Given that 88% of shoppers consult ratings and reviews before making a purchase, brands should never launch a product without first collecting user-generated content (UGC). And smart brands also want to keep their products fresh and appealing to their consumers so periodically they may reformulate an existing product (“new and improved!”).

But that raises a serious question — can existing reviews be used for reformulated products? 

According to a recent FTC crackdown on fake reviews, this practice can be considered as “review hijacking.”

What is review hijacking and when does it occur?

Review hijacking is a type of fake review that occurs when a brand or retailer repurposes a review from one product and applies it to a substantially different product. Sometimes it’s done intentionally, such as knowingly using a review for a liquid dish detergent on the product page for a detergent pod designed for an electric dishwasher. 

But it can also happen unintentionally, like when a brand reformulates an existing product but displays reviews that already existed for the earlier version of the product.

Let’s say you’re a home appliance seller and you’ve been selling (and collecting reviews for) a specific washing machine. You launch an updated version: washing machine 2.0. The new product, however, has many different features. If you’re displaying reviews for the older model under the new one, you’re review hijacking. 

Or you reformulate several ingredients in your flagship facial cleanser. If those changes make the product substantially different — as perceived by your consumers — you shouldn’t re-use the reviews from the earlier version of the cleanser. 

Other examples of review hijacking include repurposing a listing page for a product that has positive reviews for another completely unrelated product. By repurposing the listing page, the review hijacker tries to make the second product look like it has more ratings and reviews than it actually does. These actions are, “unquestionably deceptive and of no redeeming value to legitimate marketers,” said the FTC. 

Potential outcomes of review hijacking

Whether intentional or not, review hijacking can mislead shoppers by giving the impression the reviewer’s comments apply to a specific product when the reviewer hasn’t actually had experience with that product. And it can have serious potential consequences.

Secondly, the FTC has signaled that review hijacking will continue to be one of its enforcement priorities. In February 2023, a supplement brand had to pay $600,000 to settle the FTC’s charges that they’d engaged in review hijacking, when they displayed reviews for one product on the product page of a similar product. 

And more recently, the FTC proposed new regulations identifying seven types of deceptive practices, including review hijacking, that could be subject to fines of up to $50,120 per review each time it is viewed by a consumer. 

How to avoid review hijacking when reformulating a product

With the preceding guidance in mind, we recommend all brands and retailers take a close look at their UGC program to ensure you’re not inadvertently misleading your customers.

1. Audit your current review program for hijacked reviews

The first step you should take is to look at your existing bank of reviews. Is there any chance a review for one product could end up on another, unrelated item? Are your current reviews in compliance with the FTC proposal? Would your customer(s) feel misled or tricked?

56% of shoppers say dishonest product information makes them lose trust in a brand. Even if you do it unintentionally, if they feel tricked or misled, they’ll likely take their business elsewhere,

2. Collect reviews for reformulation of SKUs and product launches

When launching an updated version of a popular product, talk to a pro (like one of our customer success managers) before you copy and paste over your current reviews. They can help ensure you leverage your existing UGC in the most authentic and compliant way. 

The same advice applies to any product launch. Don’t risk the fine or the loss of your brand reputation. According to our recent research on consumer attitudes toward fake reviews, 97% of shoppers say fake reviews make them lose trust in a brand. What’s more, 81% of respondents said they’d avoid using a brand again after losing trust in it. Not only do you risk a fine from the FTC, but also the loss of business from your loyal customers.

The good news is, if your audit reveals that your UGC may be misleading, there’s a number of ways you can collect more relevant, authentic reviews for your individual products, including:

• Running a sampling campaign, where you trade samples of products for honest authentic review, ensures you’ll have a bank of fresh reviews for reformulating current SKUs and new product launches
• Tapping into existing communities of everyday influencers like the Influenster App, which contain a trove of UGC about your brand
• Asking customers for feedback directly with a review request email
• Scanning your social pages for positive reviews left under product pictures

How do I know if I’m review hijacking?

Now this is where we fall into “gray area” territory. The line between legitimate review sharing and review hijacking can be a little fuzzy. It all comes down to transparency and the perception of consumers. You might be technically correct in sharing reviews across various products, but if customers feel misled, you could still face damaging backlash.

Don’t stress. Here’s a few examples of what’s acceptable — and what could land your business in the crosshairs of the FTC.

• You typically can apply the same reviews to items that are the same formula or product, but different quantities or sizes. For example, a t-shirt that’s a size small can share the same UGC as its medium counterpart. The trial and regular sizes of a shampoo can also share reviews

• You should be careful when items are different, but not substantially different. For example, if you tweak the scent or recipe of a product. We always recommend a conservative approach in these instances. When in doubt, discard the review. (That said, our customer success managers are here to help if you have any questions!)

• You cannot apply reviews from an unrelated or completely different product to another item. As discussed above, that includes transferring the reviews of an older item to a newer model with a substantially different formula or makeup — especially if it can affect a customer’s health (think skincare, food products, supplements etc)

Generally, your best bet should follow “better safe than sorry” because transparency and authenticity are essential to consumer trust. Put yourself in your consumer’s shoes. If you think they might feel misled by a re-used review, simply don’t post it.

It’s much safer to be one review down and protect your brand reputation (and bottom line!) for the sake of a review, given that 72% of shoppers choose products based on a brand’s reputation.

Review your reviews with Bazaarvoice

The proposed FTC rule shows that the agency is championing the importance of authentic, transparent shopping experiences for consumers — something Bazaarvoice supports our customers in doing every day.  

We’ve always touted the importance of content transparency as a core value and worked hard to develop protocols for keeping the businesses we serve safe and compliant.

Reach out to your Bazaarvoice client success manager for an audit to ensure your current UGC programs are in compliance with the proposed FTC reviews guidelines and prevent your review count reverting to zero. 

And don’t worry. If you find that your current reviews can’t be used or you want a fresh batch of reviews for your product reformulation, we can help you supercharge your UGC collection to get powerful reviews and ratings that will boost customer trust. Get in touch below.

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The authenticity movement: building consumer trust without fake reviews

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And while almost all shoppers use ratings and reviews (88%) to evaluate or learn more about products, fake reviews are affecting their ability to confidently turn to reviews as a trusted source when making product purchasing decisions.

And preserving that trust isn’t just about maintaining your customer base and increasing sales. It’s also about maintaining regulatory compliance. Government agencies all over the world enforce consumer protection laws that prohibit unscrupulous marketing practices — including fake, deceptive or misleading reviews.

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced two important regulations they’re taking to battle fake reviews:

1. They published the final Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. This is the first refresh of the Guides since 2009 and it provides new and updated guidance around endorsements by social media influencers as well as ratings and reviews 
2. The proposed Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials which clarifies what constitutes a “fake” review

What does the proposed FTC regulation say?

The new regulation proposed by the FTC will strengthen the agency’s ability to impose significant monetary penalties in cases involving fake and deceptive consumer reviews — up to $50,120 for each offending review to be imposed each time the review is viewed by a consumer. The aim is to ensure that consumers are provided with a more authentic, honest shopping experience and businesses are able to better protect their brand.

In its notice of proposed regulation, the FTC explained the need for the new rule by citing examples of clearly deceptive practices from its recent cases. They specifically called out the widespread emergence of generative AI, which will make it easier for bad actors to create fake reviews.

According to the FTC’s Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, “Our proposed rule on fake reviews shows that we’re using all available means to attack deceptive advertising in the digital age” and “should help level the playing field for honest companies.”

The proposed new rule clarifies that businesses are prohibited from:

• Selling or obtaining fake consumer reviews and testimonials. Writing or selling reviews by someone who doesn’t exist or has never bought the product
• Review hijacking. Using or repurposing a consumer review written for one product so that it appears to have been written for a substantially different product
• Buying positive or negative reviews. Providing compensation conditioned on the writing of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment, either positive or negative
• Illegally suppressing negative reviews. Using unjustified legal threats, other intimidation, or false accusations to prevent or remove a negative consumer review or hiding a negative review from the website
• Using “insider” reviews. Having employees or other insiders write reviews or testimonials of its products or services, without clearly disclosing their relationships
• Selling or buying fake social media indicators. Selling false indicators of social media influence, like fake followers or views
• Fake websites. Creating or controlling a website that claims to provide independent opinions about a category of products or services that includes its own products or services

As the champions of authentic shopping experiences, we at Bazaarvoice fully agree with the premise of this proposed rule and already provide our customers with powerful tools and processes to help them comply. This is simply another strong and welcomed step to help protect brands and the sanctity of consumer reviews and the role they play in commerce.

3 ways to protect your brand

Whether you’re in the US or another country, here’s the three golden rules we instruct our clients and partners to follow, to ensure they protect their brand, and their bottom line, from fake reviews.

1. Be transparent about who you collect reviews from, and how you do it

While consumers continue to trust reviews, they’re increasingly on the lookout for any signs of untrustworthy content. Typically, the behaviors that causes the most suspicion among consumers are:

• Multiple reviews with similar wording on the same product (55%)
• Review content not matching the product (49%) 
• Bad grammar/spelling mistakes (36%) 
• An overwhelming amount of five star/positive reviews (35%) 

Consumers have a right to trust the reviews they encounter and businesses have a responsibility to ensure this content is legitimate. The importance of this trust is further echoed in the guidance being put out by governments and consumer agencies around the world, echoed by the proposed FTC regulation. 

There’s a variety of ways businesses can ask customers to provide a review — review request emails, directly from e-commerce sites, sampling campaigns, or in a social media campaign. Additionally, brands may choose to share the reviews they collect with their retail partners so that consumers can find them anywhere they’re looking to make a purchasing decision. 

Regardless of how a review is collected, brands should never ask for or incentivize positive reviews. If consumers are offered a free product, promotional material (such as discounts or coupons), or a chance to win something of value in exchange for providing an unbiased review, then we recommend adding descriptors such as “this reviewer received a free product in exchange for their honest feedback” to any reviews collected using a promotion. 

2. Don’t screen out negative reviews — find value in them 

While some might think that negative reviews are an absolute disaster for their brand to have, they’re actually a necessity for your ratings and reviews program to thrive. In a survey we ran, over half (60%) of respondents said that negative reviews are as important as positive reviews in their decision to buy a product. The majority claimed that negative reviews contain more detailed info on product pros and cons, while 32% think that they are less likely to be fake reviews.

In addition to giving consumers a true feel for a product or service, negative reviews are an opportunity for engaging with consumers and identifying potential product improvements. 

Responding to, and taking action on, negative feedback will protect your brand by fostering trust and loyalty with customers.

3. Have a zero tolerance policy for fake reviews

Not protecting yourself against fake reviews undoubtedly puts your brand at risk. In the same research as above, respondents said that fraudulent reviews from a brand’s employees (42%) and from other customers (34%) would cause them to lose trust in a brand.

We also found that after losing trust in a brand, a vast majority (82%) of consumers would avoid using the brand ever again. If shoppers suspect a product to have fake reviews:

• 36% wouldn’t buy the product
• 28% wouldn’t trust the brand,
• 27% wouldn’t trust the site’s other reviews
• 25% wouldn’t purchase from the website
• 18% said ‘all of the above’

Companies should be aware of the possibility of fraudulent content through a variety of means, including disruptive or trolling activity, commercial messages, generative AI submissions, illegitimate or degrading content by a competitor, and self-promotion by employees.

We help protect our clients from a variety of different types of fraud. Using textual moderation and data driven, anti-fraud processes to evaluate reviews in the Bazaarvoice Network helps us to protect our clients and their shoppers. 

Our biggest and best piece of advice to protect your brand is to ensure you have a process in place to detect fake reviews, and to not allow them to be posted on your site. Hiring a third-party ratings and reviews provider and moderator is a huge help for this task. 

Protect your brand now

User-generated content is necessary in commerce today. But a reputation for fake reviews will damage your brand reputation as well as your bottom line. Brands and retailers need to continuously and proactively work to combat fake reviews by ensuring they have the right processes in place to protect themselves and their shoppers.

The steps we’ve outlined above, as well as the new guidance and proposed regulation from the FTC, will help you achieve this.

When shoppers can turn to ratings and reviews as sources of truth, it helps them to feel confident in purchasing from your company. Which boosts your bottom line and who doesn’t want that?

Learn more at Bazaarvoice.com/fakereviews.

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The authenticity movement: building consumer trust without fake reviews

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According to our research, 75% of consumers said that if they notice a fake review for a product on a site, it would impact their trust in reviews for other products on the same site. This is why we at Bazaarvoice work so diligently to screen out negative reviews before they are even published. 

After years of experience moderating content, we as consumers know that it can be simple to discern fake reviews by their content. According to our survey of 10,000 global shoppers, respondents said the top ways they spot fake reviews are:

1. Multiple reviews with similar wording (56%)
2. Review content doesn’t match the product (53%)
3. An overwhelming number of 5* reviews (36%)
4. Grammar errors and misspeling (35%)
5. Only a rating with no written review or imagery (31%)

These can all be indicators of a content’s true nature and give you a heads up that something may be suspect. However, text review alone is not enough to catch all fake reviews. Because of this, we use both text patterns and data signals to monitor behaviors similar to what you would see with financial transactions.

Using text and data signals

Often, fake reviews are identified by much more than what’s said or how it was said, but with what information that can be gathered using other data signals about a person and the review/s they left. When moderating content, we look for what patterns or behaviors do not belong.

For instance, if the same person reviews an item in two different countries, that may not be suspect on its own. But if we see they are leaving them in rapid succession when they couldn’t possibly be in two places at once, then we know they’re trying to provide false information. So we’ll take their content down and block them.

This isn’t unlike the technology used to ensure credit card usage and purchases are made by the true owner. This is an extra level of machine moderation that goes beyond the human moderation that we also use, in which we have hundreds of people manually moderation reviews as well.

This additional layer of security helps tremendously in our ease in efficiency of validating reviews, simply because of the sheer amount that we receive, and because nefarious actors who leave fake reviews are constantly innovating.

The digital pattern of fake reviews 

Because fraudsters are continuously evolving, we never consider our moderation tactics to be final. We’re always working to educate ourselves while working with the most innovative vendors to identify new trends. What’s probably the biggest pillar of modern review moderation is that fraud is cumulative. 

By this, I mean that one review won’t look like much or appear out of place. One review will also rarely skew a star rating or the overall perception of a product. Unless it is the first review ever left for that product — and even then, it won’t be for long.

We’re focused instead on finding the kind of fraud that creates widespread unfair understanding about the product shoppers will be receiving. And typically one random spare review won’t do that. 

Moderating sponsored content

When consumers are looking at user-generated content such as ratings, reviews, and customer photos and videos, they’re right to assume the content comes from shoppers just like themselves, with no agenda or stake in the brand or product’s performance. They should be able to assume that what they’re reading or seeing is unbiased, not paid for, and from a neutral third party.

These assumptions allow shoppers to know they’re getting an authentic, genuine, and accurate description about someone’s opinion or experience. 

This is exactly why influencers are legally required to disclose that a product they post about or review is an #ad when sponsored by a brand. Now, authoritative bodies are imposing these same regulations on everyday consumers posting reviews.

In said reviews, consumers expect brands to disclose any relationship that could influence a reviewer’s ability to be impartial. This includes circumstances such as:

• When the poster received an incentive to leave a review. This includes free products, discounts, an opportunity to be part of a sweepstakes, or other potential items of value in exchange for an honest review. Really anything that would drive a consumer to write a review when they likely wouldn’t have on their own accord 
• If the poster has material relation to the brand. This might mean they are an employee, partner or vendor of the brand, or someone whose livelihood is dependent on the product or brand’s success
• If the poster has a close personal connection to the brand. While you don’t need to disclose if your husband works in-store for a big retailer from which you bought the product, you’d need to disclose if he husband is the CFO of the brand that sells the product

When in doubt, more disclosure is better. 27% of consumers think brands with fake content should be fined up to 30% of their revenue. So it’s certainly something shoppers are thinking about — and dislike.

How brands should be moderating sponsored content

The most important aspect is that brands need to be clear and conspicuous about their sponsored content. All disclosures should be obvious to a consumer. They shouldn’t have to do the same amount of sleuthing to find a review disclosure as say, when they’re “researching” about someone they met online that they’re about to go on a first date with. It should require no additional clicks beyond where they saw the original review. 

For example, even if the review is long and is at risk of being cut off with a “see more text” option, all disclosures about that review need to appear before the text cut off. Do you have a cute name for your rewards or sampling program through which shoppers submit incentivized reviews? Don’t assume a new consumer knows what that cute name is or means and use it in the disclosure (“This reviewer is a *CuteSamplingProgramName* Member!”).

Be obvious about how the review is incentivized. This is relevant to reviews on product pages as well as all social media posts.

One thing that unfortunately isn’t immediately considered iwhen it comes to disclosing sponsored content is ADA compliance. When including images or videos, make sure your disclosures are clear and specific, while also being written in addition to auditory. 

Work with the right content moderating partner

Incentivized reviews are not less valuable than organic ones, but they are less trusted if they’re not properly badged with obvious and understandable disclosures. To make sure your shoppers know that your content is authentic and trustworthy, you need to be as transparent as possible. Including disclosures on incentivized reviews is not only one of the best ways to achieve that, but has become legally required, as well. 

Not all fraud looks like fraud at first. But once it’s discovered, at Bazaarvoice we’ll remove all content associated with the user and block future submissions as best we can. Additionally, we’re very selective about who we partner with to make sure any content partners align with our values.

The Bazaarvoice Authentic Reviews Trust Mark is the gold standard seal of approval to prove your content is genuine.

Learn more about Bazaarvoice moderation and authenticity here.

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Capitalizing on the authenticity movement

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While almost all (88%) shoppers use ratings and reviews to evaluate or learn more about products, fake reviews can affect their ability to confidently turn to reviews as a trusted source. This can prevent them from making a purchase and have a significantly negative impact on your revenue. In the current economical climate, that is not something brands and retailers can afford.

To better understand how fake reviews affect consumer mindset and behavior, we surveyed 10,000 global shoppers. Here’s what we learned.  

Consumers are scrutinizing reviews

Thanks to increased media coverage, shoppers are aware and evaluating reviews for authenticity. According to our survey, the top five factors that make consumers suspicious that a product has fake reviews are:

As consumers have become more shrewd and skeptical of marketing and advertising practices as a whole, they’re constantly evaluating product reviews to look for red flags. And if they do spot what they perceive to be a fake or fraudulent review, 81% would avoid using that brand again.

Consumer trust is affected by fake reviews

Nearly all (97%) of our survey respondents said that fake reviews make them lose trust in a brand. Some instances of fake or inauthentic reviews shoppers look out for include reviews generated by a bot, undisclosed incentivized reviews, and reviews written by someone who didn’t purchase the product

The thing with inauthentic or fake reviews isn’t that they’ll simply cause a consumer roll their eyes or skip past it. Losing trust is losing revenue. We found that once consumers lose trust in a brand:

• 81% will avoid using that brand again
• 48% leave a negative review
• 25% wouldn’t purchase from the website
• 16% will post [negatively] about the brand on social media

It isn’t just one potential customer you might be alienating — that one fake review can cause just one customer to spread the news of your untrustworthiness across their social pages, where their reach might be in the 100’s.

Having fake reviews has major consequences on consumer trust and could ultimately impact your business’ bottom line.  

Consumers think fake reviews should be regulated

In a landmark settlement, fashion brand Fashion Nova was recently fined $4.2million by the FTC for suppressing negative reviews. It served as a wake up call to other brands to be honest and authentic with about the reviews they receive. And consumers are on board with this punishment too.

Not only will consumers punish brands who have fake reviews by taking their money elsewhere, they also want them to be regulated and fined more formally by the relevant powers. 70% of global consumers think the retail industry needs a new set of standards to combat fake reviews. And when asked what these standards should entail:

Our survey also asked what an appropriate level of punishment for brands in breach of these standards would be and 27% of respondents suggested a fine of almost 30% of the brand’s revenue.

This is up from a suggested 16% fine when we last ran this survey (in 2020) — evidently consumers feel that this violation of trust warrants an increasingly significant consequences for brands.  

The takeaways for brands: Embrace authenticity and transparency in your reviews

All of the above proves the massive risk that fake reviews present for your business. Shoppers, while they continue to trust reviews, are always on the lookout for any signs of untrustworthy content.

Consumers have a right to trust the reviews they encounter, and, moreover, businesses have a responsibility to ensure this content is legitimate. We believe that authenticity and trust in ratings and reviews is foundational to their value for shoppers, brands, and retailers.  

At Bazaarvoice, we have three golden rules when it comes to how companies should protect consumer trust in reviews:  

1. Don’t allow fake reviews. Companies should be aware of the possibility of fraudulent content through a variety of means, including disruptive or trolling activity, commercial messages, automated submissions (e.g. bots, programs, and scripts), illegitimate or degrading content by a competitor, and self-promotion by employees. This is a big part of how we serve our clients. Using both textual moderation and data driven anti-fraud processes to evaluate reviews in the Bazaarvoice Network helps us to protect our clients and their shoppers 
2. Don’t screen out negative content — find value in it. 71% of our survey respondents said that negative reviews are as important as positive reviews in their purchasing decisions. The majority claimed that negative reviews contain more detailed info on product pros and cons, while 54% think that they’re less likely to be fraudulent. Negative reviews are also an opportunity for engaging with consumers and identifying potential product improvements. We have endless stories from clients that have used the feedback from their customer reviews to help inform all parts of their businesses. Brands who respond to negative feedback will build trust and loyalty with their customers 
3. Be transparent about how you collect reviews. There’s a variety of ways that a business can ask customers to provide reviews, including through review request emails, a sampling campaign, or on social media. Regardless of how a review is collected, you shouldn’t ask for positive reviews. Consumers should always feel empowered to provide their honest feedback. If consumers are offered a free product, promotional material, or a chance to win something of value in exchange for providing an unbiased review, then the review should explicitly indicate this. We recommend adding descriptors like, ”This reviewer received a free product in exchange for their honest feedback” to any reviews that were collected using a promotion 

Beat fake reviews with the right reviews provider

Simply put, a reputation for fake reviews can (and will) damage your brand. As consumer trust of media, business, and marketing continues to decline, brands and retailers need to continuously work to combat fake reviews to ensure that shoppers can continue to use ratings and reviews as sources of truth.

At Bazaarvoice, we continue to be committed to the protection of authentic content on behalf of our clients. In fact, a recent Forrester Study of Bazaarvoice found that our moderation filters reduce time brands spend evaluating content by 75%.

Learn more about Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews here.

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The authenticity movement: building consumer trust without fake reviews

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There’s no denying that consumers don’t trust brands like they used to. Brand trust is actually at an all time low. In today’s market, if you want to convince shoppers to purchase your products or services, you’ve got to have your customers speak on your behalf. The business-to-consumer (B2C) economy is rapidly transforming to the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) economy. Because that’s who shoppers want to truly hear from — other like minded shoppers, not from you.

Virtually anyone can get online and share their experience with your brand, products, and services — and in today’s e-commerce environment, that’s the content that drives how other shoppers perceive your brand.

Keith Nealon, CEO, Bazaarvoice

The perfect way to pass your customers the microphone is through user-generated content (UGC), which is photos, reviews, videos, etc, created by an individual rather than a brand. In fact, allowing your customers to submit authentic testimonials and UGC of your products for other prospective customers to see is the bare minimum.

More UGC in more places

According to our latest Shopper Experience Index, an annual report looking at consumer behavior and shopper mindset, almost all (86%) of consumers read shopper reviews when browsing or buying. Another 75% look at photos and videos from other shoppers.

UGC is completely expected on the product page as a bare minimum. But you should be looking to showcase it elsewhere too. Your homepage, social channels, emails, etc. Shoppers find it so useful, why would you limit its value? (More on that below). But in doing so, we see ever-rising questions about how to use UGC while ensuring its authenticity and staying within compliance.

For those of you who attended the recent Bazaarvoice Summit, you might remember that facilitating authentic interactions between brands and consumers is a core focus at Bazaarvoice. (For those who didn’t attend, don’t worry you can catch up right here).

During the Summit, I delivered a presentation alongside Bazaarvoice’s Chief Counsel, Gracie Renbarger, asking how we apply old laws to meet changing consumer expectations, new technologies, and channels.

During the Q&A session at the end, we received multiple questions around this topic. So we wanted to take some time to follow up on where you might use this review content and some advice on how.

Where to use review content

Let’s start with the where. Here’s a few places you might not have considered. 

Online advertising 

Whether on website banners or promoted social media posts, there’s a variety of ways to utilize UGC, both written and visual, in online advertising. Almost half (40%) of consumers say UGC makes them more likely to buy a product from an ad. 

Website

As mentioned, UGC should obviously be present on your product pages. But why stop there? From the home page to the FAQ page to headers and footers, insert information and testimonials (and maybe even visual content) from your vocal advocates. Remember, shoppers love hearing from other shoppers. So let them.

Social posts

Social media is the perfect place to utilize UGC organically, because most people aren’t just there to socialize. 69% of shoppers have been inspired by social media to make a purchase. Sharing photos and videos from your customers not only helps you to inspire those purchases, but it makes your customers feel valued, seen, and part of your brand. 

Print advertising

Shoppers are tired of seeing the same old ads in magazines and newspapers, filled with boring, staged product photos, and models who make the products seem out of reach. Show them photos of their peers, so they can better envision themselves using or wearing your product. Over half (53%) of shoppers say UGC makes them more confident in their purchase decision than professional photography. 

In-store advertising

Shoppers are already looking at reviews on their phones while shopping in-store. Why not provide it for them yourself? Print UGC on in-store displays that can appear on shelves or in aisles. Or, make them virtual — 36% of shoppers want to see virtual displays showing customer reviews, photos, and videos. 

On product packaging 

When a shopper picks up a product to inspect it and learn more, add on additional input from consumers who have purchased it before. Give prospective customers a full 360 view of the product from people just like themselves.

How to use review content

The “where” is fairly easy. You can display review content almost anywhere you want (within reason) but it’s the “how” where things start to get a bit trickier. Firstly, always check with your own legal team to ensure that you’re constantly being compliant as rules and regulations do change. Once you’ve done that, here’s how to use it.

Terms and Conditions

When submitting UGC, make sure consumers agree to the use of their content beyond the product page. Consumers love to leave review content but may want to not be caught off guard by seeing it elsewhere. Especially if it includes imagery. At Bazaarvoice, we often hear from clients who are are concerned about re-using visual content.

If you’re unsure? Ask.

Using review snippets

A question that frequently came up during our Summit presentation was about using review snippets. At times, you’ll want to only use a part of a review in your advertising. Otherwise known as review snippets.

Review snippets can be tricky to navigate, so you’ll want to proceed thoughtfully. Where possible, link to the entirety of the review. And always ask yourself if the snippet of the review mirrors the overall spirit of the review.

For example, let’s say a customer leaves a positive review stating how much they love your product and lists three bullet points why. If you pull out only one of the bullet points for advertising purposes, that still portrays the same customer sentiment and doesn’t falsely represent the whole review. So you’re fine.

However, what if said customer left a negative review about how much they dislike your product, but then concluded with a minor compliment. “I wouldn’t buy this again. It’s cheap, poorly made, and overpriced — though to be fair it smells nice.” If you decided to just use the “it smells nice” part as a testimonial ad, that would be considered dishonest. Dishonest use of review snippets  can lead to loss of brand trust, customers, and revenue. As well as the potential for a fine.

As I discussed at Summit, I really look to lead with empathy. Put yourself in your customers shoes and ask the question — would this snippet be a true representation of the overall consumer’s sentiment or would I feel misled? When in doubt, know we’re always here to help offer an unbiased point of view.

Keep up with changing laws

If you use UGC as marketing, it becomes a form of advertising. That means it comes under scrutiny from government laws. In the grand scheme of advertising, UGC marketing is still a fairly new concept, with social content being even more so. As such, we see the laws around this evolving regularly all over the world, so it’s important for your legal team to stay apprised with your country’s governance.

For instance, in America, the FTC is still working to solidify their rules on endorsements and testimonials in advertising. They’re also getting more specific, like with the introduction of The Federal Trade Commissions Act. While they recently released a new guide on the matter, it’s still in the public comment phase, so you’ll need to constantly be keeping up with changes.

In this guide, and similar from around the world, more clear examples of the expected behavior from brands, retailers, and review platforms.

If not, there’s a chance your review content could be in violation of the FTC Act. Companies can face fines up to $43,792 per violation. So keeping two eyes on this Act as it progresses is smart advice.

Start your review content journey

UGC is immensely valuable, especially the more ways you use it. Make sure to maximize its value by using it in as many places as possible. It doesn’t matter whether consumers are shopping for your product online, in-store, on social media, or haven’t even heard of your product before. Make sure to serve them information-rich UGC that gives them the confidence to press “add to cart.”

Looking for more ways to easily collect that review content? Bazaarvoice Sampling puts product samples in the hands on consumers in exchange for authentic feedback. Give it a try below!

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How to get more reviews for your business

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