Électro Dépôt makes customer feedback a central pillar of its marketing strategy

Électro Dépôt, which specializes in the sale of home appliances and multimedia, has 84 stores in France, 12 in Belgium and 6 in Spain, in addition to an online presence.

Its business model is based on the design and distribution of discount products. Thanks to bulk purchasing, the retail chain combines accessibility and quality.

Brands created by Électro Dépôt include Valberg, Edenwood, Cosylife, and High One. The company’s raison d’être is delivering outstanding customer service, and the unique ability to offer discount prices without sacrificing exceptional quality, with particular focus on Électro Dépôt brand products.

Collect and share user-generated content from any country

A product page with customer reviews reassures consumers. In fact, the conversion rate doubles when a product description shows consumer comments.

Recognized by leading clients for many years, Bazaarvoice’s expertise enabled Électro Dépôt to publish consumer Ratings & Reviews, collected by either Électro Dépôt or the brands marketed by the retailer, via its various channels — website, social networks, and in-store.

Électro Dépôt focuses particularly on widespread sharing of collected reviews. Throughout the buying process, review authenticity provides customers the confidence to choose and purchase products that meet their expectations. It’s carried out in various forms: evaluation of customer reviews on web and mobile sites, average ratings of products shared in emails, campaigns on top-rated products, reviews displayed on signs and labels in stores, etc.

Thanks to Bazaarvoice’s “Translated Reviews” module, these reviews can also be shared across language barriers. For example, a customer review written in French can be translated and posted in Spanish to allow consumers to consult reviews, regardless of location or language.

Thanks to this feature, Bazaarvoice has been supporting the roll-out of Électro Dépôt stores in various countries, like Belgium and Spain, since 2015.

Create an engaged community

The Électro Dépôt chain uses Bazaarvoice Questions & Answers so that potential customers can ask other customers who have already purchased the product for genuine feedback. These exchanges are moderated to ensure the quality and authenticity of the content.

This doesn’t only provide shoppers with confidence in the information provided. It also allows Électro Dépôt to reduce the workload of its dedicated customer service team, which has reduced calls to this service and lowered product returns.

Focus on continuous improvement and longevity of products

Reviews reassure customers, yes. But they’re also particularly useful for optimizing sales and marketing strategies. Based on the basic analysis of feedback via machine learning, the Bazaarvoice Insights and Reports enables identification of products’ strengths and areas for improvement. Each analysis is supplemented with marketing recommendations to help Électro Dépôt to optimize the performance of its customer ratings and reviews program.

“In our view, Bazaarvoice’s support is key to creating a constructive dialog about products, between ourselves and our own offers, the other brands we market and consumers. This approach is ethical because it contributes directly to the improvement of products and thus to their longer lifespan,” says Laure Pilliaert, Customer Experience and Relationship Manager at Électro Dépôt

Électro Dépôt was thus able to leverage this feedback to improve various products. One example is speakers that couldn’t be used whilst charging. After listening to customer feedback — now they can! Similarly, a mixer with a plastic component that was breaking too easily has been modified into a more robust product.

Électro Dépôt intends to discontinue all products that obtain a customer rating of fewer than three stars — premium quality is a strong commitment of the chain. As soon as a disappointing experience is reported, it can be remedied and more resistant and relevant products can be offered to address the defects. The information is sent to the individual brands, which can also take it into account to improve their range.

Currently in France, 460,000 reviews have been collected for an average rating of 4.1/5.