Dreams sees a 200% lift in conversion from Bazaarvoice Social Commerce

Established in 1985 and headquartered at Bedquarters in High Wycombe, UK, Dreams is the UK’s leading bed specialist. Backed by Tempur Sealy and led by CEO Jonathan Hirst, Dreams sells around 14,000 mattresses, bases, and headboards per week through its network of 208 stores and online.

Putting UGC front and centre

Dreams has been using Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews since 2014 to incorporate customer reviews on all its product pages. User-generated content (UGC) — content created by an individual rather than a brand — has been a vital part of their customer decision-making process and has led to increased trust with Dreams’ customers.

Dreams recognises the importance customers place on reviews, with just 10 reviews increasing the conversion rate by up to 45%. So, its aim was to increase the quantity and quality of the reviews it received. As Dreams’ Head of E-commerce, Octavia Benham, explains, “The overall review ratings are important, but so too is the quantity of reviews that our products receive. We see products with multiple good reviews convert more highly than similar products with fewer reviews.” Customer reviews not only demonstrate the quality of a product but also provide essential social proof. This is especially important when customers are in the research phase of their journey.

The customer journey is changing

Dreams has found its customers are spending more time researching online before even entering one of their stores.

“The more information our customers have before walking into one of our stores, the more likely they are to make a purchase…we have found that product reviews are an essential part of that journey and help reassure them that they are making the right choice” says Benham.

This is all backed up by data. Dreams tracks how much time customers spend looking at reviews, which contributes to a 360% overall increase in time spent on its site.

Increasing the use of visual UGC

In 2021, Dreams wanted to build on its previous success with UGC so it worked with Bazaarvoice to implement Social Commerce. With consumers increasingly making purchases online — 30% now shop online once or more a week — it was important for Dreams to position UGC front and centre on both its website and social channels, which is where its shoppers are

“The Bazaarvoice Galleries and Social Commerce have been a great addition for us. We have many customers buying online, and being able to visualize our bed frames and peripheral ranges like sofa beds and furniture in real customers’ homes is really useful.”

Dreams utilises Bazaarvoice Galleries on its homepage to make high-quality, scroll-stopping images the first thing visitors see when interacting with the website. “We find great interaction with all our product page galleries but especially the main gallery on our homepage.”

Using Bazaarvoice Social Commerce, Dreams also incorporated UGC across all its social channels. Taking a campaign-based approach, Dreams has had huge success with its #mydreamsbed campaign that showcases pictures of real customer homes.

.

Since implementing Bazaarvoice Social Commerce, Dreams has seen a marked difference between customers that interact with UGC and those that don’t. Notably, it’s led to a 200% increase in conversion rate and a 62% increase in average order value.

Informing brand imagery

One surprising benefit from the increased use of customer content is that Dreams now uses customer images to inform its own creative output. Dreams receives so much visual UGC from customers that it can use them to help ensure its own product images are aligned with what customer wants to see.

“We get inspired by customer UGC all the time and use it to help craft our own content. For example, previously our own product images didn’t look very lived in, but we changed that based on the UGC content we were getting.”

What next?

The use of UGC on Dreams’ website and social channels enables it to enter new markets and build deeper relationships with shoppers. Authentic UGC changes how shoppers perceive a brand and allows them to participate with a brand regardless of native language or location.

On top of this, Dreams is looking to expand its use of UGC to other channels and further build customer relationships. Octavia explains: “We’re exploring how we can use social commerce within email campaigns…I think that’s something that could be exciting for us and increase customer loyalty and build our relationships with existing customers.”

If you too want to create shoppable experiences that drive sales with Bazaarvoice Social Commerce, contact our team now.

Request a demo