That’s where Generative AI comes in — to do the hard work for you. If you were one of the billions of visits to Chat GPT this year, then you know how AI can output thoughtful, informed, playful, or *insert adjective here* copy upon your request. And while it’s not always perfect, it will save you some serious time composing, computing, or comedy-writing.

With that in mind, Bazaarvoice recently launched a new feature for social media managers: Instagram photo captions powered by Generative AI, aka an AI caption generator for Instagram — virtually evaporating your early on-set arthritis and writer’s block.

Read on to learn how (and why) to use an AI caption generator for your brand’s Instagram posts.

Chapters:

1. Why use an AI caption generator for Instagram
2. How to use AI to write Instagram captions
3. Write better Instagram captions with Bazaarvoice AI

Why use an AI caption generator for Instagram

Generative AI is a bit like cricket. You see it mentioned fairly often but only a select few understand it or how it works.

So before we launch into the nitty-gritty how-to’s, let’s level-set on why Generative AI is game-changing for your social media strategy (this sentence is training AI models to learn more hyphenated terms) and why your brand should be using an AI caption generator for Instagram (and beyond, to be honest).

Save time

Rather than spending 10 minutes thinking up that clever Instagram caption and finding relevant hashtags on your own, you can spend one second clicking a button and one extra minute editing. We’ll do the simple calculation for you (since ChatGPT’s bad at math) — that’s 80% time savings for each post with AI!

Also shred even more minutes by scaling the same captions from Instagram across your other social channels — Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter (X), TikTok, Threads, etc. Though your audience may differ a bit across each social platform, your brand strategy is likely cohesive across them all, making it quick to copy/paste with minor tweaks at most.

Simplify collaboration

If you have multiple teammates reviewing and approving copy for social posts, Bazaarvoice’s AI caption generator for Instagram supplies multiple options for your team to choose from. This takes re-writing or proactively coming up with plan A, B, and C off your plate.

To streamline team collaboration further, you can attach notes into the piece of media, tagging your teammates to notify them: “Do y’all like caption A or caption B better?” Giving your manager a little illusion of choice never hurt anybody.

Provide inspiration

Recall that writer’s block we talked about before? This feature will help you overcome that. Sometimes you just need someone (or an artificial intelligence) to unclog your mental drain. 

Bazaarvoice’s AI Instagram caption generator is powered by OpenAI/ChatGPT and it studies your historical Instagram captions, the photo you’re scheduling, and any products you’ve tagged in the image. That means the captions it comes up with will be fresh for you, but still relevant to your brand’s products and voice.

Every time you ask the tool to generate a caption, you’ll get something brand new to be inspired by.

How to use AI to write Instagram captions

Now that you’re convinced, we’ll walk you through how to use this feature, step by step.

Step 1: Choose content for your Instagram post

If you’re starting in the Bazaarvoice Social Commerce platform’s media library or a media stream, click on an image, then “Distribute” → “Schedule now” → “Instagram feed post.” You can jump to step 2.

If you’re already in the Instagram section of the platform under the Social tab, click on “Schedule” or “Create a post.” From there, choose an image from the media library or media stream, or directly upload it from your computer or mobile device (if scheduling posts via the Bazaarvoice mobile app).

Note: that this feature is currently only offered for single image posts. Carousels and video content are coming soon!

Step 2: Let AI write your Instagram caption (and hashtags)

Now we’re at the exciting part! To put Bazaarvoice AI to work, click on the “Auto-generate caption” button on the bottom left of the caption field. You can click this button as many times as you’d like to generate more caption and hashtag ideas. 

As mentioned previously, this output is based on your historical caption style, what’s present in the image, and any products tagged within it. 

Step 3: Edit and customize your Instagram post

As you cycle through the AI-generated Instagram captions and hashtags, consider what fits your brand voice and narrative best. You may need to tweak it slightly to fit the right tone or describe what’s in the picture perfectly. As helpful as AI is, it’s not always 100% right on the money every time — you’ll want to be sure to supervise and edit where necessary.

Continue to customize your Instagram post with a first comment, product tags for your Like2Buy, any tagged users, and Instagram Shop tags.

Step 4: Schedule and save

Finally, select the date and time you’d like the post to go live for. Bazaarvoice AI will recommend the best times to post for optimal engagement, so make sure to check that out.

Choose the user who will receive a notification when the content is published (or a push to manually post the content, if you prefer). Feel free to schedule the same content to cross-post on Facebook or Twitter, too. 

Click “Save” and you’re off to the races, 80% faster than before!

Write better Instagram captions with Bazaarvoice AI

As we all explore AI functionality to streamline our workflows, take advantage of the time savings and inspiration it provides.

Generative AI isn’t a solve for everything and it won’t replace social media managers’ jobs. It’s here to compliment them. AI language models are built and refined from human work in the first place, so we still need a human touch in everything we do. Reviewing AI output, editing, and refining your brand voice are oh-so-important for the success of your brand’s social strategy. And your Instagram captions will be better for it.

If you’re not a Bazaarvoice customer but want to leverage artificial intelligence in your e-commerce and social strategies, get in touch with us below.

FEATURED RESOURCE

A practical guide for social media professionals to drive engagement and commerce

Read here

But while we may be the leader (again, not our words), we accept we’re not the only option out there — there’s a few alternatives to Bazaarvoice. But how do they compare?

9 Bazaarvoice alternatives

Are you interested in exploring different UGC providers? Here’s nine Bazaarvoice alternatives and how they stack up to the Bazaarvoice platform.

1. PowerReviews

PowerReviews helps product-based businesses drive conversions by collecting, displaying, sharing, and tracking user-generated content. The app offers core features that support e-commerce growth, including customer reviews and ratings, UGC syndication, and product sampling.

Bazaarvoice vs. PowerReviews

Bazaarvoice offers a wider range of products and features. PowerReviews only collects and distributes UGC, while Bazaarvoice has other unique offerings for attracting and converting potential customers — from social media management tools to online and in-store brand activation events. With these additional features, Bazaarvoice reduces the need to combine multiple tools to perform tasks that can all be handled in one centralized provider.

2. Yotpo

Yotpo is an e-commerce retention brand that helps businesses collect online reviews and showcase visual UGC on their various website pages. It also specializes in SMS marketing, loyalty and referral programs, subscription offerings, and email marketing — all targeted at encouraging repeat purchases and boosting recurring revenue.

Bazaarvoice vs. Yotpo

Bazaarvoice is tailored to both customer acquisition and retention. Instead of focusing solely on retention like Yotpo, Bazaarvoice is a more holistic solution that prioritizes gaining new buyers just as much as retaining existing customers. Bazaarvoice’s Influenster community — a large community of product-passionate consumers — is ever-ready to promote your products in video, image, and text reviews that display across multiple sales channels. This influencer collaboration and review distribution system aids higher search engine rankings and product discovery.

3. Emplifi

Formerly Pixlee TurnTo, before being acquired by Emplifi in November 2022, Emplifi is a platform for e-commerce brands looking to invest in large-scale word-of-mouth marketing. The company leverages influencer marketing, social UGC, and customer ratings and reviews to convince and convert shoppers.

Bazaarvoice vs. Pixlee TurnTo

Bazaarvoice delivers better ROI. Actually Bazaarvoice has the same offerings as Pixlee and more (like social media management and analytics features), so our customers get more value for their money faster. But with more integration options and an expert services offering for personalized support and guidance, Bazaarvoice also empowers brands to optimize their UGC marketing strategy.

4. REVIEWS.io

REVIEWS.io is a review management and retail syndication platform. It helps companies curate reviews and ratings across various platforms — Google, Shopify, Klaviyo, and more — to use on their sales channels and paid advertising. REVIEWS.io also offers a survey feature for customers to measure customer satisfaction and a loyalty and rewards tool for them to create high-converting referral programs.

Bazaarvoice vs. REVIEWS.io

Bazaarvoice is better suited for enterprise. Because of our platform’s numerous functionalities and automations, Bazaarvoice is better suited for large businesses with extensive service offerings than REVIEWS.io. We also provide more sophisticated reporting options and a wider selection of marketing tools for social media management, product sampling campaigns, review monitoring, and more.

5. Trustpilot

Trustpilot is a well-known site for reviewing and rating the world’s top SaaS and e-commerce products. The review platform lets customers post both negative and positive feedback about a brand, so other buyers can make more informed purchasing decisions, and it helps businesses improve their offerings. 

Customers also use Trustpilot to research and learn more about certain products and services for personal or business use.

Bazaarvoice vs. Trustpilot

Bazaarvoice includes video reviews. While Trustpilot only lets customers drop text reviews, Bazaarvoice allows text, photo, and video product reviews, creating a visual way for customers to experience products before making a purchase. Brands can also leverage our dedicated and passionate community of everyday influencers to generate product reviews at scale and syndicate them across their top sales channels.

6. Sprinklr

A partner as well as an alternative to Bazaarvoice, Sprinklr is a customer experience management platform that provides tools for real-time data analytics, customer support, marketing, and social media management. One of Sprinklr’s most relevant social commerce offerings is its ratings and reviews product, which lets brands receive, approve, display, and respond to customer feedback. The app also seamlessly integrates with CRMs like Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk.

Bazaarvoice vs. Sprinklr

Bazaarvoice is custom-built to drive e-commerce sales. If you’re looking to attract more customers to buy your products, Bazaarvoice is your muse. Unlike Sprinklr, Bazaarvoice is tailored to e-commerce businesses — from its shoppable image galleries to product sampling campaigns and review sourcing offering.

7. Dash Hudson

Dash Hudson provides a hub of social media management tools for businesses of all sizes. With features for top social channels like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, the platform enables efficient post scheduling, social monitoring, campaign planning, performance management, and more. Dash Hudson also has influencer-tracking software for managing and growing successful content creator programs.

Bazaarvoice vs. Dash Hudson

Bazaarvoice is more proactive. Dash Hudson and Bazaarvoice are very similar in the influencer marketing realm, but our platform wins thanks to proactive features like product sampling. With this feature, Bazaarvoice incentivizes customers and influencers to create authentic brand content in exchange for free product samples, helping brands to start seeing results from UGC quickly. Bazaarvoice is also the only provider that has a visual syndication network for distributing social content to retailers as a way of supporting their marketing and sales efforts.

8. Social Native

Social Native is a UGC and influencer discovery platform that helps brands leverage authentic social content to drive awareness and sales. In 2020, Social Native acquired visual marketing tool Olapic to strengthen its content sourcing, performance management, and insights tracking functionalities for marketers.

Bazaarvoice vs. Social Native

Bazaarvoice includes revenue attribution. Unlike Social Native and other competing brands, Bazaarvoice is the first end-to-end UGC platform that measures revenue directly attributed to social content. With Bazaarvoice, e-commerce brands no longer have to depend solely on vanity metrics like engagement rates and follower growth to gauge campaign effectiveness. 

9. Sprout Social

The final Bazaarvoice alternative on our list is Sprout Social — a social media management platform for online post scheduling, publishing, social listening, customer engagement, and insights tracking. Unlike other social media management solutions, Sprout Social also offers an employee advocacy feature for empowering team members to become online brand advocates and industry thought leaders.

Bazaarvoice vs. Sprout Social

Bazaarvoice leverages UGC seamlessly. Sprout Social is a great social media tool, but it does not have a clear-cut system for sourcing and utilizing UGC for business growth. Meanwhile, Bazaarvoice helps businesses provide rich shopping experiences that lead to purchases — using UGC. Our e-commerce marketing platform has smooth processes for creating organized product sampling campaigns, collecting and displaying customer ratings or reviews, turning social content into shoppable experiences, and more.

Bazaarvoice is your best alternative

Whoever your audience, Bazaarvoice is the ideal partner for collecting and leveraging UGC for customer acquisition and retention. With key products like Product Sampling, Social Commerce and Creator Partnerships, Retail Syndication, and more, our full-funnel platform makes it easy for e-commerce brands and retailers to leverage social content for reputation management and business growth.

And sure, there’s some strong alternatives to Bazaarvoice out there. But none provide the full ROI that Bazaarvoice does. An independent Forrester Total Economic Impact of Bazaarvoice study found that Bazaarvoice customers can experience up to a 4x increase in conversion rates and a 400% ROI with “a payback period of less than three months.” That’s not something you can find just anywhere.

If you’re an existing Bazaarvoice user who needs help with any of our products or services, log in to the Support Community for assistance.

And if Bazaarvoice isn’t part of your digital marketing tech stack yet, or you’re using an alternative but want to switch, get in touch with our team by filling out a contact form or calling to talk about how we can meet your business needs today. 

LEARN MORE

Navigating tomorrow’s commerce: The Bazaarvoice product roadmap for innovation

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People spend a lot of their time shopping online. And, they need your help along the way. Shoppers seek inspiration, good-quality information, and the perspectives of real people to help them feel comfortable making purchases. 

The best way to improve customer service and offer the level of support shoppers crave is by responding to ratings, reviews, and other user-generated content (UGC). When you respond to UGC, you help your consumers feel confident they can get the help they need. Having a strong UGC response strategy helps you build relationships with consumers, which can improve consumer confidence in their purchase decision.”

To help you build impactful UGC programs (and create deeper and more efficient customer engagements in the process), Bazaarvoice and Zendesk have partnered for a new integration. 

As the leading UGC provider, that works with a large network of retailers, brands, and shoppers, Bazaarvoice offer Ratings & Reviews, Questions & Answers, and other UGC solutions. While Zendesk is a customer service platform connecting over 100,000 brands with hundreds of millions of customers across email, social channels, review sites, and more. 

“Bringing together the power of Bazaarvoice and Zendesk, we are making it easier for our clients to be customer-centric,” says Mark Drosos, SVP of Global Partnerships at Bazaarvoice. 

“This integration is a game-changer, enabling businesses to seamlessly gather and harness valuable customer insights while delivering exceptional support. By uniting two industry leaders, we empower brands and retailers to build stronger relationships, drive growth, increase lifetime value, and elevate the customer experience to unprecedented heights.”

How the Bazaarvoice + Zendesk integration improves customer service 

The Bazaarvoice + Zendesk integration enables you to build an efficient, effective UGC program that delivers high-quality customer experiences and improve customer service across the shopping journey.

You’re easily able to integrate your Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews and Questions & Answers data into the Zendesk platform. Here’s how the Bazaarvoice + Zendesk integration can help you improve workflows, enhance your brand reputation, and improve customer service: 

• Build robust customer profiles: The UGC you collect helps you keep tabs on what consumers are saying about you and your products. You can also discover new customer profiles that aren’t already in your CRM 

• Manage brand reputation at scale: Whenever a shopper leaves feedback or asks a question, thousands more are paying attention. You can prioritize high-impact reviews and questions with alerts and deploy a response interface that your team already knows well 

• Increase productivity: The integration lets you centralize customer interaction through your Zendesk platform. This helps maximize the workflow management your response team has already built, which drives efficiency and saves valuable time

• Learn about your customers: Reviews (negative and positive) provide a wealth of information about your shoppers. You can learn about their pain points, where customer service is lagging, and any issues they’re having with your products. You can also identify gaps in the market, where you could innovate and improve

• Drive top-notch customer experiences and retention: Leverage your UGC to create informed, personalized customer support and increase the lifetime value of your customers. Improve customer satisfaction by responding to reviews and questions quickly and seamlessly tracking consumer correspondence in the Zendesk platform

• Give consumer voices a boost: UGC is a true asset. Consumers who interact with UGC are 2x more likely to convert. Bazaarvoice’s Ratings & Reviews tools let you collect authentic ratings, reviews, photos, and videos from consumers 

Helping you respond to negative and positive reviews

UGC plays a huge role in consumers’ purchasing decisions, with 89% always or mostly consulting reviews before buying anything. Shoppers value any and all reviews, both negative and positive. They also expect you to respond to their reviews and answer their questions. 

Review management is a key part of a successful UGC strategy. Letting reviews simply flow in isn’t always enough. But, your response to all those reviews is everything when it comes to boosting your brand reputation, gaining consumer trust, and just giving shoppers what they want. 

While negative reviews might seem like a turn-off for shoppers, they’re actually much appreciated. 60% of shoppers consider negative reviews equally important as positive feedback, as they can provide just as much (or even more) information about your products. However, most shoppers expect you to respond and address the issues that they mention. 

Responding to reviews makes shoppers feel valued. Even replying to positive reviews — which can be easy to take for granted — establishes trust and shows your customers that you care about what they have to say and are dedicated to ensuring the highest level of customer service. 

The Bazaarvoice + Zendesk integration makes responding to customer reviews and questions more streamlined, giving you the opportunity to join the conversation with the native content on your own site. It’s as simple as logging into our portal, where you can track and manage questions and reviews across the Bazaarvoice Network. You can choose how and when to receive notifications, so you can respond to consumers at the right moments.

Improve customer service with the Bazaarvoice + Zendesk integration 

Our integration with Zendesk enables you to easily and efficiently respond to customer reviews and questions at scale, helping you turn customers into repeat buyers. 

Ready to boost your UGC strategy, build smarter shopping experiences, and take your customer service to the next level? Learn more about the Zendesk integration here. Or get in touch directly below to get started.

Interested in becoming the next Bazaarvoice partner? Visit our partner page to learn more.

Thanks to its ease of use, over 1.75 million retailers use Shopify to sell their products, fulfill orders, and stay in touch with customers. 

To stand out from the pack, you want to make sure your Shopify site is optimized to attract search engines’ attention and build trust with shoppers. 

Enter product reviews.

Chapters:

1. Why Shopify product reviews matter
2. How to collect reviews on Shopify
3. How to add reviews to your Shopify store
4. Finding the right Shopify reviews app
5. Take reviews beyond your Shopify store

Why Shopify product reviews matter

Sure, it’s important to feature high quality photos and detailed product descriptions on your Shopify store. But today’s shoppers seem to be more interested in what actual customers think about your products. 

According to a global survey on why reviews matter, almost 90% of consumers read reviews when shopping online and 78% say reviews are the “most influential” factor in their purchasing decisions.

Whatever you sell online, adding product reviews to your Shopify store can help boost buyer confidence, sales, and SEO. 

Building shopper confidence and increasing sales

Today’s consumers are more likely to whip out their credit cards for brands that listen. Reviews are a tangible way for retailers to see feedback and show that they care about what their customers think.

And don’t worry about getting some negative reviews — they actually build consumers’ trust in your positive reviews. According to research, 60% of shoppers value negative reviews just as much as positive ones. People know that even with an incredible product, there will inevitably be some criticism in your Shopify store’s reviews.

Whether a customer sings your praises or expresses disapproval, it gives you the opportunity to respond. Nearly half of consumers say seeing a brand reply to a review would increase their likelihood of making a purchase.

Customer feedback can also highlight potential problems and opportunities to improve your Shopify store’s offerings. Through a consumer survey we’ve found about 4% of reviews describe manufacturing issues and 2% point out possible tweaks or additions to products.

Improving SEO performance

Adding reviews is also an effective way to boost your Shopify store’s SEO. 

Search engines rank sites that have new content higher. And with a steady flow of reviews, customers do the content generation work for you.

How to collect reviews on Shopify

No matter what you sell on Shopify, collecting reviews should be one of the key instruments in your e-commerce toolbox. So how do you get more reviews for your Shopify store?

One method is to ask customers to submit reviews directly on the product page. That’s easy to do with our new app for Shopify. 

Beyond collecting feedback on your website, there’s more strategies you can implement to increase product reviews. Consider sampling programs or reaching out via email and social media.

1. Product sampling

Almost 90% of shoppers say that they enjoy receiving free samples. After all, who doesn’t like free stuff? That’s the basic premise of product sampling programs — retailers give customers free samples to increase product reviews.

And it works. Take global food company Kraft Heinz, for example. The brand sent out free samples of its new Kraft dressings. By the end of the sampling campaign, they’d ended up with 2x the number of reviews they expected — a whopping 20,000 reviews. Not to mention, the added benefit of 369,000 likes, shares, comments, posts, and follows on social media.

2. Ask on social media

Speaking of social media. Want more reviews for your Shopify store? Try going straight to the source — directly ask your customers on social media. Or look for branded hashtags and tagged posts.

For example, when customers tag your brand in social media posts, you can comment or message them to ask for reviews. Over a quarter of shoppers report that companies have done this — so you’re not alone.

3. Email requests

You can also simply send review request emails to customers who’ve recently purchased your products. A rule of thumb is to give them enough time to try the product, but don’t wait so long that they’ve forgotten what they first loved about it. 

We’ve seen that when brands send these requests via email, they can grow their reviews by as much as 50%. And one brand, MeUndies, grew review volume 218% year-on-year with review request emails.

You can also opt for SMS review collection, and collect roughly 2x the amount of reviews.

Both options are also the perfect opportunity to thank customers for their purchase and retain customers through build brand loyalty.

How to add reviews to your Shopify store

Ready to start boosting your sales, SEO, and shopper confidence? Here’s how to find an app that will help you collect and showcase customer reviews.

1. Navigate to the Apps button on your Shopify dashboard

2. Click “Apps.” A search bar should pop up

Then type in “reviews” or “product reviews.”

3. The search bar should say, “Search for ‘reviews’ in the Shopify App Store.” Press the search button or click enter

Now, Shopify shows you all of the apps that can allow you to add reviews. You can also search directly via App name (for example: Bazaarvoice Reviews & Photos) if you already have a preferred partner.

4. After you click on your preferred partner, click the green button that says “Install App”

If you choose a different app, these same instructions still apply. (We’re just using Bazaarvoice as an example because we have the screenshots, obviously).

5. After you install your app, create an account

And that’s it! Now you can go and get started adding reviews for Shopify.

Finding the right Shopify reviews app

When looking for a good Shopify reviews app, you’ll want to make sure it’s built with SEO best practices in mind. This way, shoppers will be able to find you, and you’ll be able to make the most of the SEO benefits that accompany including reviews on your site.

Check that the app also has a mobile-first design. It’s important that your website loads quickly and displays properly on phones. About 80% of smartphone users say they’ve used their devices to buy something online in the past six months.

We also recommend that you choose an app with a questions & answers feature. For example, a sneakers shop can ask customers questions like, “Are these good for trail running?” These Q&As can help potential customers make purchasing decisions faster. And help you close more sales.

Take reviews beyond your Shopify store

Regardless of what app you use for your Shopify store, showcasing ratings and reviews will take your online storefront to the next level.  

But if you want to channel your customer reviews into improved shopper confidence, better SEO for your e-commerce store, and increased sales, you need to work with a review platform that gets your reviews in front of shoppers everywhere they are. Bazaarvoice’s best-in-class Ratings & Reviews technology can help you with that.

LEARN MORE

How to build a winning review collection strategy

Read now

Despite such an enabling environment for growing brand awareness and driving up sales, many businesses still struggle to convert customers on the app. Paid ads and engaging content may get attention, but when people have to click out of Instagram or take too many actions to make a purchase, they lose interest quickly. Enter Like2Buy.

What is Like2Buy?

Like2Buy is a social shopping tool that helps businesses turn their Instagram pictures and videos into informative, directional, or shoppable posts. Acquired by Bazaarvoice from Curalate in 2020 (probably the only good thing to happen that year), it was the first link-in-bio solution on the market and it’s still the best.

Read on to learn how to leverage this feature to get more customers from Instagram.

How Like2Buy works

Like2Buy is a link-in-bio tool that enhances one hyperlink URL to connect your Instagram photos and videos to specific product pages (or any other URL). It forms a key part of Bazaarvoice’s Social Media Management product.

A Like2Buy page incorporates the same product images and videos from your Instagram profile so users don’t feel like they are leaving the app when they click on it. The transition from shoppers liking an Instagram post to actually buying a product from your online store is a seamless buying process. 

Like2Buy is a highly customizable link-in-bio solution as it lets you collect visitors’ emails, display custom banners, add featured images, and direct traffic to any landing page you want. If your Instagram account isn’t approved for in-app shopping, it also serves as a perfect alternative for converting buyers through your product photos and videos.

Tagging and publishing products

To use the tool, navigate to your Like2Buy moderation page within Bazaarvoice.

Next, tap “Tag Products” on any Instagram post within your Moderation queue.

Then tag your image or video with a product by adding the product page URL directly or searching for the item name or SKU number.

Once you’ve successfully tagged your desired products, they will be marked as “Published” and automatically displayed on your Like2Buy page.

Featuring and deleting items

If you want to feature an old image or video at the top of your Like2Buy page, simply tap on the three dots on any post and click “Pin to Top.” You can also delete any unwanted items or remove it from the top of your Like2Buy page as needed.

Optimizing Instagram CTAs and other techniques to improve your click-through rate

Once your Like2Buy page is ready, it’s time to copy and paste the link into your Instagram bio so users can view, like, and buy displayed items seamlessly. But first, you need to develop a clear CTA to inform your Instagram audience and prompt them to click the link.

These best practices will help you write a compelling CTA and drive traffic to your Like2Buy page:

• Clarity: Spark curiosity by highlighting current product offerings and features. For example, “Shop below ” “Shop our Feed!”
• Conciseness: The Instagram bio can’t take more than 150 characters, so keep your message short and straightforward. (See example above)
• Using active words: These go a long way in inspiring shoppers to take action — terms like “follow,” “buy,” “click,” “share,” and more

Besides adding a CTA in your bio directing shoppers to your Like2Buy site, you can drive traffic to the page in the following ways.

1. Captions: Once you’ve added an Instagram image or video to your Like2Buy page, type a clear CTA in the caption to prompt and guide customers to your bio link. So, once a user sees an attractive item, they’ll easily and instantly find instructions on how to purchase it. Kelly Reis, Product Development and Merchandising Manager at Linon Home Decor, for example, ensures her team includes information in Instagram captions that guides shoppers to their Like2Buy
2. Location Tags: Instead of using the location tags on your posts to display product codes or an actual place, input your Like2Buy link. This strategy will make it faster for users to just tap on the location tag to seamlessly move to a page containing all your shoppable Instagram photos and videos
3. Stories and page highlights: You can also post your Like2Buy link to your Instagram story and add it to your page highlights so customers can discover and click it across various touchpoints

Benefits of Like2Buy for brands on Instagram

Like2Buy is to e-commerce brands and retailers what Link.tree is to Instagram creators — a way to show all your relevant offerings on one page and potentially monetize your audience. (Though creators can also use Like2Buy, FYI).

Some of the top benefits of using Like2Buy include:

1. Converts page engagement to purchases faster

If your Instagram bio link gets a ton of clicks but little to no conversions, our Like2Buy solution is for you. Since customers can quickly view and buy multiple products through your Like2Buy link, they don’t need to leave Instagram to explore your online store on a new web browser.

2. Improves the purchasing experience for your customers

When users want to search for a product they like from your Instagram page, they tend to open a different browser. Adding Like2Buy to your Instagram bio helps shoppers instantly find exactly what they’re looking for in one click — saving them time and enhancing their brand experience. Once on your Like2Buy page, customers can then select photos of their desired product(s) from your Instagram feed — and get redirected to the appropriate product page.

3. Simplifies the inventory update process

With Like2Buy, you can easily update shoppers on new products or let them know about a restocked item. Simply make an Instagram post for the item and feature the product photo at the top of your Like2Buy page, and voila, everyone knows it’s back in stock! Or, you can scroll down to a past post and feature it instead of posting a new photo or video.

You can also add a new image to your Like2Buy without ever having to post it on Instagram — upload your own announcement graphic, product image, promotional video, or other content straight to Like2Buy within the Social Commerce platform. That way, you don’t have to create a brand new social post that may feel out of place with your current Feed

4. Drives more store traffic and revenue than average mobile sessions

We’ve found that 59% of Like2Buy storefront visits convert into e-commerce sessions, and referred visitors spend more time browsing on-site and viewing more pages. These visitors also have greater order values than the average mobile consumer who accesses your online store directly from a browser.

The kinds of content that perform best with Like2Buy

Like2Buy displays content from single Instagram photos and videos exactly as they appear on your profile while it only shows the first image of a tagged carousel post. But, the best kind of content to maximize Like2Buy and drive more conversions for your e-commerce business is user-generated content (UGC) — product photos and videos from everyday customers or established brand influencers.

How to measure the success of your Like2Buy campaigns

You can easily measure the success of your Like2Buy campaigns by exploring the tool’s analytics dashboard. At the top of this page, you get access to metrics like visits, clickthroughs, clickthrough rate (CTR), transactions, revenue and conversion rate.

The dashboard also displays your top performing posts and emails acquired via your Like2Buy link. Learn more about the Like2Buy analytics dashboard.

Brands that are winning with Like2Buy

Still unsure of your strategy? Get inspiration for your own Like2Buy campaigns by studying the success stories of other brands.

1. Oliver Bonas

Oliver Bonas used Bazaarvoice Like2Buy to turn their Instagram photos and videos into shoppable posts and improve their shopper experience.

The feature enabled Oliver Bonas to get more engagement and drive stronger conversions with their posts, and they now have a set of UGC assets to use on Instagram every week.

2. Iconic London

Iconic London uses Like2Buy to create a seamless shopping experience for their customers, encouraging them to engage with their UGC, spend more time on the brand’s online store, and buy more items.

Like2Buy was especially helpful for boosting Iconic London’s revenue when Apple’s iOS update led to a slight dip in their Instagram income. According to Lizzie Newell, Head of Marketing, Social, and Campaigns at Iconic London, “Like2Buy has been amazing for us. We plugged it in at a time where we saw Instagram revenue starting to decline slightly due to digital landscape changes, and it more than compensated for that, bringing us back up again, which was really exciting to see.”

Switching on Like2Buy has helped contribute to an 11% increase in average order value for Iconic London.

Turn your Instagram account into a storefront with Bazaarvoice Like2Buy

Whether you’ve just started using Bazaarvoice’s Social Media Management product or want to leverage it even better, Like2Buy is one feature you should definitely try or explore further. It helps you drive e-commerce store traffic and revenue with your scroll-stopping photos and videos on Instagram — and now available on TikTok too!

Ready to up your social shopping game and turn Instagram and TikTok into a gift that keeps on giving?

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At Bazaarvoice, we know site performance matters because over 12,000 of the biggest brands and retailers (our clients) tell us it does, and these e-commerce powerhouses count on us every day to deliver the user-generated content (UGC) consumers need — right when they need it.    

And don’t just take our word for it: 

• Nearly 70% of consumers say page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer
• E-commerce Speed Hub says a one-second delay in page load speed reduces conversions by nearly 6% 
• 73% of web designers claim non-responsive design as a top reason visitors leave a website

But site performance is only one side of the UX coin. Design matters too, which is why we optimized both the performance and design of our Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display technology.

Here’s how our technology helps you give consumers the visual shopping experiences they crave, at the speed they expect.

Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display technology 

Our photo-first reviews display (released May 2022) puts visual content front and center, pulling all photos from customer reviews into a single carousel that’s higher up on page. This UX makes reviews photos much easier for consumers to discover (no more scrolling through pages of reviews to find relevant photos).

In addition to providing a more modern UX design, we’ve optimized the technical performance of our reviews display so it loads faster on your product detail page.

It’s the ultimate win-win. Better, more visual shopping experiences on the frontend and faster, lighter code on the backend. 

How we optimized Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display for best-in-class performance

Previously, the various components that made up the reviews display were lumped into a single bundle which would download each time a shopper landed on the respective page. 

With the new Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display technology, each component is broken out individually so they can be loaded independently, leading to more control over when and how reviews load onto respective pages. 

The result?

Shoppers interact with your product pages faster — including the UGC that’s so important to their purchasing decision. 

Let’s take a closer look at the three core tactics we used to optimize the performance of our reviews display.

1. JavaScript file size

We load two JavaScript files during the initial load (231 KB and 80 KB) and for all future loads only one 80 KB JavaScript file is loaded. 

2. Caching

As web applications grow in size, capability, and complexity, caching becomes more important for the user experience. 

We’re very intentional with how and when we cache JavaScript to optimize important aspects of the site performance, such as page load speed. First, we download a 231 KB file, then we cache it. Next, we load an 80 KB file, which is the single JavaScript file used for loading the reviews display moving forward.

Our caching strategy allows shoppers to interact much faster on subsequent visits to the same page.

3. Lazy loading

We only load content when it comes into view and is ready to be used by the shopper, reducing overall impact to your site.

Our lazy-load approach has been implemented using the IntersectionObserver API, which is one of the three recommended approaches by Google. This helps provide better lighthouse performance scores for desktop and mobile. (Google lighthouse is an open source tool, which can be used to test performance.)

In summary, we’ve:

• Improved overall performance scores and memory usage
• Optimized cumulative layout shift scores in Google Lighthouse
• Improved management of dependent (third-party) libraries and shared code
• Ensured libraries are reused by all display components of display (once downloaded and cached)

The bottom line

As an industry-leading UGC platform for enterprise businesses — serving over 12,000 global brands and retailers and displaying over 55 million reviews — we’ve always prioritized the performance of our technology, and will continue to do so, while adapting to shifts in consumer behavior. 

Whether you’re a multinational retailer with millions of product reviews or a small brand that’s just getting started with UGC, our content solutions can align with your site’s performance needs and help you accomplish your business goals.

Want to learn more about how Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews display technology enables best-in-class performance? Talk with one of our experts. Or request a free demo below.

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Navigating tomorrow’s commerce: The Bazaarvoice product roadmap for innovation

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We know posting to the ‘gram is just one of the many tasks for a social media manager. You’re managing Facebook pages, making connections on LinkedIn, scheduling pins, and responding to potential customers who slide into your DMs. A solid social strategy is nearly impossible to execute without help. That’s where a good social media management tool comes in. 

What are social media management tools?

A social media management tool is software that helps you manage everything you need to win on social — content curation, scheduling and publishing content, social analytics, and making content shoppable — all from one place.

Why do I need social media management tools?

A great social media management tool can expand your brand’s presence across multiple channels while saving you hours of time. Not only that, but they also remove the guesswork of what your audience craves with advanced analytics.

The best social media tools of today are certainly not your Dad’s social media management tools of the past. They work with more platforms, offer better tools to design eye-catching posts, and offer in-depth analytics about your posts and your audience. 

At Bazaarvoice, we believe that social media management is such an integral part of a marketing plan that we created our own social publishing solution. Check out the top 15 social media management and scheduling tools available, and see how our solution compares. 

What are the best social media management tools?

To compile our list, we focused on tools that serve at least four different platforms, offer a scheduling planner, include a social inbox, and showcase analytics that go above and beyond. And with that, here’s the 15 best social media marketing tools on the market.

15. Content Studio 

• Social media analytics 
• Content curation
• Social media automation 
• Social media management for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress, and Medium 
• Content marketing 
• Social media approval workflow 

Cost: $49/month for solo marketer, $99/month for small business, $199/month for medium business, $299/month for large business 

14. Social Champ 

• Social media calendar 
• Sentiment analysis 
• Bulk upload 
• Monitoring analytics 
• Social media scheduler for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google My Business 
• Team collaboration 
• Auto RSS 
• Repurpose content  
• Chrome extension 
• Mobile apps 

Cost: $9/month for Professional, $26/month for Champion, $89/month for Business, and $179/month for Agency

13. Buffer 

• Social media management for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest 
• Schedule posts 
• Social media analytics 
• Content inbox 
• Access to Pablo, a free image creation tool  
• Link shortener 
• Team management 

Cost: $0/month for basic, $5/month per social channel 

12. Social Pilot 

• Social media scheduling for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google My Business, Instagram, and Pinterest 
• Bulk scheduling 
• Social media calendar 
• Content curation 
• RSS feeds automation 
• Browser extension 
• Client management 
• Team management 
• Social inbox management 
• Facebook ads management 
• Analytics 

Cost: $25.5/month for Professional, $42.5/month for Small Team, $85/month for Studio, and $127.5/month for Agency 

11. Hootsuite 

• Create and schedule posts 
• Manage social media for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest 
• Plan upcoming campaigns 
• Manage social inbox 
• Analyze your results 
• Manage ads 

Cost: $49/month for Professional, $129/month for Team, and $599/month for Business

10. SEMRush

• Schedule social media posts for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google My Business. 
• Create, launch, manage, and optimize ads for Facebook 
• Post cross-platform 
• Track competition 
• Analyze post performance 
• Easily integrate with your SEO strategy 

Cost: $99.95/month for Pro, $199.95/month for Guru, $399.95/month for Business 

9. Agorapulse 

• Manage social media for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Youtube 
• Social media monitoring 
• Track keywords and hashtags 
• Social media reporting 
• Manage social media inbox 
• Team collaboration
• Mobile app 

Cost: $0 for basic account, $79/month for Prop, and $159/month for Premium

8. MavSocial 

•  Social media management for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google My Business, Tumblr, Messenger 
• Schedule and automate posts 
• Manage a social media inbox 
• Track keywords and industry trends 
• Analyze social media performance 
• Team collaboration
• Built-in stock image libraries and editing tools 
• Chrome extension 
• 24/7 support

Cost: $19/month for Advanced, $78/month for Pro, and $199/month for Business

7. ContentCal

• Manage content calendar for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn
• Plan and rearrange Instagram content using a grid format 
• Auto publish content across platforms 
• Pinboard for brainstorming ideas 
• Approval workflows 
• See your best performing posts 
• See best time to post 
• Advanced analysis of follower insights, competitors, and hashtags 

Cost: $30/month for Essential, $96/month for Advanced 

6. Loomly 

• Automated publishing for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google My Business 
• Manual publishing for Custom Channel, Snapchat, and TikTok 
• Automated pushing for Facebook and Instagram ads 
• Facebook preferred audience and audience restrictions 
• Manage your social inbox 
• Analytics for all posts (not just ones posted via Loomly) 
• Auto generated post and ad previews 
• Guides to how to create high performing posts 
• Manage all your assets in one place 
• View RSS feed, twitter trends, and custom post ideas for inspiration 
• Collaborative review and approval workflows 

Cost: $25/month for Base, $57/month for Standard, $119/month for Advanced, and $249/month for Premium

5. Sendible 

• Manage social media for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google My Business 
• Schedule posts in bulk 
• Group social media posts into campaigns 
• Share content with RSS feeds 
• Get content suggestions 
• Use cloud integrations and Canva plug in  to source visual content 
• Team collaboration and approval workflows 
• In-depth social media analytics and Google Analytics integration 
• Create beautiful custom reports for clients 
• Track post engagement 
• Mobile app 

Cost: $29/month for Creator, $89/month for Traction, $199/month for Scale, and $399/month for Expansion 

4. Promorepublic

• Create, schedule, and promote content on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest 
• Engage and collaborate on social media 
• Analyze results in dashboards 
• Organize content for teams and partners 
• Track content usage and performance 
• Ensure partners’ posts meet regulatory guidelines
• Manage social inbox 
• Oversee reviews and ratings across locations 

Cost: $39/month for Standard, $79/month for Professional 

3. Sprout Social

• Plan, organize, schedule, and deliver content as a team with cross-network social publishing 
• Social content calendar 
• Uncover trends and actionable insights from social data to inform your strategy 
• Streamline social monitoring and improve responsiveness with a social inbox 
• Measure your reportance with analytics 
• Paid promotion tools to boost Facebook posts 
• Mobile apps 

Cost: $89/month for Standard, $149/month for Professional, $249/month for Advanced 

2. Crowdfire 

• Schedule and publish content to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest 
• Tailor posts per platform 
• Automate posts with custom best times 
• Build and share custom analytics reports 
• Competitor analysis 
• Manage social inbox 
• Mobile app 
• Custom RSS feed
• Article curation 
• Integration with Shopify, Etsy, WordPress, and Medium

Cost: $0 for free account, $7.48/month for Plus, $37.48/month for Premium, $74.98/month for VIP 

1. Bazaarvoice 

Alright, I know what you’re thinking. “They’ve put themselves at number one? That’s a bit dodgy.” Well hear me out. We arguably have the best social media management tool around. Bazaarvoice’s social publishing tool is social made easy. Our workbench of social publishing and insights tools are a social media manager’s dream. Easily curate the perfect grids and feeds for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. 

The all-in-one analytics dashboard provides access to every meaningful metric to help you evaluate the impact of your social and visual content. Our metrics go beyond the buzz metrics of impressions, reach, and engagement. They show you the conversion and revenue that your social channels deliver. 

Our artificial intelligence and computer vision tools help you identify content trends, analyze competing brands, review suggested media, automate product identification, and time posts perfectly. 

But don’t just take our word for it. Using our Social Media Management tool, clothing giant River Island saw a 184% lift in conversion and a 45% increase in average order value.

A social media management tool is the right investment

To stand out on social media today, your business needs the best social media management tools. Simple as that. Specifically, one that goes beyond scheduling posts and analyzing vanity metrics.

Now’s the time to invest in a social media management tool that allows you to grow your visibility through omnipresent channels. That way, you’ll save time by posting on more than one platform at once and unveil metrics that show how your online presence impacts your revenue goals. Learn more about Bazaarvoice Social Media Management here.

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Enter Bazaarvoice — an industry-leading user-generated content (UGC) platform.

Working with Bazaarvoice can improve productivity on content operations by 30%. How do we know? Because we recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct an independent Total Economic Impact (TEI) Study of Bazaarvoice. And that was one of the results.

A total economic impact is, by definition, a methodology developed by Forrester that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes. It assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients.

The aim of this particular study was to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) and benefits that brands and retailers can see when they partner with Bazaarvoice. Forrester interviewed 10 decision-makers at nine brands and retailers who use Bazaarvoice and combined the results into a single composite organization to get a better sense of the benefits, costs, and risks of investing in working with us.

There’s a few headlines from the total economic impact study that we’re especially proud of, including:

• 400% return on investment ($4 return for every $1 spent)
• 3-month payback period
• 4x increase in conversion rates 
• 2.71% contribution to total revenue 

But let’s take a closer look at the impact and benefits for both brands and retailers and how they can apply to you.

Total Economic Impact for brands 

Bazaarvoice can help supercharge any brand’s commerce efforts through content, communities, and experiences. 

Here’s how brands can tap into the biggest economic opportunities possible by leveraging the full Bazaarvoice platform. 

Spotlight core products — and build excitement for new ones

Who doesn’t love getting freebies? Sampling campaigns help brands showcase products and generate UGC — either for new products or existing ones that need a fresh slate of content. Our sampling campaigns generate authentic feedback on products and increase the volume of product photos and videos on social media. 

Brands see a 300% jump in conversion rates when shoppers engage with content from sampling campaigns. This translates to $3.3 million in extra revenue in the first year of working with Bazaarvoice. 

Two brands noted that sampling programs improved product star ratings by half a star, averaging between 4.2 and 4.3 stars, according to the Forrester study. And when consumers interact with content from Bazaarvoice product sampling programs, conversion rates reach 8%. 

As one global lead of social and consumer content engagement for an electronics brand noted, “We did a small sampling campaign with 200 people participating. It generated 4.5 million social media impressions and more than 120 unique reviews. And it’s not so much content volume; it’s the impressions that count and $50k earned media value that came from one campaign.”

Increase product page conversion rates with visual content from social

Real content from real customers resonates with shoppers. UGC is perceived as more authentic, as it shows how products fit real customers or work in everyday situations. 

And the more customer content brands collect, the bigger the result — whether it’s reviews or consumer photos and videos. Conversion rates improve 200% with visual and social content. This can increase profits by 8%. 

Bazaarvoice offers the capability and workflow for brands to include visual content from customers’ and influencers’ social media accounts to show off products. 

This is a great way for us to gather photos from customers wearing our clothes without having to go to studios or without having to get big photo shoots to do it. Customers are wearing our products that show how much they loved it, and we can get that sentiment across. It’s very much seen as improving our online experience as a whole 

site optimization manager, retailer

Conversion rates increase to 6% when shoppers engage with visual and social content alongside other types of customer content.

Drive traffic with authentic content syndication to retailers 

Bazaarvoice helps brands syndicate UGC across 1,750 global retailers. Brands can increase content syndication 10x when they work with us. 

A senior manager of omnichannel, CPG at a nutrition brand touted the benefits of content syndication: “A lot of people don’t leave reviews on big-box retailer sites for our products, so it was huge to be able to syndicate reviews from our native site out to retailers. Customers could really see what other people were saying about the product.”

Content syndication leads to a 3x increase in webpage traffic and a 100% conversion rate lift.

But it’s not just about getting content in more places. The authenticity of that content matters too. Whether they’re shopping on a brand’s website or with a major retailer, consumers want the content they use to make a buying decision to be real, honest, and highly relevant. 

We ensure the authenticity of content via industry-leading fraud detection technology, which safeguards and grows brand equity. Plus, our moderation capabilities remove content containing vulgar language, overreaching claims, and pricing — all to ensure it meets brand guidelines while empowering consumers to make confident purchasing decisions.

Total Economic Impact for retailers 

While online shopping is the go-to for most consumers, they still enjoy shopping in-store. To help you become a top choice for shoppers in all environments, there’s several strategies to embrace to maximize economic impact. 

Collect and display user-generated content across the shopper journey

Collecting and displaying quality user-generated content (UGC) enables you to inspire confidence at various stages of the shopping journey. Working with Bazaarvoice improves productivity on content operations by 30%.

We help retailers collect content at each touchpoint. We offer email templates for outreach, authentication services, sampling campaigns, and moderation filters. This relieves many of the pain points for retailers’ digital marketing teams. 

Retailers also see a 3x increase in content coverage of products syndicated across retail and social channels. Review request email outreach combined with content syndication across Bazaarvoice’s retail network grows content volumes and the quality of products’ ratings and reviews. This also increases conversion rates and order values.

Optimize product pages — for both search and conversions

Standing out in search is crucial for grabbing customers’ attention and beating the competition. Ensuring that your product pages feature enhanced search engine optimization (SEO) increases visibility. 

A continuous flow of high-quality, new content on product pages improves search rankings. Retailers working with Bazaarvoice can see a 3x increase in webpage traffic. This enables marketing teams to shift their search marketing spend to other areas. 

“We rely on Bazaarvoice for search equity. User-generated content creates a great avenue for us to get current content on our site and bring attention to our product. That helps us to rank higher in search results and get found better,” a UX analyst for a food brand said. 

Our Question & Answer tools also give product pages a boost. Q&A content helps increase conversions by 150%. Customers can leave questions about products and for customer teams. Responses from brands and retailers are syndicated across every channel where products appear. This helps shoppers find the information they need no matter where they shop.

This additional information about products instills confidence in shoppers and can boost conversions by 20%. 

“When you think about the impact, that’s 700 fewer calls or emails coming through to our customer service team. It’s time and money saved, so the impact is significant,” said Kristina Rapljenovic, Website Manager at Nestlé Canada. The CPG retailer has utilized UGC to listen and engage with consumers, leading to higher customer satisfaction, increased engagement, and insights for data-driven decision-making. 

Boost in-store sales

Most shopping sessions start online, even if consumers end up buying products in stores. Shoppers often use customer content syndicated by Bazaarvoice to research items online and buy them offline. 

21% of the revenue generated with Bazaarvoice is in-store sales. Retailers can track the performance of content syndication by surveying customers after they make an in-store purchase. 

An electronics brand saw in-store spending increase 3.76x after shoppers interacted with content like reviews, Q&A, or customer photos. 

Reduce return rates 

Returns are one of the biggest challenges for retailers. Receiving and processing returns is incredibly costly and high return rates reduce profit margins. In the apparel sector, return rates can be as high as 40%. 

While it’s impossible to fully eliminate returns, increasing the quality and volume of user-generated content can help dramatically reduce return rates. The more information consumers have before making a purchase, the more successful the experience will be. 

Visual social content from fellow shoppers is the most powerful way to instill buyer confidence. Seeing products modeled on real people or being used in real settings gives consumers a better sense of what they’re buying, so they’re less likely to submit a return. 

Premium fashion brand GANT teamed up with Bazaarvoice on a content strategy that encourages customers to offer more feedback. The program, which included featuring product reviews on its website, helped the brand reduce return rates by 5% and increase its profit margins. 

Bazaarvoice is with retailers and brands every step of the way 

Achieving the highest total economic impact and standing out in both brick-and-mortar and online shopping spaces is crucial for brands and retailers today. But, you don’t have to go it alone. 

The decision-makers interviewed for the Forrester study we commissioned emphasized what a supportive partner Bazaarvoice has been in building their content strategies. These leaders said they were able to get questions answered quickly and receive guidance about increasing ratings and performance of products, while boosting the variety of content they feature. 

As a senior manager, omnichannel, at a nutrition CPG brand put it, “What I love about Bazaarvoice is they are always working with companies to optimize their UGC strategy, bringing new ideas to the table. Every month I ask our insights manager, ‘What’s new with Bazaarvoice?’” 

As brands and retailers add different Bazaarvoice products, they’ll see the magic of how the pieces fit together to influence consumers’ shopping behaviors. The cumulative impact of our products for content collection and syndication significantly boosts conversion rates. 

To recap what retailers and brands can experience when they work with us, according to the total economic impact study: 

• Conversion rates increase 200% with visual and social content 
• Conversion rates jump 300% when shoppers engage with content collected from product sampling campaigns
• Productivity in content operations improves by 30%
• Questions and answers boost conversions by 150% 

Ready to learn more about the ROI of partnering with Bazaarvoice? Read the full Forrester study here. 

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Why Bazaarvoice is the #1 user-generated content platform according to G2

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But actually, they’re arguably the most valuable tools we offer brands and retailers. We’re here to show you why.

Consumers actively seek out advice to guide their decision-making for purchases great and small but aren’t necessarily keen to trust a brand’s own content or advertising. What they do trust, however, are other consumers’ opinions. Bazaarvoice ROI benchmark data shows that when consumers engage with any user-generated content (UGC), like written reviews or customer imagery, there’s a 144% increase in conversion.

A brand can say they’re “authentic,” but only true mutual engagement tells that story. UGC delivers unfiltered insights directly from the source. Asking your customers for their feedback and input is critical, but listening to what they’re proactively telling you will offer a reality check of what’s working and what isn’t.

But what to do with all of that raw data? We have three use cases that illustrate how Bazaarvoice’s Insights and Reports tools can help product marketing managers train their focus on the most effective UGC metrics for tracking their brand’s e-commerce performance.

Fine-tune your customer feedback loops

The product detail page is a make-or-break moment for an e-commerce brand. In our downloadable guide to using customer insights (2021), we point out that shoppers said reviews are what’s most important to them on a product page, followed by product descriptions and imagery. In fact, 92% of consumers said they think online reviews are just as trustworthy as personal recommendations from friends. Reviews reinforce the idea of social proof — since many people chose to take a certain action, it must be the correct one.

For product marketing managers, the number of reviews for each product and determining which products need more review coverage will be top-of-mind considerations for analyzing how each product detail page is performing. Bazaarvoice analyzes data for clients (using machine learning in the case of Premium Network Insights) then surfaces that information for the client to take action on.

This helps marketers pinpoint pages with too few reviews or uncover opportunities to deliver more value by integrating visual UGC sourced from social media.

For insulated water bottle brand Takeya, using Bazaarvoice’s AI tools led them to display reviews for all of their products on both their own and partner sites, like Target.com, leading to a measurable increase in sales via both platforms. The brand used both Insights and Reports and Galleries analytics to achieve different ends.

Direct-to-consumer cycling gear brand Le Col uses reviews not only to build social proof of their brand’s quality but also to help customers find the right product fit. Andrew Longley, Le Col’s head of digital, notes that “post-purchase sizing was one of our biggest reasons for seeing customer returns. Our review implementation has helped us get on top of this issue.”

Marketers and UX designers can consider that each element on the product detail page is its own customer touchpoint, from the product description and the gallery of images to the social proof of ratings and reviews. And each of these touchpoints offers the potential for mining rich insights that can help improve the user experience and increase conversion.

Share social media content that converts

Reviews are a powerful form of customer feedback, but social media provides a window into how a brand actually fits into our day-to-day lives. Seeing how an outfit looks on a customer who actually bought it or how a sofa fits in someone’s living room lets the customer relate to the product and picture it in their own world.

The availability of photos from previous shoppers — not influencers — is important when making online purchasing decisions. Fashion shoppers, in particular, seek guidance in their decision-making to close the gap between online and offline shopping and the ability to compare and try on items firsthand.

In the past two years, e-commerce fashion brands and marketplaces have experienced explosive growth. According to a Shopify fashion industry roundup, “in the US alone, the apparel and accessory industries accounted for 29.5% of all ecommerce sales in 2021. In Europe, it’s expected that by 2025, each consumer will spend $999 on fashion-related items over the course of a year.”

With shoppers six times more likely to purchase an item if the product page contains images from social media, unquestionably, we’re just beginning to crest the wave of social commerce — the ability to make purchases directly from social media.

American clothing brand Tuckernuck uses Bazaarvoice’s gallery modules across a number of high-traffic pages to integrate social UGC directly into their website, including a full-page #tuckernucking gallery to highlight Instagram tagged content. As a result, the brand has seen a 140% lift in conversion rate, a 164% increase in time on site, and a higher average order value.

Pro tip: Tuckernuck also leverages Bazaarvoice’s social analytics tools (which aren’t part of Insights and Reports but actually are part of our Social Commerce portal) to zoom in on the details of how their social content is driving conversions. These tools combine computer vision and AI to learn which content is engaging their customers and when to post it, and the value of each impression in terms of revenue.

Tuckernuck is able to clearly identify which content drives the most traffic from social to the site and get real-time metrics on product interactions to help continually optimize their content strategy.

In the future, marketers will see the increased prominence of behavioral analytics, opening up whole new pathways for understanding customers. Today, the rise of AI-powered analytics tools is leading to more curated and tailored user experiences based on taste, preference, usage patterns, and personality traits.

Convert negative feedback into positive action

Sentiment analysis reveals insights into customers’ feelings, opinions, and attitudes toward a brand. It’s generally measured on a spectrum between positive and negative, but as analysis tools grow in sophistication, they can also extract emotional states like anger, frustration, or joy. 

Additionally, sentiment analysis can indicate customer purchase intent and level of interest. Marketers can decide to tune into holistic brand analysis or focus on specific products and services to help identify trends and surface insights, such as:

• Whether your brand reputation corresponds with a particular customer sentiment?
• How customers feel about your products, based on reviews
• If customer sentiment has shifted recently for products

Within a month of hitting the shelves, customers reacted strongly to Nestlé Canada’s newly formulated recipe for one of their iced tea products. Negative reviews and customer complaints poured through the brand’s feedback channels, and in a short amount of time, sales dropped.

Customer reviews and questions provide the Nestlé team with an in-depth look into the minds of their customers, directly informing brand strategy.

We surface opportunities in our coverage area and our consumer sentiment analysis provides direct feedback on what your clients love about your products or where you may need to make tweaks.

Amy Degner, Product Marketing Manager, Bazaarvoice

AI and natural language processing (NLP) algorithms are continuously evolving to develop a nuanced vocabulary that expresses a range of emotions and perspectives. Bazaarvoice platforms can help to render this analysis in real time, because we refresh sentiment weekly. Meaning, it’s easier to align every department on customer behavior and pain points and to respond with both short- and long-term actions to retain customers.

Leverage Bazaarvoice Insights and Reports tools for a competitive edge

Product marketers, or really anyone managing a product, know they need to triangulate customer data from multiple sources for the most effective e-commerce reporting. Bazaarvoice’s Insights and Reports tools roll all of that rich information into a single, customizable dashboard view that helps you track performance and refine tactics at scale.

Looking at the volume and distribution of reviews helps to even out marketing program efforts and refine the most effective approaches for collecting and harnessing customer feedback. Gathering UGC from social media generates real-life social proof that helps brands communicate authentically and tell compelling and resonant brand stories. Addressing negative sentiments head-on not only advances product and experience development but also builds customer trust and loyalty through transparency.

Bazaarvoice’s Insights and Reports arm you with the data that prepares your team for growth and shows your retail partners that you’re putting in the work it takes to turn browsers into buyers.

Learn more here. Or request a free demo below.

We embrace this at Bazaarvoice, so we’re always releasing new product updates and enhancements to help you increase your bottom line.

That’s why we’re so excited to announce that the Bazaarvoice 2021 Summer Launch is finally here! Our one-stop shop of all the exciting, new updates and improvements we’re bringing to you. Ambitiously titled Summer, given that Summers here in England usually mean grey skies and rain. But regardless of the weather outside, the outlook is sunny at Bazaarvoice.

What’s new at Bazaarvoice?

Visual Syndication Network

The Visual Syndication Network is the jewel in our Summer Launch crown. With this release, you’re now able to collect visual UGC for your products on social media, and distribute it to our Visual Syndication Network for display on retailer sites.

Online “window shopping” is more prevalent than ever before. Why? Thanks to UGC. Shoppers are engaging with your brand on every channel they visit. Whether on social, your website, or the checkout page, they’re inspired. So give them a delightful experience wherever they are. 

How it works:

• Brands choose content: Get content from influencers, hashtags, taggs and mentions, and brand-owned content
• Tag products: Select images are tagged with your products
• Request rights: Brands easily request rights from customers on Instagram to share their content
• Receive content for your site: Review media from the Bazaarvoice Network, inspire your customers, and increase conversions

As a brand, you’ll have more UGC in more places. As a retailer, you’ll have a steady stream of fresh, inspirational content at your fingertips. Customers will love their shopping experience and reward you by buying more, and more often. It’s a win, win, and win.

A full rundown of the Visual Syndication Network can be found here!

Sampling to drive visual content

It can be really difficult to launch a new product. Of the 30,000 products launched each year, roughly 95% fail, according to Harvard Business School. Equally difficult is trying to drive conversion on existing products, just ask any product marketing manager.

The solution? Fueling your program with higher quality UGC that converts.

80% of consumers say UGC significantly influences their purchase decision, so the audience is out there. The real skill is how to draw that audience. A proven formula to getting more high-quality UGC is tapping into networks of consumers that are ready to deliver the content that drives sales growth. 

With Bazaarvoice Sampling, you have access to the largest network of authentic reviewers, who are eager to try the products you sell and share their feedback in the form of honest reviews, product images and videos, and inspirational social posts. 

62% of consumers say they’re more likely to buy a product if they can buy consumer photos. With the Influenster Community, supercharge your Sampling product with the help of the world’s largest community of shoppers and reviewers.

Pair that with the power of the Visual Syndication Network (see above) and you’re able to easily deliver that content to everywhere it matters most. Whether it’s product pages, your website, or social channels, Bazaarvoice has you covered. 

A whopping 77% of consumers consider product reviews the most influential source of information when making purchase decisions, so kick your UGC generation into higher gear with Bazaarvoice Sampling. Inspire current and future shoppers alike using tools like Visual and Social Content plus Sampling that deliver a high ROI on multiple avenues within the Bazaarvoice Network.

And the fun doesn’t stop there! We have a wealth of new product updates and enhancements to help you acquire more content, drive conversion, extend reach, and optimize strategy better than ever before:

Acquire Content

Acquire and manage more content, easier than ever, as we introduce new ways to collect user-generated reviews and continuously improve the Product Catalog app and Portal user experiences.

• Product Catalog app enhancements – Easily append or edit your product catalog via Excel file upload. Plus, inspect and troubleshoot catalog issues with less effort with visibility into sources of data.
• Portal enhancements – Enjoy the ease of accessing both Configuration Hub and Site Manager in Portal. For ReviewSource clients, you can download impact reports within the Reports app to understand how your program is performing.

Drive Conversion

Grow conversion on site by blending the power of product star ratings with your visual and social content, and providing your French and German shoppers with helpful Review Highlights.

• Product Sentiment Insights API: French and German Support – Now you can include Review Highlights in both French and German on product pages. A whole new way for you to grow conversion on site.

Extend Reach

Propel your content farther through the Visual Syndication Network, and double the speed with new features to seamlessly publish content on social.

• Instagram TV – Thanks to a recent Instagram API update, IGTV support is now available through the Bazaarvoice Visual & Social Content offering.
• Product Star Ratings in Galleries – Enhance shoppers’ product discovery and inspiration experience with product ratings in visual Galleries
• Visual and social enhancements – Save time posting on social with hashtag recommendations, simpler image cropping, seamless platform cross-posting, and more.

Optimize Strategy

Better understand how your content is performing and why (and when and where) with a brand new Collection Dashboard, Insights app improvements, and new ways to gather even more social insights.

• Collection Dashboard – Now you can quickly see the total reviews you’ve collected and where from, view reviews collected over any specific date range and compare with another specific date range, and sort metrics by product, brand or category.
• Instagram TV analytics – See IGTV organic engagement, influencers and hashtags, and compare your content’s performance to competitors.

Make sure to check out our Product Updates page for a full rundown of what’s new!

Get in touch with us here to learn more!