Traditional VoC programs help brands measure their audience through surveys, interviews and focus groups. Today, it also includes measurement of social media and product reviews.
The product reviews segment of VoC is what we like to call “the true Voice of the Buyer”. While surveys and interviews are conducted with buyers, they are subject to bias, have low consumer trust and reach, and poor perceived authenticity. Focus groups suffer from being swayed by the strongest opinions in the room and are a low sample set. Social Media is such a big sample set that it is filled with noise and it is difficult to get to authentic consumer feedback on a product.
The main reason product reviews represent the true Voice of the Buyer is that they are not solicited in the same way other forms of feedback are.
This table will help us explain.
As you can see, product reviews have the highest efficacy score in terms of authenticity and trust.
5 Reasons Product Reviews are the Most Powerful Piece of the Voice of the Consumer
What do we mean by the true Voice of the Buyer (VoB) and why is it the most powerful piece of the Voice of the Customer (VoC) pie?
1. They affect sales.
The Voice of the Buyer is often a powerful sales influencer because it has a high trust rating (82%) and a massive reach. 90% of shoppers say they use product reviews.
2. They’re authentic.
The Voice of the Buyer is authentic in that the buyer is writing a review on the performance of the product according to his or her personal experience.
3. They’re unsolicited.
The Voice of the Buyer is unsolicited because it is written by the Buyer and published freely through an ecommerce site.
4. They’re not disruptive.
The Voice of the Buyer is not disruptive. Rather than being served up an ad or social media post while browsing, prospects who are interested in a product or category search for reviews to read on their terms.
5. They’re a watermark for other metrics.
Due to their popularity, product reviews deliver a large dataset. This is important in today’s day and age. Brands can use product review data to corroborate other forms of VoC reporting, like surveys, focus groups and interviews.
Channel Signal helps brands collect and uniquely understand the Voice of their Buyer through product reviews. We can aggregate your reviews from anywhere — Amazon, Target, Walmart, Best Buy and more — into one analytics platform. Sign up for a demo to learn more.
