Shoppers Share Stories, Online Marketing Tools

from http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/advertising/article.php/3762821

This week in e-commerce news, Bazaarvoice offers a way for shoppers to share their stories by posting them at your Web store, Wigix makes it easier for community members to make money without selling at the site, Miva Merchant bolsters compliance with payment card industry laws and RatePoint updates features of its e-mail marketing service.

 

Tell Me a Story

Bazaarvoice just announced the launch of Bazaarvoice Stories, a new product that lets e-tailers create an online destination within their own site where customers and visitors share their real-life experiences related to a product, service, or brand, including how and why they purchased and what happened next. As a result, says the company, merchants can increase brand involvement and interaction. Additionally, they can attract new visitors with the user-generated content, which will appeal to them on an emotional level, according to the company. Key benefits of Bazaarvoice Stories outlined in a company statement include:

• Fast Implementation: Companies can be live on Bazaarvoice Stories within 30 days. The hosted implementation and full API suite provide a range of high-impact functionality including: photo and video upload, client-specific user tags, user attribute questions for segmenting, and reader helpfulness voting to identify and promote the best stories. 
• Customizable Deployment: Built on the Bazaarvoice Social Commerce Platform, Bazaarvoice Stories is a fully customizable solution that integrates seamlessly within an existing Web site. Styling and input options are based on site design and preference and can be easily restyled for holiday or themed promotions. 
• Shout It!: With a single click, contributors and visitors can easily share stories through their favorite social network or bookmarking site, such as Digg, del.i.cious, or Facebook. 
• Search-Optimized Landing Pages: Search-optimized landing pages allow companies to fully leverage the keyword-rich UGC to increase natural search rankings and maximize traffic generation. 
• Two-Tier Content Moderation: All content is human-moderated for appropriateness and relevancy, plus tagged for rich analytics. 
• Client Support: Bazaarvoice Stories clients receive personalized account support, as well as promotional techniques and best practices to maximize the return on their investment. 
• Advanced Analytics: Sophisticated tools help mine and analyze all content so e-tailers can devise appropriate marketing and management strategies. 
• Partner Integrations: The Bazaarvoice Radius partner program helps integration through APIs and feeds to e-mail, search and navigation personalization partners.

 

“Forrester Research recently predicted that engaging website visitors — not just informing them — is the next critical metric for marketers,” Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice, said in a statement. “We are very excited to introduce Stories, to help brands achieve this goal by getting to the heart of their brand and product experiences. With Stories, companies can now organically broadcast their brand through authentic content in which contributors have an ownership stake.”

 John McCullough, director of marketing at James Avery, a 54-year-old jeweler that recently created a Bazaarvoice Stories microsite, says he’s a fan of the new marketing plan. “For years, many of our customers have shared with us that James Avery designs have marked special occasions and events in their lives,” he said in a statement. “Bazaarvoice Stories allow us to present a collection of these inspiring narratives organized by the special events in our customers’ lives… these stories are quite powerful and moving. It gets to the core values of our brand and helps create a community of loyal James Avery clients whose enthusiasm and passion is obvious while providing us the opportunity to also connect with new visitors an emotional level.”

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~ by charlottesvillemedia on August 5, 2008.