with the social proof they need to learn more about products, and ultimately the confidence to make a purchase. You can go the extra mile and personalize the UGC itself. Example: If an email is going to someone in an older age bracket, include reviews or a photo created by someone close to their age that corresponds with the brand or product.

The way in which you collect UGC also plays an important role in personalization. One of the top recommended personalization campaigns is to send emails asking customers to review a recently purchased product. You can then use that UGC to display on your website, giving shoppers more details and insights from verified customers who have first-hand experience with products.

In this email example from Hulu, the streaming platform does a great job of using customer data to create a personalized campaign. It uses the customer’s demographic information (their date of birth) and purchase history. In this case, the customer was a previous subscriber who hadn’t renewed their subscription.

So, Hulu offers them a birthday gift in the form of a one-month free trial with the goal of winning back the customer.

SMS marketing

Often considered an extension of email, SMS marketing is an often overlooked but equally powerful tool — the average text open rate is 98%.

Much like with email, SMS works wonders for personalization because it’s easy enough to create custom content for specific segments. All you need to write is your customer’s name at the start and include messaging like “Exclusively for our text subscribers” to get going. 

There’s multiple types of personalization opportunities in SMS marketing:

• Promotional SMS include special offers like holiday sales and customer acknowledgement like a birthday message
• Post-interaction texts are usually sent post-purchase and post-delivery or even for abandoned cart notifications
• Customer service messaging can consist of shipping updates and delivery notifications

The key is to segment before you send. Types of SMS segment include loyalty program customers, engaged subscribers, or subscribers who’ve yet to make a purchase from you. And it works.

One brand, Fast Growing Trees, discovered this firsthand after they implemented a more personalized SMS strategy, using Klaviyo’s segment level campaign reporting. The brand started sending SMS messages to a more specific segment of subscribers — 60-day engaged as opposed to 180-day engaged — with the aim of increasing engagement and growing their SMS channel.

Since June 2023, their revenue per SMS message has already grown 35% quarter over quarter.

Website or app optimization

For e-commerce companies, your website or app is the ideal space for personalization. This is where you can deliver relevant calls to action (CTAs) for further browsing and exploration. Things like product recommendations of products similar to what’s in the shopper’s cart, or based on order history.

Some examples are “people also bought,” “you might also like,” “finish the look,” and “don’t forget to accessorize.”

Enabling your website search feature to produce relevant results and recommendations is another important aspect of website personalization. For example, if a website visitor searches for a black dress, everything that fits “black” + “dress” should populate.

And if you don’t carry a black dress, provide them with alternatives that closely match. That could be a navy dress or a grey dress, for example. If a search term is misspelled — like “black dress”— your technology should be able to understand that and produce results instead of no results.

Special offers tailored to different types of customers is an enticing website personalization tactic. Offer promo codes to first-time customers to use on their first order. Increase basket sizes by offering discounts on products or free samples that align with customers’ repeat purchases or interests.

Customized content is another way to provide a personalized experience for each website visitor. Create dedicated landing pages to include in emails that highlight personalized product updates and recommendations. Another way is to include the customer’s name and order history when they visit your website.

Netflix is an expert in the art of personalized marketing, particularly with its in-app recommendations. The company uses its subscribers’ viewing behaviors to create TV and movie categories based on their unique tastes. Examples of this in action are its “Because You Watched” and “Gems for You” lists.

Spotify does the work for you and curates recommendations into instantly consumable playlists. Some of its personalized playlists based on listener data include daily mixes, genre mixes, top artists mixes, Discover Weekly, and Release Radar.

The company’s highly anticipated annual Spotify Wrapped is a shining example of personalization in action. With this feature, they literally create a neatly packaged overview of each individual listener’s data and use it to make fun, shareable content and custom playlists.

Augmented reality

The use of augmented reality (AR) is a growing marketing trend that enables real-time personalization. The number of mobile AR users is expected to reach 1.73 billion this year. Some customers using the AR platform Adloid reported seeing up to a 200% increase in sales conversions.

AR is an example of advanced personalized marketing, where customers can see products superimposed on their own bodies, in their living spaces, or in other real-life settings. Some top retail and e-commerce industries that have quickly adopted AR include automotive, beauty, home goods and decor, and apparel.

On its website, L’Oreal’s Live Try On gives shoppers the opportunity to virtually apply its products from wherever they are using their mobile or desktop device.

And Target’s See It in Your Space feature is a great way to see how furniture and other products look in your home or office. Customers can accurately visualize these products and if they fit where they live and work.

Saying sorry

Elton John famously sang, “Sorry seems to be the hardest word.” (Or Blue famously sang it, depending on the era you grew up in. Both are bangers). Either way, apologies can be tough. Not just for people, for brands too. But it really doesn’t have to be!

They’re the perfect opportunity to use personalization to turn a negative shopper experience into a positive one. 45% of consumers actually consider a brand apology to be the “coolest” personalization tactic they’ve seen.

Whether apologizing for an item being out-of-stock or following up on an abandoned shopping cart, there’s often a reason a brand needs to apologize. So if you have to do it, do it properly.

Take this tailored example from ZocDoc above. Not only does it provide a form of compensation to entice the customer to stay with the brand, it also uses the opportunity to gain customer feedback. This feedback can then be used to improve the service going forward, making sure it doesn’t happen again.

Product sampling

Launching a targeted sampling campaign creates a personalized experience for customers because you are sending products directly to them to try out for themselves. To maximize the personalization of each campaign, tailor the samples according to the individual customer.

For example, you can reward customers you consider high value because of their repeat business with pre-release samples of new products. You can target customers who have interests in specific product types with samples of new or similar products. You can include samples of relevant products along with order shipments.

With product sampling, not only do customers get a free gift based on their interests or customer history, but samples often create impactful UGC for brands.

In exchange for product samples, brands can ask recipients for feedback in the form of an online survey or a review, making sampling another valuable data-gathering tactic.

Conversational commerce

We’ve left the best til last. Knowing how to win at conversational commerce is a business necessity. Conversational commerce uses messaging apps and voice-activated technology to sell products and services, with help from artificial intelligence. Think of it as an online version of talking to a sales assistant in a store.

Whether shopping bots that aid a customer through the buyer journey, or customizable chatbots for customer inquiries, there’s a multitude of conversational commerce delivery methods. And each one provides a different personalization in its own right.

Take this example from our own Bazaarvoice website. You’ll have seen an iteration of it pop up in the bottom corner. Through some simple tweaking, our own lovely chatbot (Bazaarbot!) differs in messaging depending on who visits the site.

Let’s say a user has tried out our marketing ROI calculator tool. On their next site visit, our bot will encourage those with an ROI calculation to get in touch. As demonstrated below.

Using this example almost feels like spilling state secrets or insider trading. But you know what, it’s one of the multiple, successful customizations on our website. And you have to lead by example.

How to get started with personalized marketing

Personalized marketing is a proven way to win over customers, and it’s surprisingly simple to implement. But there’s a disparity between brands and shoppers when it comes to personalization — while retailers believe they’re excelling at personalized marketing, consumers disagree.

There’s multiple ways to solve this though — you already have most of the resources to do it. As it is, you can start personalizing with the data you already have and refine your strategy through more sophisticated collection and segmentation. But key areas of opportunity for brands include:

1. Focus on delivering the right content through the right channel at the right time
2. Use tailored offerings and purchasing incentives, like discounts, in exchange for personal information
3. Utilize the Bazaarvoice + Klaviyo integration to leverage real-time UGC within email and SMS in an automated way to create relevant shopping experiences for each user and influence more purchases

Over time, you’ll increasingly notice the impact it has. And your bottom line will thank you for it. Learn more on our dedicated Klaviyo + Bazaarvoice integration page or get started right away below.

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Picture this: You’re walking through the store, your stomach is growling, and you’re looking for the perfect thing to eat. Then, out of nowhere, a person shouts, “Free samples!” and hands you a hot bite of pizza just oozing with melted mozzarella cheese. And hey, it’s dinner time…you want more! *Add to cart.*

Now, replace that pizza with anything else — wine, ice cream, a handheld vacuum. Once customers try it, they’re more likely to talk about it, buy it, and share it. That’s why, despite the costs, product sampling marketing is one of the most effective ways of collecting authentic content and increasing conversions on your e-commerce site, social pages, and beyond.

Chapters:

1. What is product sampling?
2. When should you launch a product sampling campaign?
3. Why you should launch a product sampling campaign
4. Product sampling strategies
5. Get started with product sampling

What is product sampling?

It’s the practice of offering goods or services to your audience in exchange for increased brand awareness, brand loyalty, reviews, feedback, and other revenue-boosting user-generated content (UGC). This is a form of experiential marketing because consumers are able to completely absorb and engage with the product prior to buying it.

Quick history lesson: Product sampling is a tried-and-true marketing strategy dating back to the 1850s. Benjamin T. Babbitt, a soap manufacturer, was one of the first people to hand out samples to his fan base. As time passed, the power of this marketing strategy was realized by others and has since become popular in a variety of industries.

Today, there’s several different product sampling methods:

• Traditional sampling means giving away free product samples to customers, so they will feel more confident buying the product
• Digital product sampling is a sustainable sampling method, where customers buy a product in a store or online with a provided coupon, or receive money back after uploading the receipt — no samples need to be shipped meaning no unnecessary packaging waste
• Sampler packs include small or trial-size products. If the customer likes the sample, they are more likely to buy the product at full size
• Mail drops are when you mail free samples directly to customers’ homes
• Limited time samples are free only for a specific amount of time, such as three days, a week, etc. This adds excitement and plays to the psychological fear of missing out (FOMO!)
• Virtual sampling is when consumers are able to try out a product online without visiting a store or receiving something in the mail. This type of product sampling campaign relies on technology like an app or artificial intelligence

When should you launch a product sampling campaign?

You should launch a product sampling campaign when you need to boost word of mouth or get feedback on a new product.

• You have a high-quality, effective product ready for people to test. It’s important to make sure you’re delivering something genuinely good before people’s opinions start flying. A bad product will be all the more maligned by product sampling
• Your budget can handle sampling costs. This includes the cost of the samples as well as shipping, handling, staffing, and marketing. Note: Digital product sampling alleviates a lot of fulfillment costs!
• You need increased brand awareness for an existing product. If your brand isn’t well-known but you have a great product, you need positive word of mouth to increase brand awareness and fill your sales funnel. Just make sure expansion is feasible for you based on your current business model
• You have a new product to launch. Product sampling will help with product development, as well as create some additional buzz. People who sample your product and love it are more likely to buy it, tell their friends, and even create shareable content about it

Why you should launch a product sampling campaign

Product sampling marketing helps brands boost feedback, conversion rates, positive reviews, and social content for both small and enterprise brands alike.

Get valuable product feedback

Product sampling is a way to connect with and get feedback from your audience.

According to Ryan Stewart, a marketing expert and the managing partner of WEBRIS, “We normally ask them questions about their experiences with our services, show how they use them, or even invite them to take part in an online contest that involves using our services.”

You can also use surveys to collect quantitative and qualitative data. This feedback can help you further develop the product into something your audience will love.

Boost sales and conversion rates

Sampling a product makes customers want to buy it. It’s wired into our psychology. Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University, knows samples create desire. “If I gave you a tiny bit of chocolate,” he says, “all of a sudden it would remind you about the exact taste of chocolate and would increase your craving.”

Take Costco, for example. An oft-cited study about Costco revealed the grocery store saw a significant boost in revenue thanks to its free food samples. And Stewart confirms sampling is a solid way to increase sales. He asserts, “People who feel like we value their opinions are more likely to buy from us when they need something similar in the future.”

Gathering UGC and reviews from shoppers also gives brands a significant boost in sales. Absolution Cosmetics wanted to support product launches, build brand awareness around their healthy skin care messaging, and boost customer loyalty and engagement to ultimately increase sales. The brand implemented a dual review collection strategy, combining an evergreen sweepstakes on their website, ensuring a constant influx of fresh UGC and reviews, and targeted product sampling campaigns to support new product launches.

As a result, in just a six-month period, Absolution increased its revenue per visitor from 14% to 123%, customer engagement from 28% to 61%, and earned $107K directly attributed to ratings and reviews.

Encourage positive reviews due to a sense of reciprocity

Free samples encourage potential customers to play into the idea of reciprocity. In other words, people who receive the sample want to do something for your brand in return — like posting a positive review on social media.

This by no means every review is going to be positive of course. Neither should that be expected. Product sampling isn’t “we’ll send you a product sample in return for a positive review.” By contrast, reviews should be honest regardless of the sentiment. And even negative reviews provide added authenticity for your brand.

But one of the reasons sampling does yield such positive results is because the right provider (like Bazaarvoice ) can create campaigns for a hyper-targeted audience across demographics, behaviors, preferences, and more. When the recipient is the exact target audience the product is for, the review is much more likely to be positive. Just make sure your sampling provider can accommodate this.

“Product sampling allows us to get our audience involved in the creation of our content, which gives them a sense of ownership over what we’re sharing,” says Stewart.

For instance, after TTI Floor Care North America allowed top brand loyalists to sample Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners for free, they saw an 86% response rate and more than 700 reviews full of positive, authentic UGC. As a result, Dirt Devil product reviews went from 2.8 to 4.5 stars. These reviews not only filled TTI’s own webpage but were also syndicated on major retailers’ sites.

Supercharging brand awareness with social content

You probably already know that social content is an important way to reach consumers. Combining the reach of social media with the effectiveness of sampling gives you a unique marketing campaign powerhouse.

Most Bazaarvoice Sampling customers are brand managers who use sampling to generate and feature content on social media.

“Linking sampling to social is a core tenant of any e-commerce plan,” says Kerry Bridge, Global Director of Advocacy at Bazaarvoice. “You need to be able to collect that great content from social in order to populate your product pages. Plus build your community.”

We’ve pinpointed a few different reasons why social content and sampling go hand-in-hand:

1. New product launches benefit greatly from large amounts of recent UGC. 89% of shoppers check reviews before making a purchase, and 60% of shoppers feel more comfortable making a purchase if they can see product images or videos first. A great way to collect this valuable UGC is to employ sampling
2. Entering new markets helps you expand your reach. Each demographic is different, and over 70% of shoppers are looking for perspectives that reflect their own. Product sampling can help you get your foot in the door and provide UGC that speaks to these new markets in a relatable way
3. Supporting your core SKUs with product sampling allows you to collect quality content at scale. Your core products are hot sellers for a reason — get them in your fans’ hands through a sampling campaign and encourage them to create content. Data from our Bazaarvoice Network of over 12,500 brands and retailers found a 135% increase in conversion rate and a 164% increase in revenue per visitor when shoppers engaged with social content from their peers
4. Working with the right content creators can help you skyrocket your brand awareness and success. Creator collaborations add to your content volume, and by sharing with their own engaged audiences, they also extend your reach

Relaunch your products

There may be times when you want to shift your brand strategy and reformulate or reinvent your product. With the introduction of the FTC’s 2023 review hijacking legislation, reformulating your product isn’t just about tweaking its features — it’s about ushering it into the market as if it’s an entirely new line. It’s a unique challenge, with the daunting task of resetting your review count and content collection to zero. But sampling can help you rapidly rebuild from this new starting line.

• Relaunch your product with fresh advocacy: Successfully relaunch your reformulated product by targeting the right audience, providing an experience, driving UGC from day one, and gaining actionable insights from product samplers
• Combat misleading reviews with authentic content: If the reformulation means the product is “substantially different” in “one or more material attributes” from the prior version (as per the FTC), it would be deceptive to continue using existing reviews. A sampling campaign can generate fresh reviews and customer photos quickly and effectively so you have an arsenal of new social proof you can show off to shoppers

Product sampling strategies

Ultimately, all sampling campaigns help your potential customers get a preview of what you’re selling while helping you get more visibility for your product and brand overall. The individual strategies can take several different forms, from in-store food samples (Costco) or mailed glasses to try on (Warby Parker). The details depend on your business model and campaign goals.

Here’s seven examples from the masters that you can imitate when you craft your own campaign, including the relevant sampling program they used.

Costco nails the traditional sampling strategy

Costco is famous for the traditional, in-store, free sample method. People have gone so far as to tour the sample tables at various Costco stores. The more samples people try, the closer they get to a free lunch. Personal finance and food bloggers have picked up on this idea as well and have even written articles encouraging the practice.

Costco’s store sampling draws people to its stores, thanks to one key message: Going to Costco is fun (and yummy!)

While you might be nervous about handing out “freebies,” the benefits far outweigh the costs. In fact, according to the College Marketing Group, “Interactions — the company that handles Costco’s sampling — found that their efforts led to a 71% increase in sales of beer and a 600% increase in frozen pizza.”

Traditional sampling works especially well for supermarkets like Costco, as well as other brick-and-mortar stores like makeup counters. Just remember that the goal for this type of sampling is to increase sales and positive word of mouth. You probably won’t get a lot of usable content out of it.

L’Oréal gets personal with virtual sampling

Since its target market is focused primarily on beauty, personalization and creativity are everything for L’Oréal. That’s why L’Oréal’s special offers and promotions are tailored to this demographic’s specific preferences and needs in the form of virtual sampling.

Customers simply select a product like hair dye or blush. Once they grant L’Oréal access to their camera, a small window shows them what they would look like wearing that product. It’s kind of like Zoom + the Sherwin-Williams ColorSnap Visualizer. But instead of paint, it’s a beauty product.

Virtual sampling is attractive because it’s incredibly scalable, not to mention germ-free. Brands aren’t limited by physical space in stores or the cost of making or shipping the product. Instead, consumers are able to instantly get a good idea of what the product would be like for them without the hassle of applying the sample color to their wrist (eww), applying to a program, handing over their personal info, or potentially wasting a product if they don’t like it.

This technique is also sometimes more helpful and realistic than physical store samples because the tool takes into account different product combinations and how they affect each other. For example, if I dyed my hair bright red, would that red lipstick look good? Hmm… maybe a more subtle shade would be better.

Brands can use virtual try-ons to fill their social media calendars. If you have a tool like this, inspire your customers to post a photo of themselves on social media “trying on” your product. Then collect, store, and track that content using Bazaarvoice’s AI-powered Media Library.

Warby Parker masters the mail drop

Warby Parker prides itself on its choice selection when it comes to new, stylish, and comfortable eyeglass frames. It provides a quiz to help customers determine exactly what type of frames will best suit them and then a personalized selection based on their responses.

After completing the quiz, customers can choose up to five frames that are delivered right to their homes, where they can test them for five days. After finding that perfect pair, customers can buy what they want and ship the rest back. The return shipping is free with Warby Parker’s return label.

For something you have to wear all the time (like glasses), comfort and style are paramount. Warby Parker helps customers feel assured that both needs will be met because customers can literally see the results for themselves at home before buying.

For brands that want a turnkey sampler program, Bazaarvoice offers a white-labeled sampling program to help retailers get their product samples directly into the hands of their community and start generating UGC.

Neuro optimizes product development

Sampling isn’t just to market and sell existing products. Kent Yoshimura and Ryan Chen, co-founders of wellness company Neuro, explain in this podcast one of the key ways they achieved their success: making sure Neuro Gum was as perfect as possible before they jumped into product activation. They gave out free samples of the gum to family, friends, and co-workers to test a variety of key details such as:

• Different ingredients (20 milligrams of caffeine to 80 milligrams of caffeine)
• New flavors
• Different sweeteners
• Hard chews vs. soft chews

After perfecting the product, Yoshimura and Chen surpassed their crowdfunding goal in just three days and ended up selling over 12 million pieces of Neuro Gum. And those people who sample the product became loyal customers.

“Once we introduce that product to somebody, the repeat purchase rate can be up to about 40, 45%,” said Chen. “Our challenge is getting people to try the product. Sampling is a really big opportunity for us.”

Neuro ensured it had a good, high-quality product and an active community of fans, thanks to product sampling. According to Chen, “We’ve grown such a loyal group of customers that they give us feedback all the time. It’s built a community which has been inspiring for us and has given us the motivation to keep going.”

After their initial success, they continued sampling with specific cohorts like the CrossFit community. They’ve also shipped product samples to new distributors to explore a potential new market in Africa.

Using samples and collecting customer responses is the most effective way to get meaningful feedback about your product, so you can improve it and launch with confidence.

Bazaarvoice’s sampling programs can help you learn from sampler feedback and expand into new markets via our robust, global Influenster community.

Home Depot doubles conversion rates with Managed Sampling

Home Depot Canada wanted to increase the volume of UGC, particularly reviews, its brands get on its product pages. So they partnered with bazaarvoice to create the Home Depot Seeds Sampling program.

“UGC is becoming increasingly important. It’s no longer a ‘nice to have.’ It’s a necessity. We see our site as a research tool, so even if people come into the store, they still use their phones to see ratings and reviews and make a final decision.”

Gabriela da Silva, Senior Brand Advocate Analyst, Home Depot Canada

Seeds Sampling is a review-seeding program that puts a brand’s highest priority products into the hands of its shoppers, in exchange for honest reviews on HomeDepot.ca. Since the program’s inception, it’s already led to some brands doubling their conversion rates on HomeDepot.ca.

It’s not just legacy products either. WiZ, a brand featured on HomeDepot.ca, used Seeds Sampling to generate buzz for new products and earn that UGC before they’d even launched. 

It worked, too. The conversion rate for the products used in Seeds Sampling was 68% higher than products not part of the program. Not bad at all.

Home Depot isn’t the first retailer to turn to Bazaarvoice for a Managed Sampling program. We’ve built sampling programs for Walmart, Target, and Sam’sClub, to name a few. And you could be next.

Get started with product sampling

Ready to experience the power of product sampling marketing in your own business? Bazaarvoice makes it easier than ever to get your products into the hands of the perfect customers, leading to a surge in reviews, social media buzz, authentic word-of-mouth, and sales.

You can learn more about Bazaarvoice Sampling here, or get started directly below.

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Buyer’s guide: Find the perfect product sampling partner

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E-commerce and brand managers will soon have to rely on first-party data — the data you collect directly from customers yourself.

Not just to stay compliant with privacy regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA, but because a first-party data strategy can enhance your revenue, provide value internally for your business, give you better customer data, and ultimately help you build a relationship with your customers. 

Chapters:

1. What is first-party data?
2. How to use first-party data
3. How to collect first-party data
4. First-party data e-commerce strategies
5. Examples of first-party data strategy in action
6. Maximize your first-party data

What is first-party data?

First-party data is customer information and data that you collect yourself — directly from your audience. Nobody else owns this data except you. It cannot legally be sold or shared, it doesn’t follow users outside of your website, and it’s made up of two different “types” of data.

1. Declarative data

Declarative data is the data that your audience self-reports, such as their name, email address, location, and more. It doesn’t just have to be rote demographic data, however. It can also be data such as their income level, the number of pets they have, and more. It’s especially useful for understanding consumer behavior and finding out what triggers buying behaviors.

Example: A customer informs you that they have pets: two cats. This information comes directly from the customer.

2. Behavioral data

Behavioral data is data based on the activities of a site visitor. This type of data is often collected via the use of a first-party cookie or tracking pixel. This cookie is unique to your site and your site only, and never follows the user across the web. Tools like Google Analytics are commonly used in conjunction with behavioral data to analyze site performance and user behavior, giving marketers and managers granular details about what parts of their website are performing and what parts need improvement.

Example: A customer likes several cat pictures and pages on Instagram but does not explicitly tell a business they have any cats. It’s up to the business to make that inference.

How to use first-party data

Before you start on your first-party data strategy, there’s some housekeeping and tactics that will need looking at first.

Align with stakeholders on what first-party data you’ll collect

First, you need to align with stakeholders on what first-party data you’ll collect. This way, you have buy-in from everyone on your team, and everyone’s needs are equally represented. Because this first-party data will become your only data source, it needs to be as robust as possible, while still keeping within regulations.

Aligning with stakeholders requires some prep on your end. Before meeting with the different stakeholders in your organization (managers, executives, legal, IT), come up with a list of metrics you’d like to track. Some common ones include sales interactions, emails, phone numbers, site behavior, purchase history, and common demographic information, such as age and location.

Next, you’re going to want to run this list of possible data points by your stakeholders, justifying why you want to collect each data type and how you’re going to do it, so there isn’t any friction between departments over what data is collected and how it’s being used.

Update to the latest Google Analytics data model

Google Analytics version 4 includes new ways to segment and track users, is GDPR and CCPA compliant, and is built to take on first-party data by utilizing AI to fill in data gaps that third-party data would ordinarily have filled.

The ever-popular analytics tool specifically addresses issues with the retirement of third-party data and inconsistencies in cookie consent options by using AI to fill in missing customer information, meaning you can still collect and analyze user data even if you don’t have a complete user profile.

Additionally, Google Analytics 4 helps you easily find and delete user data upon request, which means you can stay compliant with “the right to be forgotten.”

Looking to get started with a site implementation? Google has some valuable resources and a step-by-step guide to implementing Google Analytics 4 properties on your website’s analytics property.

Build new personas and segment your audiences based on first-party data

Because you’ll be using first-party data moving forward, you need your personas to be as accurate as possible; working with inaccurate or baseless buyer personas is a huge waste of time and resources. But you can’t keep relying on third-party data to build your buyer personas. Ask any marketer how accurate their third-party data is, and you’ll probably get back a “not very.” Survey data collected by Deloitte unearthed some startling facts about first-party data’s ugly cousin:

• Over 66% of respondents said that the third-party data about them was zero to 50% accurate as a whole
• Around 71% of all third-party data was deemed inaccurate after a review by survey respondents

As part of a first-party data strategy, personas based on first-party data are crucial to providing a personalized e-commerce marketing and advertising experience. Buyer personas based on first-party data have a number of benefits, including a 10–20% reduction in marketing and sales costs, a 20% higher customer satisfaction rate, a 10–15% increase in sales conversion rates, and a 20–30% increase in employee engagement.

Start by leveraging all the first-party data you can to build your personas. This might include data like location, age, purchase history, audience research, CRM data, or user account information, all of which can be consensually collected without the use of third-party data or cookies.

How you divide your customer base is entirely up to you. But some common shopper segmentations include: 

• Shared characteristics and behaviors
• Common interests
• Demographics
• Region
• Purchase or browser history
• Frequent shoppers or buyers
• New customers
• Recent cart abandoners
• Browsing or buying habits
• Engagement levels
• Average AOV (e.g. big spenders, sales hunters, etc.)

Build a data governance strategy that keeps you compliant

Data governance is the process of ingesting data and managing that data’s lifecycle from creation to storage to deletion.

Both the GDPR and CCPA have clauses that allow users to request their data be deleted — “the right to be forgotten” and “right to erasure.” Data governance strategies play a huge role in both of these clauses — you can’t comply with a data deletion request if you can’t easily find and manage that data in the first place.

Failure to govern your first-party and third-party data in accordance with regulations could put you in regulatory hot water. The GDPR imposes stiff fines for companies who fail to comply. Amazon was hit with a massive $887 million fine for not complying with the GDPR.

Failure to govern your first-party and third-party data in accordance with regulations could put you in regulatory hot water.

Building a data governance strategy requires you to consult with two teams: legal and IT. Legal will be able to tell you what needs to happen to the data you have from a governance standpoint. IT will be able to help you find a solution to managing your data.

Start collecting first-party cookies in place of third-party cookies

You may have seen those popups on some websites asking to place cookies on your browsers while also offering you the chance to opt in or out of data collection. That’s how first-party cookies are placed in a way that’s compliant with regulations — and it’s a crucial aspect of your first-party data strategy. There’s a few key ideas at work here:

• Customer information gathered from first-party cookies is gathered consensually
• This data is being used on this site and only on this site and will not follow the user across the web

Ordinarily, companies use third-party cookies — cookies that have been placed on users’ browsers by third-party sites — to gather customer data. These cookies are placed without the consent of the user, directly violating the GDPR and CCPA, which prohibit the non-consensual placement of third-party cookies. How do you start collecting first-party cookies?

You can do this manually by consulting the different teams in your org about how you’re going to implement a first-party cookie strategy. Design the language and copy, then take your plan to legal, and finally to IT, who can implement a first-party cookie solution. 

If you’re a small or medium-sized business, services like Cookiebot can help you set up collection popups. Larger organizations can rely on tools like OneTrust to do this at scale.

Value exchange

Value exchange is a tactic used to entice customers into exchanging their personal information for high-value content or services (you might recognize this as giving your email in exchange for an e-book or a discount from a company). Value exchange is consensual data collection that’s compliant with the GDPR and CCPA, and it’s mutually beneficial to your business and the customer. It’s a win-win that provides some great, long-term benefits.

Common value exchange tactics are to offer discounts, which help you gather emails, and loyalty programs, which can improve your bottom line and your brand’s relationship with your customers. You get their data and earn their trust, and the customer gets a valuable piece of content, item, or service.

Additionally, it represents your commitment to user privacy and data transparency. You’re being upfront about what you’re collecting, why, and what the customer is getting in exchange for their data. This type of approach is great for building goodwill with your customers and helps you stay compliant with regulations.

How to collect first-party data

Collecting first-party data starts with building users’ trust, gaining their consent, engaging the customers in ways that prompt them to volunteer information, and having the right tech to gather first-party data in place. Here are some tried-and-true methods of collecting first-party data:

Be transparent about the data you do collect. Customer trust is built on transparency, but one in five consumers still believe businesses don’t care about privacy. Separate your business from the pack by explaining how you’re going to use the data you do collect and how it’s being collected in your cookie consent popup.

Ask for reviews from customers. Asking for customers to review products in your e-commerce store is not only a great way to improve your sales performance but also gain access to customer data consensually.

Offer quizzes to your customers in exchange for personalized recommendations. Customers like personalized product or content recommendations — 35% of Amazon purchases come from product recommendations, and 75% of Netflix watches come from recommendations based on customer data. Learning a buyer’s likes, dislikes, and interests is a great way to improve the customer experience, your ROI, and consensually gather first-party data.

Let customers make accounts in your e-commerce store. Accounts are a veritable treasure trove of first-party data. By letting customers volunteer information via user-created profiles, you give them an incentive to return to your e-commerce store and can also mine their accounts for useful bits of data.

Reward repeat customers with a loyalty program. Building a successful customer loyalty program provides you with a dynamic source of customer data — a data source that is constantly evolving and is updated by the customer — as well as better sales numbers and increasing your brand loyalty. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Ask users to participate in surveys. Customer satisfaction surveys are an excellent way of improving your products and services. Surveys can also function as a source of first-party data, giving you the ability to tie interactions back to specific customers so you can identify points of friction within your e-commerce store or customer journey.

First-party data e-commerce strategies

Follow these best-practices for using first-party data to drive e-commerce growth.

Retarget hesitant shoppers

Retargeting is a super effective way to use first-party data to reach customers who have shown interest in your products but haven’t completed a purchase. Use data from website visits to create targeted ads that remind them about their viewed or wishlisted products or items left in their carts.

This subtle-yet-not-so-subtle nudge brings reluctant customers back to your site and also nudges them to complete their purchases.

Generate personalized product recommendations and promotions

With 91% of consumers more likely to shop with brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations, implementing this strategy into your e-commerce marketing plan is a no-brainer. Utilize purchase and browsing history to tailor offers and product recommendations that are most likely to appeal to each customer.

These can be displayed on product pages, in email campaigns, and even during the checkout process, and should include related or complementary items that encourage upsells and cross-sells to increase average order value.

Enhance the shopper journey

Strengthening customer relationships is paramount for any e-commerce business’s growth. The stronger the relationship, the greater the trust. And the greater the trust, the deeper the loyalty — which just so happens to convert to higher online revenue. 

Analyze your first-party data to identify any pain points and areas for improvement. This will allow you to optimize the customer experience by reducing any friction throughout the conversion funnel. For example, your first-party data might highlight that many of your customers make their exit during checkout after they see limited payment options.

So then you could add more payment methods, such as buy now, pay later.

Strengthen your loyalty program

A recent study found that 79% of consumers are more likely to do business with a brand because of its loyalty program, which translates to increased customer retention and revenue. Your best approach for making your loyalty program a reason that shoppers seek out your business?

Begin by using your first-party data, such as shopper preferences and previous purchases, to tailor your rewards to each customer. 

And with third-party data going away, loyalty programs are going to be more important than ever when it comes to customers actively sharing their information. With a well-executed, personalized loyalty program, you can increase your customers’ lifetime value, drive repeat purchases, and create champions for your brand.

Target shopping cart ditchers

Customers often leave your site and abandon their full shopping basket with no intention of ever returning to complete a purchase. While this might seem like a waste of time, it’s actually a great opportunity to build connections with online consumers you might never have heard from again.

First-party data can identify those who have recently abandoned shopping carts, and you can then send targeted email reminders or offers to encourage them to complete the purchase. This strategy is proven to work well, especially when an incentive like a limited-time offer is included. 

Looking to catch cart abandoners before they leave your site? Machine learning tech (like Bazaarvoice) can use first party data to identify when a shopper is likely to abandon, and intercept before they’ve made their exit.

Implement dynamic pricing

Dynamic pricing can help you maximize revenue by charging different prices to different customers at different times, optimizing based on each consumer’s willingness to pay. Determine whether this hyper-personalization strategy could benefit you by looking at first-party data like customer preferences, buying behavior, and historical purchases.

You’ll also want to take a look at competitor pricing to ensure you’re not over (or under) reaching. From here, you can adjust prices based on your customer segment and offer discounts to customer groups who would benefit from them most to encourage purchases.

Create personalized campaigns

A large part of your marketing budget is likely going toward advertising. Take your wealth of first-party data, including purchase history, browsing behavior, and demographics, and use it to create highly targeted campaigns that spark interest in your segmented groups.

For instance, a furniture retailer may target a group that has all purchased the same sectional with ads featuring a matching chair or ottoman, along with a limited-time discount if they buy it within a set time frame.

Don’t forget to test your strategies

Testing different strategies and messages based on first-party data is paramount to determining what resonates best with your audience.

Make sure to continuously refine your marketing and personalization strategies using A/B testing, and experimenting with different messaging, offers, and channels.

You can then use first-party data to measure the impact of these changes on key metrics like conversion rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and average order value.

Examples of first-party data strategy in action

First-party data is used like any dataset to improve your products, services, revenue numbers, or processes. In the following examples, you’ll notice a common thread throughout: a strong first-party data strategy is in place, and best-practice data collection techniques are used to do a lot more than just target customers for ads or remarketing.

B2C — The slipper store

An e-commerce store selling fun and stylized slippers severed its ties with its data vendor in order to build a first-party data strategy. Upon visiting its website, users are greeted with a prompt asking for their email and phone number in exchange for a 20% off coupon. The user fills in the form and collects their discount.

During checkout, the user is then prompted to create an account to speed along the transaction and manage future purchases. The customer creates an account, enters their shipping and billing information, and completes the transaction. The e-commerce store now has some data points it can use to help improve its products or services.

But that’s not all: first-party data can be used to retarget and nurture leads during the sales process.

B2B — Applicant tracking software vendor

An applicant tracking software (ATS) has a new website and a blog it’s using to capture organic leads. Employees notice that while the blog itself is attracting a fair number of leads for the company, once users navigate to the rest of the website, they bounce within seconds, most never completing an action beyond clicking through a few pages.

The company’s first-party data strategy helps uncover the problem. Using a first-party data cookie and Google Analytics 4, the vendor can see the users coming in via the blog, attempting to schedule a demo with the CTA link on the homepage, and then bouncing. Upon analysis, the vendor realizes that the form isn’t opening when users click the “schedule a demo” CTA. They re-work the form but have another problem on their hands: the vendor has no way of remarketing to leads who didn’t convert.

They turn to first-party data to help. The vendor creates high-quality e-books and assets and then gates them at the bottom of their highest-performing blogs, asking for some basic customer information, such as their email and phone number. Now the vendor can send personalized email content to their leads, educating them on the benefits of ATS in their business and qualifying them for a sales conversation.

Maximize your first-party data with Bazaarvoice

E-commerce managers and brand managers who don’t embrace first-party data are living on borrowed time. Regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA, in conjunction with unanimous motions to quash third-party data and cookies, have put additional pressure on businesses, that often don’t have the time or resources to prepare for third-party data’s retirement.

An easy solution is insights and reports tools from Bazaarvoice. Rather than waste time hiring third parties, the tools help you analyze customer behavior and sentiment, build your brand, and source more reviews to diversify the voices in your first-party data strategy.

Here’s a thought experiment: In the past five years, how much has the landscape of e-commerce changed? With mass remote working, the widespread adoption of TikTok, and the increase in mobile shopping, the answer is a lot. So it’s only natural that the e-commerce funnel, once a reliable roadmap for customer journeys, has undergone a considerable (and interesting) shift.  

Understanding and adapting to the new “state of the funnel” will allow you to create an interconnected, engaging journey that reflects the modern shopper’s behavior and rewards your bottom line.

Chapters:

1. The e-commerce funnel as we knew it
2. The collapse of the e-commerce funnel
3. Breaking down silos with the correct content mix
4. How to optimize the modern e-commerce funnel with UGC
5. How Iconic London adapted to the collapse of the e-commerce funnel
6. Embrace the new reality of e-commerce

The e-commerce funnel as we knew it

Picture a straight line that connects point A to point B. Now imagine that every person’s shopping journey follows that exact same shape — a neat, linear path from need to purchase. This is the essence of the traditional e-commerce funnel. It assumes that every shopper’s journey is predictable and follows a clear-cut path from consideration to purchase. 

This is a neat model, yes. But if you try to make sense of it in light of the current landscape, the cracks begin to show — because the traditional e-commerce funnel doesn’t account for the dynamism and unpredictability of modern shopping behaviors. It’s a boxed-in approach, where the focus is primarily on guiding the consumer through a set sequence of stages. 

This funnel operates under the belief that the consumer’s journey is a one-way street, leading straight to the checkout page. What the model fails to consider are the varied and often non-linear paths that consumers take in the digital age. It doesn’t leave room for the spontaneous, exploratory, and serendipitous nature of online shopping. It overlooks the fact that a consumer might jump stages, turn back a stage, or even convert immediately through in-feed check out, or one-click purchases, for example. 

It’s comforting to believe that consumers will follow exactly the path you lay out. And it usually makes the lives of e-commerce brands easier. But alas, social media and other platforms have transformed how consumers discover, research, and engage with brands. 

In a digital era where a consumer’s journey is anything but uniform, the traditional e-commerce funnel is increasingly out of touch with the realities of the online shopping experience. We might even go as far as to say that the funnel has collapsed.

The collapse of the e-commerce funnel

This collapse isn’t as devastating as it sounds. But rather, it’s a natural progression of things. The rise of social commerce, mobile shopping, and e-commerce platforms has revolutionized the buyer’s journey, evolving (or devolving) the e-commerce funnel in the process. 

The journey can start and end at any point, it’s characterized by speed, diversity, and a multitude of channels and touchpoints, making each person’s experience unique and dynamic. Someone might research a product in-store but buy it online, or use a retailer’s mobile app to compare prices while shopping in-store. A customer can move from discovery on social media to purchase without leaving the app or spending time in the consideration stage.

In this new era, search engines are the primary gateway to product pages, but other avenues like site searches, mobile apps, and social media searches are rapidly gaining traction. The traditional funnel, with its focus on a linear path that culminates in a purchase, doesn’t encapsulate the complexity and fluidity of these modern behaviors. 

Also, the term “funnel” overlooks the fact that, for many consumers, the purchase is not the end but the beginning of an ongoing relationship with a brand. This change is evident in the way consumers interact with brands beyond the point of sale. Edelman’s 2023 Trust Barometer revealed that 79% of consumers engage with brands in ways that go beyond using their products, and about 78% find attributes that attract them and foster loyalty to a brand after they purchase. 

In short, today’s buying behaviors are too dynamic for a linear mindset. For those who have been paying attention, the collapse of the e-commerce funnel isn’t a surprise — it’s an inevitability.

Social media, a new full-funnel experience

One of the main drivers of the traditional funnel collapse is social media. Channels like Instagram and TikTok have emerged as new search engines and storefronts, and almost single-handedly reshaped the e-commerce experience. 

According to our 2023 Shopper Experience Index, over half of shoppers (58%) often stumble upon new products or services through social media, surpassing traditional channels in discovery. This shift isn’t just about accidental discovery — 50% of consumers actively research products on social platforms, and 42% acknowledge the significant impact of social media on their purchasing decisions.

Social media’s influence extends beyond the initial stages of the funnel. It also plays a role in promoting brand loyalty, with 46% of shoppers regularly following their favorite brands on these platforms. This engagement translates into tangible transactions — nearly a quarter (23%) of consumers have made between one and five purchases directly through social media platforms  in the past year.

Unsurprisingly, the impact of social media on the e-commerce journey is very pronounced among younger demographics. 70% of people aged 18 to 24 are more likely to discover products through social media than any other means.

As it stands, social media isn’t just an extension of your marketing strategy, but an essential component of the modern e-commerce funnel. It’s a space where discovery, research, purchase, and loyalty come together to offer a seamless, uninterrupted, and integrated shopping experience. As consumer behaviors continue to evolve, the role of social media in the e-commerce funnel will only grow, making it an indispensable tool for you to connect with your audience in a meaningful and impactful way.

Breaking down silos with the correct content mix

Typically, teams that run top-of-the-funnel (awareness) and bottom-of-the-funnel (conversion) activities are different and tend to work in silos. But in the face of a collapsed funnel, brands can streamline costs and enhance the shopping experience with content that breaks down these barriers and integrates into each phase, from the awareness stage to consideration, conversion, and post-purchase loyalty.

When it comes to your content supply chain, a balanced mix of branded-, creator-, and user-generated content is essential to address full funnel needs. But 67% of brands and retailers plan to increase their spend on UGC in the coming year to meet rising consumer demands.

User-generated content (UGC) presents an economic means of driving high quality, high converting content for any phase of the buying journey. UGC is content produced by your customers (a.k.a. real people who use your products) and can take many forms, from written reviews to video testimonials, photos, and more.

There’s a real hunger for this type of content on the consumer side, as it makes customers more confident in their buying decisions — our Shopper Experience Index revealed that 55% of shoppers are unlikely to buy a product without UGC, and 62% are more likely to buy a product if they can view customer photos and videos.

Whether it’s an Instagram ad, an organic TikTok post, a homepage gallery, or a product page, UGC is the type of content that fits at every stage of the e-commerce funnel, and in every channel the modern consumer uses throughout their journey. 

How to optimize the modern e-commerce funnel with UGC

There’s a lot to love about UGC, but one of its biggest selling points is versatility. Customer reviews, photos, and videos can be seamlessly woven into different stages of the e-commerce funnel to create a more engaging, trustworthy, and cohesive shopping experience — regardless of what the journey looks like for each individual consumer.

In the discovery phase, UGC is the magnet that attracts potential customers through relatable and authentic content. During consideration, it provides social proof, reassuring customers about their potential choices. At the point of purchase, UGC can tip the scales in favor of conversion. And in the post-purchase phase, it encourages brand loyalty and advocacy, turning your customers into long-term brand ambassadors. 

Discovery: Building brand awareness

In the discovery phase, where the primary goal is to get eyes on your brand, UGC helps you spin a unique narrative that draws potential customers into your world. Thanks to its authentic nature, UGC gets through to audiences in a way that traditional content marketing can’t.

It provides a glimpse into the real-life experiences of existing customers, making your brand more approachable and trustworthy. These are the top ways you can leverage UGC at this point in the e-commerce game:

Social media showcases: Social media platforms are a fantastic source of high-quality visual UGC and one of the primary points of distribution for it (remember, consumers might very well begin and end their journey without even leaving a social media platform.) Pepper in discovery-focused UGC like customer photos, videos, and stories in your feeds that provide an overview of your products, highlight benefits, or introduce the ethos of your brand to newcomers. For example, a sports apparel brand might create a hashtag campaign encouraging customers to post their outfit photos and caption them with one healthy habit they try to adopt every day. That’s a ton of rich UGC the brand can then reshare to its own accounts.

Incorporate UGC in digital ads: 40% of shoppers say UGC makes them more likely to buy a product from an ad, so use that to your advantage. Incorporate UGC in digital advertising campaigns, whether it’s Google Shopping, TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram ads, to add a layer of authenticity and relatability to your marketing. 

Interactive UGC galleries: Create interactive UGC galleries and display them on your homepage and landing pages, where website visitors can see how others are using the products. If you’re a home decor brand, you can have a gallery where customers upload pictures of their home interiors featuring your products, offering inspiration and real-life use cases to brand-new visitors. 

Feature customer stories on your e-commerce site: Our 2022 Shopper Experience Index revealed that 74% of shoppers want to see consumer content on brands’ websites. Galleries are one way to do this, but you can go the extra mile and create a dedicated section on the website for customer stories or testimonials. This can be a powerful way to introduce new visitors to your brand through the lens of existing customers. For instance, a travel gear brand could feature stories from customers who have taken their products on adventures, complete with photos and quotes, on a special “Our Community” webpage. 

Include UGC in welcome emails: Incorporate UGC in your emails to introduce new subscribers to the brand community. An example scenario of this strategy could be a fitness brand including customer success stories and workout photos in their welcome email, showcasing the impact of their products and programs.

Consideration: Engaging potential customers

UGC can further engage people who just found out about your brand. While some customers might skip this phase, others take time to evaluate their options, compare products, and decide if what you offer meets their needs and addresses their pain points. 

Here’s how UGC can be used for funnel optimization in this context: 

Showcasing real-life product use: Use UGC to show how real customers are using and benefiting from your products. This approach addresses any concerns or questions potential customers might have. For instance, a skincare brand can share before-and-after photos and testimonials from customers who have seen real results, providing tangible proof of product effectiveness. 

@rhode @naomigenes ♬ original sound – Speed Audios

Hosting Q&A sessions with existing customers: Facilitate Q&A sessions or discussions between potential and existing customers. You can do this through social media platforms or on your product pages. 

Incorporating UGC in product demos: Blend UGC with professional product demonstrations. This combination gives potential new customers a well-rounded view of the product in action — like a fitness equipment brand creating video content that combines professional demonstrations with clips of real people using the equipment at home. 

Highlighting customer reviews and ratings: 88% of shoppers consult ratings and reviews before making a purchase. Make good use of every review you have at your disposal by displaying them prominently on your website, making you a real contender in the minds of potential customers who are weighing their options.

Writing UGC-driven blog posts: Supercharge your SEO blog content with UGC. This includes customer success stories, tips, and how-to guides based on real user experiences. For example, an outdoor gear brand could publish a blog series featuring stories from customers about their adventures using the brand’s gear, providing both inspiration and practical insights. 

Including UGC in email marketing: Add UGC to your email marketing campaigns and newsletters. This strategy can help personalize the user experience, make the content more relatable, and keep your brand top of mind during the consideration stage (like a gourmet food brand sending emails featuring customer-created recipes using their products, along with reviews and photos from these home chefs.)

Conversion: Encouraging purchase decisions

At the conversion stage, the focus shifts to turning consideration into action. This is where user-generated content becomes your ally in making potential customers become paying customers.

UGC, with its authentic and relatable nature, can play a significant role in alleviating last-minute jitters and reinforcing the decision to buy. Here’s how you can use UGC to encourage purchase decisions: 

Product page optimization: Incorporate customer photos or videos directly on product pages to provide potential buyers with a real-life view of the product in use. If you’re an apparel brand, you might include a gallery of customer photos on each product page of your online store, showing how different people style their clothing. 

Include UGC in abandoned cart emails: Use UGC in cart abandonment emails to remind customers of what they’re missing. Personal stories or images can reignite the interest that leads them to add items to their shopping cart (such as a home decor brand sending emails featuring photos of beautifully decorated rooms by customers using the items left in the cart, adding a personal touch to the reminder.)

Add customer testimonials to the checkout process: Display customer testimonials or reviews during the checkout process to reinforce the buyer’s decision and reduce cart abandonment rates.

Loyalty: Driving repeat business

You’re building trust with your customers — good job! But this is only the beginning of what can be a very beneficial symbiotic relationship. Now the goal is customer retention, turning a one-time buyer into a repeat customer, a brand advocate who not only comes back for more but also sings your praises to the world. 

User-generated content provides a platform for customers to share their experiences and influence others to follow suit:

Create a community around UGC: Build an online community where customers can share their experiences, tips, and ideas related to your products. If you’re a home decor brand, you can create an online forum or a social media group where customers share home styling photos and tips using your products. 

Reward UGC contributions: Implement a rewards system for customers who create UGC and incentivize them to keep feeding your marketing channels. This could be in the form of discounts, a loyalty program, or early access to new products. 

Leverage UGC for product development: Use UGC as a source of customer feedback for product development. Engage with loyal customers to understand their needs and preferences for future products and ensure they never leave your side. 

How Iconic London adapted to the collapse of the e-commerce funnel

Iconic London, a digital-first beauty brand, is a masterclass in adapting to the new e-commerce landscape. Recognizing the shift in consumer shopping habits and the importance of a seamless digital experience, Iconic London partnered with Bazaarvoice to tap into user-generated content and bridge the gap between social media engagement and e-commerce growth. 

The brand’s strategy was simple: Integrate UGC across digital channels to foster relationships with customers and drive conversions. Iconic London launched Like2Buy on Instagram and implemented Bazaarvoice Galleries on their product pages and homepage, creating a continuous shopping experience that resonated with their social media-savvy audience. 

By sharing UGC on their e-commerce store, Iconic London strengthened the trust and connection with their customers. The product page galleries, featuring customer tags and content, not only celebrated their community but also provided an authentic representation of their products in use. 

Iconic London’s adoption of Like2Buy on Instagram linked their social content to product pages. This strategy helped the brand win on two fronts. First, it compensated for revenue decline due to changes in the digital landscape. Second, it reinforced the brand’s commitment to a social-first approach, catering to customers who prefer shopping on social. 

We know that our customers like shopping in a social environment. It’s the way the industry is going, but especially Iconic. So having Like2Buy allows us to maintain that social shopping experience a bit longer. It allows it to overflow into the website, onto the product page, and the homepage

Lizzie Newell, Head of Marketing, Social, and Campaigns at Iconic London

Over 12 months, Iconic London saw a 126% lift in conversion rates and an 11% increase in average order value. While the metrics alone were a victory, their approach also highlights the importance of authenticity, continuity, and customer engagement in driving e-commerce success today.  

Embrace the new reality of e-commerce

To thrive in this new era, you have to adapt and embrace strategies that resonate with current consumer behaviors. Mastering the changing e-commerce funnel means balancing your marketing context mix with a healthy balance of brand and user-generated content.

And more importantly, getting that content in front of shoppers everywhere they are. Not just your PDPs but on social channels, paid media, video content, email campaigns, and in-store.

Learn more about how consumers are driving this shifting funnel and how brands and retailers are adapting in our Shopper Experience Index — a report of 7,000 global consumers and 465 brands and retailers that highlights the concerns of shoppers in the face of market shifts.

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Masterclass: Thriving amidst funnel chaos: How to show up with the right content in the right place

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But these KPIs are just the tip of the social media marketing iceberg. Social commerce can improve your metrics throughout the funnel. And with marketing budgets under intense pressure these days, knowing what and how to measure can help you impress your stakeholders and prove your social media strategy’s success. 

Keep reading to learn how social commerce affects key phases of the shopper experience, how to make it easy for social media visitors to become customers, what to look for in a social media marketing tool, and how to tie your social marketing efforts to revenue. 

Social media marketing’s impact on product discovery

When it comes to organic product discovery, social media can be a brand’s best friend. For many consumers, especially Gen Zers and Millennials, social media is one of the most popular channels for discovering brands and products.

Many are even going as far as saying social media is the new search, with a whopping 73% of 18-24-year-olds discovering products through social than any other way.

To jump on this trend and help drive product discovery, the luggage brand Samsonite used collect user-generated content (UGC) about their products from social media. Because these photos and videos were made by actual customers, the content was more authentic and relatable than anything Samsonite could produce in-house. 

The brand’s marketing team turned this UGC into social media posts and experiences that drove shoppers to the brand’s website and partner sites. 

The same authentic and inspirational travel content that caught shoppers’ attention on social media was then displayed throughout Samsonite’s product pages, creating a consistent and engaging shopping experience that increased conversions by 4x and revenue by a striking 250%. 

And it all began on social. 

Social media marketing’s impact on consumer trust 

Because UGC — like ratings, reviews, and user-submitted photos and videos — are created by actual customers, they provide other shoppers with powerful social proof. This increases consumer trust and confidence in your brand and products. 

• 89% of shoppers rely on reviews to learn more about products 
• 85% of consumers say they consider online reviews just as trustworthy as recommendations from friends and family

“People want to buy products and services based on recommendations and inspiration from people they trust. That could be family, friends, and communities, and it can also be authentic influencers they follow on social media.” – Accenture

In general, when shoppers interact with UGC that’s relevant to their product search, brands and retailers can see up to a 145% boost in conversion rates, as well as increases in revenue per visitor and average order value.

For lifestyle brand Villeroy & Boch, incorporating customer photos of products into their website, emails, and newsletter resulted in an even bigger boost to consumer confidence — and sales. The brand used UGC to inspire shoppers by showing how their products can be used in real-life situations. This strategy helped Villeroy & Boch achieve: 

175% increase in time on site

275% boost in conversion rate

29% higher average order value

“We want to show authentic, trustworthy, real-life content from our customers’ lives, their tables, their rooms, and their homes,” said Sabine Kaufmann, Head of E-commerce Operations, Dining & Lifestyle at Villeroy & Boch. “A picture is worth 1,000 words. It can help describe a product far better than any words could.”

Want to increase revenue from social media marketing? Create an easy path to purchase

One of the top reasons people prefer shopping on social is the convenience. They already spend time on sites like Instagram and TikTok. Why not spend money there too?

• 55% of shoppers like to shop directly on social media
• 69% of shoppers have been inspired by social media to make a purchase through another channel

The key to getting the most revenue from your social media marketing is to make it easy for consumers to go from scrollers to shoppers. By creating a seamless path to purchase, you’ll increase key e-commerce metrics from site traffic to, most importantly, sales. 

Make it shoppable, make it measurable

When measuring the impact of a social media marketing campaign, you need to go beyond the traditional metrics of reach and engagement. That’s because social commerce is different from social media. 

There are multiple KPIs to track and optimize throughout the shopping experience (and prove the value of your efforts):

Awareness metrics:

• Impressions. The amount of times your content is displayed (whether actually clicked on or not)
• Social engagement rate. The measure of how much your audience interacts with your social content
• Followers and community growth. The number of social followers and advocates you have

Consideration metrics:

• Visits. Web users who visit your website
• Site traffic. The sum of all traffic to your website (including return visitors)
• Lead generation. Earning the interest of potential customers to increase future sales
• Time on site. The amount of time site visitors spend on your webpages per session

Purchase metrics:

• Revenue. Your income from sales
• Transactions. Number of sales made
• Conversion rate. The ratio of site visits to conversions — whether a sale or lead generation
• Average order value. The average amount of each transaction from purchases made on your site

Each social media marketing campaign is different. And each brand has different goals. By understanding how these KPIs play into your campaign’s success — and your social media marketing revenue targets — you can set goals and adjust your strategy accordingly.

How to measure the impact of your social media marketing

We’ll be real with you: It’s almost impossible to measure your social media marketing impact on your own. There’s so much data to collect, let alone analyze. Fortunately, there are tools out there to help you understand the impact of your social media marketing efforts. Here’s what to look for:

Tools that put an emphasis on ROI. After all, for most marketing teams, measuring the revenue from social media campaigns is the ultimate factor for proving a campaign’s success to higher-ups.

Ability to measure full-funnel metrics. As you can see, there’s more to a successful social commerce campaign than likes and comments. You need a tool that can help you capture and analyze all of the KPIs that matter.

A holistic platform for the full shopping experience. Shoppers may start their journey on social media. But they may then visit your website or partner sites to complete their purchase. Some may also sign up for newsletters or read your blog along the way. You need a tool that can measure your social media impact across the entire buyer journey. 

Robust reporting dashboards. End-of-the-month reports are nice, but dashboards make it easier to see your social commerce campaign performance in real time. With them, you can quickly gauge what’s working (and what’s not) to make fast, data-backed decisions.

Some of the most actionable reporting dashboards include:

• Revenue summary
• Revenue generated per post
• Top-performing contributors
• Engagement and ROI breakdown

Choose the right social management tool

Social media marketing’s impact on e-commerce is undeniable. Brands and retailers that embrace social commerce enjoy higher conversion rates and increased sales. 

But with so many metrics to manage, proving the ROI of your social media marketing efforts can be challenging. 

Using a tool that helps you understand all the KPIs that matter — and track and analyze them —  allows you to develop powerful social commerce campaigns that boost sales (and your reputation around the office).

Bazaarvoice Social Commerce empowers you to turn social content into shoppable experiences that drive sales — in all the places your shoppers hang out. Even better, we give you the tools to develop and measure a winning social commerce strategy. Get in touch to learn more.

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How to define and measure social commerce ROI and value

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For small marketing teams with limited bandwidth, an amplified UGC strategy is one of the most effective ways to boost conversions — without breaking the budget. 

The power of user-generated content in amplified marketing

First, a quick review: UGC is content created by real people to promote your brand. This includes ratings and reviews, photos, videos, and audio that your brand’s customers, followers, ambassadors, or even employees create and share online. 

As the #1 user-generated content platform on the market (in the words of G2) we’ve written a lot on the power of UGC: what it is, why it works, and how to build a UGC strategy for your brand. 

Amplified marketing is the process of collecting and marketing all that UGC to position your customers as the experts of your product and build brand credibility.  

Amplified marketing is like a megaphone for your UGC

Instead of spending precious resources writing content from scratch, building new promotions entirely in-house, and generally reinventing the wheel, amplified marketing hands the mic to a credible source customers already listen to: each other.

Why user-generated content is perfect for lean marketing teams

Combining amplified marketing and UGC offers the most marketing bang for your buck. It’s cost-effective and authentic. It’s also one of the most effective ways to drive customer engagement. Even with limited resources, UGC-focused marketing strategies can achieve incredible results, including:

• 90% increase in average visitor time on your website 
• 50% increase in social engagement for campaigns featuring UGC 
• 20% increase in repeat visits to your site 
• 203% increase in conversion rate after shoppers interact with UGC 

Why reviews are so important in modern amplification marketing

For successful amplification marketing, UGC is king — especially UGC in the form of customer reviews.

95% of shoppers rely on reviews to learn more about products. 85% of consumers say they consider online reviews just as trustworthy as recommendations from friends. So encouraging authentic reviews from your customers is crucial for your brand’s credibility.  

There’s another major advantage to customer reviews: A nearly infinite supply of low-effort, high-impact content for your marketing team (with strategic repurposing, of course). Think of UGC as the printing press for your brand’s ultra-engaging content library. 

How to source high-quality UGC and reviews 

Before implementing an amplified marketing strategy, you’ll first need some UGC to amplify. There’s three main ways to find and create high-quality UGC:

Invite customers to leave reviews

This is often easier than you think — customers love to share their opinions with their favorite retailers and brands. Nearly 70% of shoppers are willing to provide feedback when asked. Request reviews from your customers, just make sure you’re not cherry-picking feedback or review gating. Authentic feedback, even if it includes negative reviews, is important to consumers.

Host contests or campaigns on social media.

You can generate quality UGC by hosting targeted social media campaigns. Start by searching hashtags associated with your brand. This will reveal any enthusiastic customers who have already posted about your products.

Reach out to those users and offer discounted or free products in exchange for more UGC. If your brand has limited organic UGC, you can generate it by simply asking your customers to make content featuring your products with a contest or giveaway.

For example, say your cosmetics team plans a social media contest to generate more video UGC. Advertise the contest on your Instagram stories and feed. Create a hashtag for the promotion. Tell your followers what requirements their videos have to meet and what the prizes are. It could be a free gift or early access to a new product you’re about to launch.

The contest will generate buzz on social media as your customers post submissions and share their videos with followers. And longer term, you’ll have a new cache of UGC to repurpose into amplified marketing material for product pages or paid ads.

Collaborate with micro-influencers or loyal customers for content

To drum up even more chatter on social media, consider partnering with relevant influencers and your most loyal customers — especially if your target audience is younger. According to a Morning Consult report, over 50% of Gen Z and millennials say they trust influencers’ advice about brands and products. You can send influencers samples of your new product and ask them to use a specific hashtag when posting about the product on their social channels. 

How to amplify UGC with easy content creation

You asked, and your customers delivered. Your team now has an abundance of reviews and other UGC to utilize. Now what? It’s time for a little content creation — but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Marketing amplification is all about using what you have.

• Turn your positive reviews into testimonials, social media posts, or case studies
• For specific user feedback, incorporate the information into relevant blog posts and FAQ sections
• Don’t forget the visual element. Mine your reviews for UGC well-suited to infographics, illustrated testimonials, and video clips

Amplified marketing in action: How to distribute your UGC

After you’ve built a library of UGC, you’ll need to strategically distribute and amplify this valuable content. To make the most of their power, highlight customer reviews at every customer touchpoint, whether it’s paid or organic. This means sprinkling UGC throughout your brand’s social media, emails, website, and product pages. How to amplify UGC in:

• Paid advertising. When your advertising budget is modest, UGC offers the most engagement bang for your buck. Reviews are easy and inexpensive to collect and display across channels. Ads with UGC have 4x higher click-through rates — which leads to a 50% drop in cost-per-click rates. Cost-effective advertising for the win!
  
• Social media and email campaigns. Regularly monitor your social media mentions and hashtags to find organic UGC. Then, share and repost the content with the customer tagged. It’s free and always has the potential to go viral. You can also keep your content calendar stacked with featured testimonials and customer case studies
   
• Websites and product pages. Don’t forget about enhancing your website and e-commerce shop with prime UGC. Shoppers are 6x more likely to make a purchase if the product page contains social content — especially for apparel, food and beverage, home furnishings, health and beauty, and pet products

How to know if your amplified marketing is working 

To accurately measure the success of your brand’s UGC-centric amplified marketing, you’ll need to know what you’re looking for — and the right tools. There’s 3 important metrics to monitor for UGC success: engagement rate, conversion rate, and reach.

1. The engagement rate shows how much your audience loves your content based on the number of likes, shares, and comments — it’s all about the buzz
2. Conversion rate is how successful your content is in turning the engagement into desired customer actions, like making a purchase or opting into newsletters
3. Reach measures how far your content travels and who’s tuning in

Keep in mind these numbers are just starting points. For a deeper dive into other metrics like ROI, CTR, ROAS, and more, check out our primer on metrics for digital marketing success.

Bazaarvoice’s UGC Value Calculator quickly shows you the impact a UGC-amplified marketing strategy could have on your sales. Using 12 months of benchmarking data, the calculator predicts how UGC will increase your brand’s revenue, conversion rate, SEO impact, and even in-store sales. 

Adapt your amplified marketing strategy with UGC-based insights 

UGC amplified marketing is well-suited to lean marketing teams for many reasons — including its flexibility and adaptability.

With basic data from metrics like engagement, conversion, and reach, you unlock valuable insight into which content performs best for your brand. This builds into a positive feedback loop, in which your UGC engagement metrics guide your content refinements for continually better results.

For example, if one type of UGC gets loads of likes but not so many sales, that’s a good indicator that you need to tweak the ‘ask’ or how the product is presented. 

Best practices in UGC amplification

Do maintain authenticity. Don’t gate reviews. We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: when it comes to using UGC in your amplified marketing, authenticity is of the utmost importance. Sharing the good and bad customer reviews is one of the most important things you can do for your brand. Negative reviews offer a fair counterbalance to positive reviews, which builds credibility with customers.

Stay updated on UGC rules and regulations. Legally, UGC is considered a form of advertising when used by brands and retailers. This means it’s regulated by the following consumer protection laws:

• In the US, there’s the FTC Act (and recently issued proposed rules on updated Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising), Lanham Act, and Consumer Review Fairness Act, among others
• The UK has Unfair Trading Regulations
• Australia has the Australian Consumer Law
• As of 2022, the EU has a new Omnibus Directive that specifically relates to consumer reviews in the context of advertising

While each of these laws have different specific details, they all aim to protect customers from fraudulent, deceptive, and misleading advertising. Violations of these laws can be costly — not only financially, but to your reputation as well.

Amplified marketing in action: Real-world examples

Check out these examples of brands amplifying their UGC.

1. Fresh

2. Midland Radio

3. Villeroy & Boch

Key takeaways for your amplified marketing strategy

Remember that your customers are your greatest asset. By harnessing the power of UGC and implementing an amplified marketing strategy, even the leanest of teams can achieve remarkable engagement and sales.

• The vast majority of shoppers check reviews and trust them as much as personal recommendations. This means reviews and other UGC are pivotal for e-commerce brands. Amplified UGC marketing is a cost-effective and powerful strategy for lean marketing teams
• Centering high-quality UGC in your marketing strategy significantly boosts key metrics
  like website visit duration, social engagement, repeat site visits, and conversion rates
• To cultivate effective UGC, set up a system to solicit customer reviews. Host social media contests and campaigns. Collaborate with influencers and loyal customers
• Get the most from your UGC by distributing it throughout all customer touchpoints. Repurpose reviews into content you can use in paid ads, social media, emails, websites, product pages, and more 

It’s all about making the most of what you already have and turning it into a conversion-boosting powerhouse. Here’s to supercharging your marketing efforts without stretching your budget!

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Masterclass: The future of marketing: creators and communities

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Instagram’s platform provides the perfect stage for brands to spotlight their products through the lens of trusted influencers. Discover how you can find the perfect cast for your Instagram campaigns to bring big profits from the sea of available talent.

Chapters:

1. How Instagram influencer marketing drives sales
2. How to generate the highest ROI from Instagram influencer marketing
3. Successful Instagram influencer marketing examples
4. Leverage the Influenster app

How Instagram influencer marketing drives sales

Influencers’ grip on the modern shopping culture remains strong and profitable for brands. The global influencer marketing market value tripled since 2019, totaling $21.1 billion as of 2023.

According to a 2023 Sprout Social study, over 80% of social media marketers report that influencer marketing is essential to their strategy and that Instagram is the top influencer marketing platform for 86% of brands.

Influencers are so, well, influential because shoppers want to see content from real people they can trust over self-promotional content from brands. Influencers can range from celebrities with millions of followers to everyday customers with a smaller presence. Either way, consumers are more confident about making purchases when they see how real people experience and enjoy products.

Influencer content provides shoppers with social proof — the persuasive force that is word-of-mouth endorsements. This leads to sales, a lot of which are happening on social media. Our Shopper Experience Index found that 23% of shoppers purchased between one and five products on social platforms in the past year.

In addition to social proof, brands attract more customers and increase their visibility by reaching their influencer partners’ dedicated followings. They’re tapping into a new audience that matches their ideal customer profile.

How to generate the highest ROI from Instagram influencer marketing

There’s hundreds of thousands of Instagram influencers in the U.S. alone. That’s a deep pool of diverse creators in a range of different niches to potentially work with. Follow these best practices to get the most out of your Instagram influencer partners and marketing campaigns. 

Find the right match for your brand

While there’s a lot of influencers out there eager to collaborate, brands have to be discerning when establishing partnerships. To achieve meaningful results, your influencer partners need to be aligned with your brand values and audience interests.

There’s different levels of influencer follower sizes, and bigger doesn’t always mean better. The different influencer categories by audience size include:

• Nano influencers: Under 10,000 followers
• Micro influencers: Between 10,000 and 100,000 followers 
• Major influencers: Between 100,000 and 1,000,000 followers
• Mega influencers: Over 1,000,000 followers

In our survey of over 9,000 global shoppers, 72% said they don’t care how many followers an influencer has. They trust everyday influencers and subject matter experts more than those with massive followings. What matters is that your partners’ audiences are authentic and reflect the qualities of your target demographic. Authentic audiences are made up of real people, not bots or spam accounts, who are engaged with the creator’s content. 

When considering influencers to work with, you also want to evaluate their existing content. Ensure that they post regularly and that their content aligns with your industry and brand personality. It’s a bonus if they’ve already created content about your brand and products. 

Engagement rate is a big factor in selecting influencers to help drive sales. This is where smaller influencers shine. Our same research found that nano influencers earn over five times the engagement rate that mega influencers with over a million followers do.

Negotiate mutually beneficial partnerships

Once you’ve connected with influencer leads, be prepared to set your brand up for success while offering an attractive proposal. Be sure to include important project parameters in a terms-of-agreement document, such as:

• Timeframe: How long will the relationship run for? This could be over the course of a certain amount of Instagram posts, quarterly, or any other duration
• Volume and frequency: Include how much content creation you expect over the contract timeframe
• Usage rights: Clearly communicate how you plan to use, share, or reproduce the influencer’s content and for how long
• Content guidelines: Provide your brand style guide, quality criteria, editorial calendar, products and links to feature, and any other content-specific expectations. Keep in mind these expectations shouldn’t be too restricting or rigid, as creators prefer to have full creative autonomy
• Approval process: Provide instructions for submitting content, including photos, videos, and messaging, ahead of time for approval
• Cancelation clause: Include the option for either party to cancel the engagement before the contract end date with a certain amount of advanced notice

You also need to clearly explain what kind of payment you plan to offer. Many creators already have established rates per post, per hour, or per contract, so it’s up to the brand to approve. Otherwise, brands can offer their own payment details. 

Depending on the creator’s follower size and goals, you may agree to a different type of exchange. That could look like promoting them on any of your relevant channels or having them produce content in exchange for free products. When you’re sending your pitch, tailor your email outreach according to these best practices and templates.

Tailor campaigns to meet marketing goals

Collaborate with influencers on ways you can convert followers into customers to increase sales. Try these approaches to revenue-generating influencer content.

Product-focused user-generated content: Encourage your influencer partners to create authentic user-generated content (UGC) about your products. This can be in the form of product reviews, unboxing videos, product tutorials, product demos, or how products work in everyday scenarios. This is the kind of trusted, relatable content that modern consumers want to see.

Promote special offers and discounts: Work with influencers to share exclusive promo codes that customers can apply to purchases or links to discounted landing pages. These tools also give you a way to track the results of a particular influencer campaign.

Shoppable posts: Enable influencers to tag products directly in their posts using Instagram Shopping features or activate Like2Buy to create an in-app shopping experience. These seamless integrations reduce friction in the customer journey, making it more likely followers will convert into customers.

Collaborative giveaways: Create Instagram collab posts with influencers to host giveaways for your products. You can ask followers to participate by following both your brand and the influencer, tagging friends in the comments, sharing the post, or another call to action. The buzz generated by giveaways and engaging collab posts can significantly increase brand visibility and drive traffic to your product pages.

Share and repurpose influencer content

Amplify the reach and impact of your influencer content by sharing posts as a Story or reposting them to your Feed. This will provide your followers with social proof, and you can tag any posts featuring your products to make them shoppable. 

You can also repurpose your Instagram influencer marketing content outside of the platform on your own product pages or in emails. Enhance your e-commerce product pages with photo and video galleries, including your influencer content, to showcase your products in real life. You could also add relevant influencer content to emails to provide realistic, click-worthy visuals.

Measure performance to optimize your strategy

Evaluate the progress of your overall partnerships and individual campaigns by tracking your results. Find out who your most engaging partners are, what your best-performing content is, what’s generating sales, and the areas of opportunity to focus on. To measure the success of sales-driving campaigns, look at the following metrics:

• Product page link clicks
• Revenue generated per post
• Number of promo codes used
• Number of products tagged

Each of these metrics looks at a different way to view the results of a campaign. By using all four together, you get a holistic view of your campaign’s influence on consumer interest, revenue generated, sales finalized, and how much individual products were promoted.

Successful Instagram influencer marketing examples

Knowing how to create an influencer campaign is a good start, but seeing it in action can help you understand what to expect once your campaigns go live. Use these examples of successful Instagram influencer marketing strategies to prepare yourself and your campaign for success.

L’Occitane en Provence

Their Instagram collab with influencer byemmaleah showcases a successful giveaway campaign. It promoted the release of a limited-time product while garnering over 5,000 likes and over 6,000 comments. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by L'OCCITANE en Provence (@loccitane)

L’Occitane partnered with Bazaarvoice to streamline their influencer marketing program, which resulted in sourcing 53 authentic micro influencers and an earned media value of $23k.

AG1 by Athletic Greens

AG1 partners with a variety of creators who share their brand mission and values, like jiu-jitsu teacher cesagracie. This campaign showcases authentic product placement in a day-in-the-life style video about healthy habits. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by AG1 by Athletic Greens (@drinkag1)

Olive & June

Olive & June collaborates with influencers who have large followings, as well as everyday customers who share great content featuring their products.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Olive & June (@oliveandjune)

This post is a great example of the nail brand sharing a creator’s content, tagging them, and making it shoppable by tagging the featured product.

Leverage the Influenster app

One way to tap into a community of active, authentic consumers ready to create quality content for brands they love is with Influenster. 

Influenster is an online community that connects brands with influencers to get honest reviews and visual content about their products. This eliminates the sourcing and negotiating legwork. You can sit back and wait for the trustworthy content to roll in based on the products you want to promote. Find out more about Influenster and how you can get the most out of it.

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Masterclass: How to update your influencer marketing program for 2024

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The marketing tools small businesses use to attract and retain customers can make or break them. Advanced marketing tools that maximize efficiency, productivity, and ROI are instrumental. They level the playing field between large and small businesses, making up for limited resources and budgets.

That’s why we’ve identified 12 of the best marketing tools for small businesses, keeping these major factors in mind:

• Price: Affordable pricing with different tiers depending on budget
• Usability: Approachable enough for anyone to jump in and start using with speed and ease
• Use-cases: Most relevant for small businesses

Marketing tools for lean teams and small businesses

Learn about these tools and how they can fit into your small business marketing strategy in our quick guide.

Mailchimp

• Specialty: Email marketing
• Small business benefit: An affordable way to reach customers directly with personalized messages and promotions
• Top features: Email builder, templates, AI tools, analytics, A/B testing, predictive segmentation
• Price: Various plans: Free, Essentials ($13/month), Standard ($20/month), Premium ($350/month)

Email marketing is a valuable tool for small or any sized businesses. Mailchimp customers, in particular, receive impressive results with the tool, including up to 39x ROI and $1,700 earned per campaign, on average.

Mailchimp has plenty of templates and intuitive drag-and-drop email builder tools accessible to various skill levels. The platform allows you to create segmented lists of different groups of customers so you can send them personalized campaigns based on their preferences and demographics. You can also A/B test emails based on different send times, subject lines, and body content. 

Canva

• Specialty: Content design and creation
• Small business benefit: Streamlines and expedites the content creation process to lower talent costs and foster more efficient workflows
• Top features: Templates, Magic Write AI text generator, Brand Management
• Price: Free: limited access for individuals, Pro: $120/year for upgraded individual plan, Teams: $300/year per five users with additional features

Canva is a design platform that enables anyone, regardless of skill level, to create visual assets for a wide range of content types and presentations. Teams can use the tool to design anything from social media content to videos, presentations with audio and animation, entire websites, infographics, and more. 

It has robust team collaboration capabilities, including a whiteboard brainstorming feature, centralized media library and brand kit, social media content scheduler, and content approval feature. 

Some of their results for small businesses include: 

• Increasing content creation by 60% 
• Reducing external design workload by 30%
• Decreasing turnaround time by 90% 
• Reducing design costs by 50%

Bazaarvoice

• Specialty: User-generated content (UGC) marketing
• Small business benefit: A cost-effective way to maximize the reach and impact of customer feedback and advocacy
• Top features: Retail Syndication, Social Commerce, Ratings & Reviews, Sampling, Questions & Answers, Creator Marketing
• Price: See pricing page 

Bazaarvoice takes one of your brand’s most precious organic resources and turns it into rocket fuel for growth. User-generated content — any content like reviews or social media posts created by your customers and creators — is so effective because it inspires trust and confidence in shoppers, much more so than branded content.

Our Shopper Experience Index found that 78% of shoppers have more confidence in purchases after seeing customer content, and 74% trust UGC over branded content on product detail pages (PDPs). 

The Bazaarvoice platform is multifaceted, but the collection and amplification of UGC are central to each feature. Bazaarvoice collects content like product reviews and visual UGC from social media for you and distributes it across your e-commerce site and retail partner sites. UGC is great for SEO, helping you potentially triple website traffic and reduce customer acquisition costs by up to 75%. Sharing UGC across marketing channels can also increase conversion rates by up to 4x.

Compared to main competitors on G2, Bazaarvoice has been voted the #1 in UGC for 12 consecutive quarters and is the Leader in the space.

Webflow

• Specialty: Website and e-commerce site builder, content management system (CMS)
• Small business benefit: No-code, easy-to-use website builder tools to reliably run your e-commerce site and create new web pages
• Top features: Templates, SEO tools, e-commerce email automations
• Price: Standard: $30/month, Plus: $74/month, Advanced: $212/month 

Webflow’s intuitive, drag-and-drop, no-code website builder makes it easy to launch and maintain your e-commerce site. Everything is customizable according to your branding, including how you display and highlight products and layout your website pages. An added benefit is the ability to send and design branded transactional emails, including order and shipping confirmations. 

Zoho Social

• Specialty: Social media management
• Small business benefit: Easily manage, create, schedule, and measure content for all your social media channels in one place
• Top features: Scheduling and Publishing, Monitoring, Analytics, Collaboration 
• Price: Standard: $10/month, Professional: $30/month, Premium: $40/month 

Zoho Social is an intuitive, user-friendly social media management tool that anyone can learn, regardless of social media expertise. It offers integrations for all the most valuable channels for brands, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more. It helps lean teams save time and money with its scheduling and automation features. Zoho also has helpful collaboration features, like the ability to chat with team members about campaigns and pieces of content. 

Compared to its major competitors on G2, marketers prefer Zoho Social across the board. Small business owners on G2 call out Zoho Social’s ease of use, time-saving benefits, great customer service, and batch-scheduling capabilities as top qualities.

Notion

• Specialty: Project management, database, and notetaking 
• Small business benefit: Whole team has more visibility and better collaboration and can assign and track tasks in one centralized workspace
• Top features: Wikis, Projects, Docs, Notion AI 
• Price: Free limited plan for individuals, Plus: $8 per user per month for small groups, Business: $15 per user per month for several teams within a business, Enterprise: Request a demo to run entire, large organizations

Notion is a productivity tool that has a vast amount of use cases, so you can make it work however you need it to. Businesses of all sizes use it to create and store internal documents and resources, create and track project workflows, create and maintain databases, and even use it as a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. Its responsive interface with automated functionality makes it user-friendly, customizable, and efficient. 

Notion is highly rated on G2, and the reviews by small business owners credit the tool with saving time and money.

Copy.ai

• Specialty: AI-powered content creation, lead development, and analysis
• Small business benefit: Boosts efficiency and productivity at low cost by expediting the writing process and automating processes
• Top features: AI Marketing OS, AI Sales OS, AI Chat
• Price: Various plans: Pro is best for small businesses at $36/month or Team at $186/month

Copy.ai is an AI platform built specifically for marketing. It can generate content for emails, blog posts, and social media based on your unique brand voice and tone. Its marketing capabilities include competitor analysis, optimizing content using SEO best practices and knowledge, refreshing content, and creating briefs from transcripts. It’s also a good sales tool that can integrate with your CRM to produce lead scores, personalized outreach materials, and develop lead enrichment. 

The small businesses that have implemented AI as a growth tool have experienced positive results. According to Constant Contact’s Small Business Now report on AI, 91% of small businesses say that AI helps them be more successful. Additionally, 60% report saved time and better efficiency, and 25% expect to save more than $5,000 in the next year from using AI for marketing.

Google Analytics

• Specialty: Website performance analytics
• Small business benefit: Free tool to measure and optimize website performance and gain insights on visitors and content
• Top features: Website sessions and engagement reports
• Price: Free

Google Analytics offers real-time data analysis and insights into your website’s performance. You can look at your number of organic visitors, audience demographics, top visited pages, top pages for conversions, Google Ads performance, and much more. 

Small businesses can use this valuable free marketing tool to identify top-performing pages with the most views, low bounce rates, and high times on site. Likewise, you can find the weakest pages with low views, high bounce rates, and low times on site. By analyzing both, you can see where and how to optimize your website for better results. 

You can also evaluate your traffic sources to see where to dedicate your efforts. For example, if you have low organic traffic, you should prioritize improving SEO. If you have low traffic from email or social media marketing, you can focus on driving more traffic from those channels.

Ahrefs

• Specialty: Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Small business benefit: Fast competitor analysis, easily find what customers are searching for online
• Top features: Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Rank Tracker 
• Price: Plans starting with Lite at $99/month (best for small businesses)

Ahrefs offers a variety of SEO tools to analyze your website’s keyword rankings, look at backlink growth, and discover the value of different search terms you could target. Likewise, you can do a deep dive on your competition to compare the same data. For example, you can find out the top search terms your competitors rank for and what pages rank for those terms.

Ahrefs can show you which keywords have low competition and significant search volume to determine which ones you should target to secure a top search results ranking. This information will inform which product pages you should optimize and how and provide ideas for new content, like blog posts and landing pages.

Wistia

• Specialty: Video creation and marketing
• Small business benefit: Leverage the impact and popularity of video marketing, save costs on expensive video services and outsourcing, collect leads directly from videos
• Top features: Video creation and editing, live event and webinar hosting, marketing CTAs, lead generation, built-in SEO
• Price: Plans starting at $19/month (best for small businesses) up to $319/month+

These days, video is one of the most powerful content formats. If you’re not leveraging video for marketing, you’re behind the 91% of companies that are.

Wistia offers a user-friendly platform that eliminates or reduces the need for small businesses to outsource expensive video marketing. In addition to being a video creation tool, Wistia offers A/B testing, analytics to measure performance, lead generation capabilities, channel distribution, and more. It provides the best quality for the price for small businesses that have lean teams that wear multiple hats.

Zapier

• Specialty: Automated workflows
• Small business benefit: Creates connected, seamless, efficient workflows that save time, enable more revenue-generating work, and ensure you don’t miss customer leads and interactions
• Top features: Zaps (automated workflow prompts), Paths (tasks performed based on assigned triggers), Schedule (recurring task scheduler)
• Price: Free (for individuals with limited features), Starter ($20 a month), Professional ($49 a month), Teams ($69 a month)

Zapier is an automated workflow tool that connects all the apps your business uses for internal and customer-facing communications. 

It saves a lot of time for small teams to get them out of the weeds of lots of small — yet important — daily tasks. It’s easy to use and requires no coding, so anyone can jump in and start using it at any time. The tool allows you to set up a trigger that performs a designated task, like adding a new Shopify customer to your Mailchimp email list for example.

SimpleTexting

• Specialty: SMS marketing
• Small business benefit: Affordable and easy-to-implement customer acquisition and retention tool
• Top features: Contact list builder, text sender, 1:1 texting, mass texting, trigger-based automated and personalized campaigns
• Price: Customized, volume-based pricing

SMS marketing is a powerful conversion-driving tool for e-commerce and retail brands. According to Attentive’s 2023 SMS Marketing Benchmarks report, SMS is a top-three revenue-driving channel for 53% of marketers. SimpleTexting is a texting service tool specifically designed for small business success.

With SimpleTexting, you can improve your customer support, promote special offers, and reduce cart abandonments with direct customer interactions. Matykos Beauty is an independent beauty brand that captures shoppers’ attention over its many competitors using SimpleTexting. By requesting customer reviews for one of its key products through SMS, Matykos Beauty boosted its search presence and brand awareness.

Your customers are your most important asset

As a small business, your time and money are especially valuable — these marketing tools are designed to save you both. Keep in mind that UGC from your customers is one of the most cost-effective ways to increase brand awareness and conversions. Whichever tools and marketing strategy you have, make sure UGC is a central focus for greater impact. 

If you’re not sure where to start, watch our on-demand masterclass: How small businesses can maximize shopper content and ROI.

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Masterclass: How small teams can drive e-commerce growth with UGC

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Our Shopper Experience index found that 78% of consumers say reviews impact their purchase decisions, and a separate survey revealed that 88% of shoppers use reviews to discover and evaluate products they’re considering. So how do you get that content in front of shoppers? With testimonial advertising.

Chapters:

1. What are testimonial ads?
2. Why are testimonial ads so effective?
3. Examples of online testimonial ads
4. Examples of in-store testimonial ads
5. UGC is the key to your testimonial ads success

What are testimonial ads?

A testimonial ad is putting your customers’ words on display in your marketing campaigns, both online and offline. As mentioned, customers trust their peers’ words over those of a brand, so it’s time for you to use those words to your advantage. 

In a time when the voice of the customer matters more than ever, testimonial ads are perceived as more honest and authentic to shoppers than strategic brand copy. If you have UGC in the form of ratings and reviews or you’re active on social channels, you already have a wealth of resources to pull your testimonial quotes from. 

Why are testimonial ads so effective? 

Testimonial ads work because people trust other people. In one survey, 76% of consumers said they trust online reviews as much as a recommendation from friends and family. Social proof is the idea that when we’re trying to make a decision, we look at the decisions our peers have made before to help. When we’re unsure about something, we’ll assume that someone else with more knowledge of the topic knows more than we do. 

For example, if you want to buy a new pair of noise-canceling headphones, but you don’t know a lot about tech, you’ll look to your peers. Maybe you’ll check out a tech blog, ask a friend, or read reviews of your top choices. You’re using others’ experiences to help make your decision. 

A product description crafted by your copy team is excellent, but a product description that details how customers use the product in their own words is better. Why? Because it provides social proof to online shoppers. And, by incorporating common customer use cases and customer phrasing into your product pages, it also helps improve search and marketing copy.

Read on for the best examples of testimonial ads we’ve seen.

Examples of online testimonial ads

Brands and retailers tend to use testimonial ads on multiple digital channels. You don’t have to limit testimonials to your product description pages or homepage. You can use them in email campaigns, social media posts, or out-of-home ads.

And don’t just think online testimonial ads only benefit your digital shelf, either. Our research shows that 30% of shoppers conduct online research while shopping in a physical store. Meaning these digital ads impact purchasing decisions everywhere your shoppers are.

Here’s a few brand examples of top-notch digital testimonial ads. 

1. Nisolo 

Ethical shoe and accessory brand Nisolo recently sent out this email campaign with the subject line “Comfy AND cute? You can have both!” And to hammer home the message that their shoes are actually comfortable, they used a quote from a recent review that highlights the stylishness and comfort of the shoe. 

2. Peloton

Fitness brand Peloton uses customer testimonials as part of their social media campaigns. They’ll post a customer photo with a quote about how Peloton has positively contributed to that person’s overall health journey. 

3. Brooklinen

Home essentials brand Brooklinen relies on the voice of the customer to sell their sheets. Since they’re sold online, curious shoppers can’t just feel the linens to see if they like them. That’s why the brand expertly uses big quotes on its homepage to provide real social proof to online shoppers. 

4. Gillette 

In a recent campaign, razor brand Gillette let the words of their customers speak for them. In this effective commercial, the brand displays customer reviews and shows how Gillette genuinely listens to the feedback from reviews to improve products.

5. Lush

Lush uses pull quotes from customers on their product detail pages (PDPs) to give shoppers more information. On this PDP for a bath bomb, the customer quote tells online shoppers how the bath bomb smells and how their skin felt after using it. Social proof like this can be highly beneficial for bath and body brands online because shoppers can’t see or smell the products in person. 

6. Hardys Wine

Having collected over 1,700 reviews through an offline marketing strategy, Hardys decided to incorporate them into online paid testimonial ads. The ads generated 10,000 clicks through to retail partner sites and decreased cost-per-click by 60%.

According to Alister Dell, Digital Marketing Manager at Hardys, “We’re really pleased to report that [using reviews in paid testimonial ads] has led to an increase in advertising effectiveness in the form of better cost-per-click and more engagement.”

Examples of in-store testimonial ads 

A lot of UGC is found online. It’s very easy for shoppers to access reviews, photos, and videos for products they’re curious about when browsing the web. But what about in-store shoppers?

In-store testimonial ads can help customers make better purchasing decisions too — 62% of shoppers look at UGC on their phones while shopping in a store. Many brands and retailers have begun making that process easier for customers by proactively displaying UGC in-store in the form of signage, digital displays and QR codes. Let’s take a look at the best in-store testimonial ads examples.  

1. Amazon

The online giant has a few brick-and-mortar stores across the country. In these stores, they curate items that customers have rated 4-stars or higher and sometimes include quotes from customer reviews on certain products.

Your brand doesn’t need to create a whole separate store for your highly-rated items, but you could consider using a small section of your store to showcase what customers love best and use quotes from reviews on signage and other displays as social proof. 

2. Neutrogena

Cosmetics and skincare brands can use in-store UGC to provide social proof for products that customers can’t open and test.

This display from Neutrogena highlights a customer’s 5-star review and uses a pull quote to describe what the customer loves about the product. 

3. Chobani

Food and beverage brands are another category that sometimes rely on UGC for social proof. In these billboards, Chobani could’ve written marketing copy about how good their yogurt tastes or what ingredients they use, but instead, they let their customers speak for them.

The brand uses customer tweets as quotes in a billboard to campaign to promote their yogurt and build trust with shoppers.

UGC is the key to your testimonial ads success

Putting your most compelling UGC front and center ensures your products are discovered and championed. By using testimonial ads mined from UGC in your marketing campaigns, website, social channels, and product pages, you’ll build trust and provide the authentic social proof that shoppers are looking for.

But the first step is having a comprehensive UGC program that allows you to gather consumer insights. Then, you can turn around and display this valuable content to inspire fast and confident purchases. 

Or if you’re a Bazaarvoice partner, you can leverage our Insights tool to quickly find customer quotes that can be used as testimonial ads on your product pages, emails, and other campaigns. And if you’re not a Bazaarvoice partner, get in touch below to learn more.

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