SEMA News - September 2009

By Linda Spencer

From A Domestic-Only Business to an Experienced Exporter

A great product mixed with great service is the key factor identified by Bob Scheid, vice president of export-savvy flywheel and clutch manufacturer Fidanza Engineering Corp., in the company’s growing overseas sales. The Perry, Ohio-based firm sells to 27 countries around the world and has always been an internationally focused company, growing its international sales alongside its domestic sales since the very start of the firm 12 years ago.

“We were never a solely domestic business,” Scheid said. “We started the company in 1997, and we started exporting in 1997. We knew we must grow the business and keep a wide base geographically and a broad application structure. We understood from the very beginning that, as a small company, we needed to think globally to have the greatest possibility of growth. It is not a separate part of our business plan; it is seen no differently from our need for domestic business.”

Scheid talked about what it takes to develop the right product for a targeted market. In fact, he identified the quick rush to market with off-the-shelf products as one of the biggest missteps taken by firms seeking an international clientele.

“The most common illusion that U.S. companies have is that they will be able to sell what they already have to any market,” he said. “What they need to do is to think about this in reverse. If someone from France came to them and wanted to sell them Opel parts, what kind of market would they have for those in the States. Not very good. The same is true for us U.S. companies trying to sell abroad. Sell to that region what is needed and wanted in that region.”

The key to providing customers what they want is research. “Start by being focused,” Scheid said. “Target specific markets. Do your research to find out what applications that market wants and needs. Don’t rely on what you have. We used everything from Internet searches to magazines from various countries to source leads. If you try to sell Corvette parts to France, you’re not going to be too successful. It takes a complete and well thoughtout plan. It takes doing the research for the market you are targeting.”

With the vast amount of low-cost or free resources, firms don’t have to go it alone to learn about overseas markets.

“Use all of the tools at your disposal,” said Scheid. “SEMA has excellent resources. Go with them on trade missions. Attend the overseas shows with them. Tap those people in SEMA that have the knowledge and the experience to help you get a leg up. They have the experience and knowhow to give a company that has never done business abroad the basic knowledge to get the ball rolling. State and federal programs are also available and can be very helpful with little or no cost.”

Scheid also suggested that firms new to exporting network with other companies that do business overseas. Tap into their experiences, both good and bad. Learn from both their successes and their failures. Besides product research, Scheid advised learning more about how products get to the market by researching the distribution network.

“You may find that if you want to sell to France, most of the distribution goes through Germany,” he explained.

When asked to describe what he would do differently if he was starting over, Scheid said that answer is easy.

“We thought we could do it all from the comfort of our nice cozy offices by sitting behind our desks and using all the technology at our fingertips,” he said. “All of the wonderful new ways to communicate are great and can be useful tools, but it takes travel to get your feet on the ground so that your customers know you and you know them. How can you know how they do business if you never take the time to see them?”

At the end of the day, customers are customers and want to be sure that they will receive quality, in-demand products at good prices in a timely fashion.

“International customers want to know that when that container shows up, it will be filled with products that their customers will be proud to put into their cars or trucks,” Scheid said. “The international customer also needs to know that he will be treated like he is right next door although he is many miles away. It does take a shaking of hands or a breaking of bread together to truly build a bond that results in a long-term customer that is as at ease doing business with you as you are at allowing them to represent your product.”

Scheid counseled firms not to overlook the smaller aspects of customer support that are so important to building brand recognition.

“It takes supporting that customer with ads in the publications that are most read in that country,” he said.

He also noted the importance of building a culture within your own firm so that overseas sales become an important and integral part of the company.

“Make it a culture in your business that you sell abroad,” he explained. “Get your people comfortable and excited about the idea. Give them incentives for opening new international customers. Commit to understanding your customers’ way of doing business. Commit to making international sales a key part of your business plan and not just an experiment.”

To ease into the exporting market, Scheid recommended that U.S. firms first consider targeting English-speaking markets.

“It is always easier to start in countries where this is no language barrier,” he said. “The U.K. and Australia were great first markets to get our feet wet. After you gain some experience, jump in the shallow end and don’t be afraid to creep deeper and deeper until you’re just as comfortable in the deep end as you were before you got into the water.”

Even with Fidanza’s active sales in every continent in the world, Scheid puts his company’s success into perspective with its goals, advising new exporters not to wait for customers to come to them. You will never build dominant market share if you are not aggressively seeking new business.

“What it always makes me think of is not how many countries we sell to now but how many countries are in the world,” he said. “The U.S. recognizes 192 countries. What an opportunity for any company. We sell to 27 countries. That’s only 14%. Yes, we are doing well, but the world is still wide open. Twenty-seven seems like a large number, but 192 is the goal.”

Scheid has started a new firm entitled Performance Management and Consulting LLC.

“This new LLC is here to help companies with any aspect of their business that needs help, from sales to marketing to production,” he said. Scheid and SEMA’s Immediate Past Chairman Jim Cozzie, now president of Certus Strategic Partners, will be leading a seminar at the SEMA Show that will present insider tips on how to grow your overseas business.

For more information contact lindas@sema.org.

SEMA News - September 2009

By Linda Spencer

From A Domestic-Only Business to an Experienced Exporter

A great product mixed with great service is the key factor identified by Bob Scheid, vice president of export-savvy flywheel and clutch manufacturer Fidanza Engineering Corp., in the company’s growing overseas sales. The Perry, Ohio-based firm sells to 27 countries around the world and has always been an internationally focused company, growing its international sales alongside its domestic sales since the very start of the firm 12 years ago.

“We were never a solely domestic business,” Scheid said. “We started the company in 1997, and we started exporting in 1997. We knew we must grow the business and keep a wide base geographically and a broad application structure. We understood from the very beginning that, as a small company, we needed to think globally to have the greatest possibility of growth. It is not a separate part of our business plan; it is seen no differently from our need for domestic business.”

Scheid talked about what it takes to develop the right product for a targeted market. In fact, he identified the quick rush to market with off-the-shelf products as one of the biggest missteps taken by firms seeking an international clientele.

“The most common illusion that U.S. companies have is that they will be able to sell what they already have to any market,” he said. “What they need to do is to think about this in reverse. If someone from France came to them and wanted to sell them Opel parts, what kind of market would they have for those in the States. Not very good. The same is true for us U.S. companies trying to sell abroad. Sell to that region what is needed and wanted in that region.”

The key to providing customers what they want is research. “Start by being focused,” Scheid said. “Target specific markets. Do your research to find out what applications that market wants and needs. Don’t rely on what you have. We used everything from Internet searches to magazines from various countries to source leads. If you try to sell Corvette parts to France, you’re not going to be too successful. It takes a complete and well thoughtout plan. It takes doing the research for the market you are targeting.”

With the vast amount of low-cost or free resources, firms don’t have to go it alone to learn about overseas markets.

“Use all of the tools at your disposal,” said Scheid. “SEMA has excellent resources. Go with them on trade missions. Attend the overseas shows with them. Tap those people in SEMA that have the knowledge and the experience to help you get a leg up. They have the experience and knowhow to give a company that has never done business abroad the basic knowledge to get the ball rolling. State and federal programs are also available and can be very helpful with little or no cost.”

Scheid also suggested that firms new to exporting network with other companies that do business overseas. Tap into their experiences, both good and bad. Learn from both their successes and their failures. Besides product research, Scheid advised learning more about how products get to the market by researching the distribution network.

“You may find that if you want to sell to France, most of the distribution goes through Germany,” he explained.

When asked to describe what he would do differently if he was starting over, Scheid said that answer is easy.

“We thought we could do it all from the comfort of our nice cozy offices by sitting behind our desks and using all the technology at our fingertips,” he said. “All of the wonderful new ways to communicate are great and can be useful tools, but it takes travel to get your feet on the ground so that your customers know you and you know them. How can you know how they do business if you never take the time to see them?”

At the end of the day, customers are customers and want to be sure that they will receive quality, in-demand products at good prices in a timely fashion.

“International customers want to know that when that container shows up, it will be filled with products that their customers will be proud to put into their cars or trucks,” Scheid said. “The international customer also needs to know that he will be treated like he is right next door although he is many miles away. It does take a shaking of hands or a breaking of bread together to truly build a bond that results in a long-term customer that is as at ease doing business with you as you are at allowing them to represent your product.”

Scheid counseled firms not to overlook the smaller aspects of customer support that are so important to building brand recognition.

“It takes supporting that customer with ads in the publications that are most read in that country,” he said.

He also noted the importance of building a culture within your own firm so that overseas sales become an important and integral part of the company.

“Make it a culture in your business that you sell abroad,” he explained. “Get your people comfortable and excited about the idea. Give them incentives for opening new international customers. Commit to understanding your customers’ way of doing business. Commit to making international sales a key part of your business plan and not just an experiment.”

To ease into the exporting market, Scheid recommended that U.S. firms first consider targeting English-speaking markets.

“It is always easier to start in countries where this is no language barrier,” he said. “The U.K. and Australia were great first markets to get our feet wet. After you gain some experience, jump in the shallow end and don’t be afraid to creep deeper and deeper until you’re just as comfortable in the deep end as you were before you got into the water.”

Even with Fidanza’s active sales in every continent in the world, Scheid puts his company’s success into perspective with its goals, advising new exporters not to wait for customers to come to them. You will never build dominant market share if you are not aggressively seeking new business.

“What it always makes me think of is not how many countries we sell to now but how many countries are in the world,” he said. “The U.S. recognizes 192 countries. What an opportunity for any company. We sell to 27 countries. That’s only 14%. Yes, we are doing well, but the world is still wide open. Twenty-seven seems like a large number, but 192 is the goal.”

Scheid has started a new firm entitled Performance Management and Consulting LLC.

“This new LLC is here to help companies with any aspect of their business that needs help, from sales to marketing to production,” he said. Scheid and SEMA’s Immediate Past Chairman Jim Cozzie, now president of Certus Strategic Partners, will be leading a seminar at the SEMA Show that will present insider tips on how to grow your overseas business.

For more information contact lindas@sema.org.

SEMA News - September 2009

By Linda Spencer

From A Domestic-Only Business to an Experienced Exporter

A great product mixed with great service is the key factor identified by Bob Scheid, vice president of export-savvy flywheel and clutch manufacturer Fidanza Engineering Corp., in the company’s growing overseas sales. The Perry, Ohio-based firm sells to 27 countries around the world and has always been an internationally focused company, growing its international sales alongside its domestic sales since the very start of the firm 12 years ago.

“We were never a solely domestic business,” Scheid said. “We started the company in 1997, and we started exporting in 1997. We knew we must grow the business and keep a wide base geographically and a broad application structure. We understood from the very beginning that, as a small company, we needed to think globally to have the greatest possibility of growth. It is not a separate part of our business plan; it is seen no differently from our need for domestic business.”

Scheid talked about what it takes to develop the right product for a targeted market. In fact, he identified the quick rush to market with off-the-shelf products as one of the biggest missteps taken by firms seeking an international clientele.

“The most common illusion that U.S. companies have is that they will be able to sell what they already have to any market,” he said. “What they need to do is to think about this in reverse. If someone from France came to them and wanted to sell them Opel parts, what kind of market would they have for those in the States. Not very good. The same is true for us U.S. companies trying to sell abroad. Sell to that region what is needed and wanted in that region.”

The key to providing customers what they want is research. “Start by being focused,” Scheid said. “Target specific markets. Do your research to find out what applications that market wants and needs. Don’t rely on what you have. We used everything from Internet searches to magazines from various countries to source leads. If you try to sell Corvette parts to France, you’re not going to be too successful. It takes a complete and well thoughtout plan. It takes doing the research for the market you are targeting.”

With the vast amount of low-cost or free resources, firms don’t have to go it alone to learn about overseas markets.

“Use all of the tools at your disposal,” said Scheid. “SEMA has excellent resources. Go with them on trade missions. Attend the overseas shows with them. Tap those people in SEMA that have the knowledge and the experience to help you get a leg up. They have the experience and knowhow to give a company that has never done business abroad the basic knowledge to get the ball rolling. State and federal programs are also available and can be very helpful with little or no cost.”

Scheid also suggested that firms new to exporting network with other companies that do business overseas. Tap into their experiences, both good and bad. Learn from both their successes and their failures. Besides product research, Scheid advised learning more about how products get to the market by researching the distribution network.

“You may find that if you want to sell to France, most of the distribution goes through Germany,” he explained.

When asked to describe what he would do differently if he was starting over, Scheid said that answer is easy.

“We thought we could do it all from the comfort of our nice cozy offices by sitting behind our desks and using all the technology at our fingertips,” he said. “All of the wonderful new ways to communicate are great and can be useful tools, but it takes travel to get your feet on the ground so that your customers know you and you know them. How can you know how they do business if you never take the time to see them?”

At the end of the day, customers are customers and want to be sure that they will receive quality, in-demand products at good prices in a timely fashion.

“International customers want to know that when that container shows up, it will be filled with products that their customers will be proud to put into their cars or trucks,” Scheid said. “The international customer also needs to know that he will be treated like he is right next door although he is many miles away. It does take a shaking of hands or a breaking of bread together to truly build a bond that results in a long-term customer that is as at ease doing business with you as you are at allowing them to represent your product.”

Scheid counseled firms not to overlook the smaller aspects of customer support that are so important to building brand recognition.

“It takes supporting that customer with ads in the publications that are most read in that country,” he said.

He also noted the importance of building a culture within your own firm so that overseas sales become an important and integral part of the company.

“Make it a culture in your business that you sell abroad,” he explained. “Get your people comfortable and excited about the idea. Give them incentives for opening new international customers. Commit to understanding your customers’ way of doing business. Commit to making international sales a key part of your business plan and not just an experiment.”

To ease into the exporting market, Scheid recommended that U.S. firms first consider targeting English-speaking markets.

“It is always easier to start in countries where this is no language barrier,” he said. “The U.K. and Australia were great first markets to get our feet wet. After you gain some experience, jump in the shallow end and don’t be afraid to creep deeper and deeper until you’re just as comfortable in the deep end as you were before you got into the water.”

Even with Fidanza’s active sales in every continent in the world, Scheid puts his company’s success into perspective with its goals, advising new exporters not to wait for customers to come to them. You will never build dominant market share if you are not aggressively seeking new business.

“What it always makes me think of is not how many countries we sell to now but how many countries are in the world,” he said. “The U.S. recognizes 192 countries. What an opportunity for any company. We sell to 27 countries. That’s only 14%. Yes, we are doing well, but the world is still wide open. Twenty-seven seems like a large number, but 192 is the goal.”

Scheid has started a new firm entitled Performance Management and Consulting LLC.

“This new LLC is here to help companies with any aspect of their business that needs help, from sales to marketing to production,” he said. Scheid and SEMA’s Immediate Past Chairman Jim Cozzie, now president of Certus Strategic Partners, will be leading a seminar at the SEMA Show that will present insider tips on how to grow your overseas business.

For more information contact lindas@sema.org.

SEMA News - September 2009

By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy the Source Interlink Archives

Andy may have gotten most of the media attention, what with his STP Indy race teams and commercials for Tune-Up Masters, but he wasn’t the only fast member of the Granatelli clan. His older brother, Joe, was a talented wrench in his own right. So, for that matter, was youngest brother Vince. The three bought Paxton Products in 1958, and Joe served as president of the company until just weeks before he died in 2003. Like Andy, Joe had a long association with Indianapolis, serving as the chief mechanic on the Paxton Products Novi Indy cars. He also worked with Vince in building the “Whoosh-Mobile” turbine car that Parnelli Jones drove to near victory at the 500 in 1967. Joe made his mark at Bonneville as well. This photo, which appeared in Hot Rod magazine in 1961, shows him working on a Chrysler 300-F fitted with twin Paxton-McCulloch centrifugal superchargers. The Paxton car set a two-way average of 184.049 mph at that year’s speed trials—fast enough to earn the Paxton team a class record.

SEMA News - September 2009

By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy the Source Interlink Archives

Andy may have gotten most of the media attention, what with his STP Indy race teams and commercials for Tune-Up Masters, but he wasn’t the only fast member of the Granatelli clan. His older brother, Joe, was a talented wrench in his own right. So, for that matter, was youngest brother Vince. The three bought Paxton Products in 1958, and Joe served as president of the company until just weeks before he died in 2003. Like Andy, Joe had a long association with Indianapolis, serving as the chief mechanic on the Paxton Products Novi Indy cars. He also worked with Vince in building the “Whoosh-Mobile” turbine car that Parnelli Jones drove to near victory at the 500 in 1967. Joe made his mark at Bonneville as well. This photo, which appeared in Hot Rod magazine in 1961, shows him working on a Chrysler 300-F fitted with twin Paxton-McCulloch centrifugal superchargers. The Paxton car set a two-way average of 184.049 mph at that year’s speed trials—fast enough to earn the Paxton team a class record.

SEMA News - September 2009
 

By Joe Dysart

Turning Opinion Into Gold

Forrester has been closely tracking the rise of online customer review domains.

And others are playing catch-up by creating instant review domains from syndicated customer review services. More often than not, these tricked-up domains are expertly designed to aggressively woo would-be reviewers, slice, dice and sort reviews for shoppers well acquainted with the medium and, in some cases, portray prolific reviewers as mini-celebrities.

“We expect online reviews to get more sophisticated in the coming years, giving rise to new features like social navigation, review syndication, personalized reviews and review-based quality metrics,” said Megan Burns, lead author of Forrester’s January 2008 “The Design Guide for Online Customer Reviews."

Popular for the past few years, online review domains really began turning heads last year with the release of reports like that of Opinion Research in June 2008, which found that 83% of all online consumers confirmed that online evaluations and reviews influence their buying decisions. The company also found that 32% of the same sample group said that they had personally posted a product or service review online.

Not surprisingly, other studies have sparked similar respect. Fifty-five percent of retailers who sport customer reviews online rate the tactic as very effective, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, co-author of the December 2008 Forrester report, “Myths and Truths About Online Customer Reviews." And 73% of retailers say that customer review domains will be an “investment priority” for them during 2009.

“Netshops, an online specialty retailer of home and lifestyle products, reported an increase in sales of 26% due to the addition of customer reviews,” Burns said. “Petco found that products that had been reviewed by customers had a return rate that was 20.4% lower than the return rate for products that hadn’t been reviewed. And, in a current study by ForeSee Results, customer satisfaction was 11% higher among visitors who said they had seen customer reviews on a site.”

For retailers looking to compete in the rush for online review gold, the path is clear: Upgrade or perish. Those preferring the former may want to take a gander at the following best-of-breed primer, based on insights from top customer review marketing experts:

PowerReviews offers an Express version, designed for small businesses, which runs $80 per month.

Aggressively Pursue Reviewers: It’s not enough to simply offer a link from a product page to a reviews domain anymore, Mulpuru said. “Tactics like adding a link to write a customer review in the order confirmation e-mail are the new standard.”

Offer Reviewer Guidance: You’ll accumulate more reviews more quickly by giving customers a better idea of what you’re looking for. eOpinions suggested answering questions such as “Why did you buy this product?” and “What do you hate?” Requesting that reviewers employ proper grammar, spelling and punctuation also helps. And review length guidelines—Amazon.com asks for 75-300 words—can also work wonders.

Post Details About Reviewers: Reviews pack more punch if customers know who’s doing the opining. Some sites, for example, require all reviewers to be “verified owners” of a product. And others request that their resident sages rate their expertise level. “Staples.com asks people who are reviewing a laptop to describe themselves and gives them the option to choose one of four predefined labels: ‘Technically challenged,’ ‘Tech-Savvy,’ ‘Avid Gamer’ or ‘Multimedia Professional,’” Burns said. “If those options don’t resonate, users can enter their own labels.”

Post Numerous Reviews For Each Product: Generally speaking, the more product reviews you run for an item, the more sales you’ll realize, according to the “Netshops Case Study” conducted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “More reviews deliver a broader perspective, balance out anomalies and increase the likelihood that shoppers will find a review from someone like them,” Burns said.

Make Reviews Sortable, Filterable And Searchable: Online shoppers greatly appreciate the ability to sort through reviews based on a product’s overall rating, pros and cons, best uses and similar variables, Burns said. Essentially, making review data malleable allows your customer to quickly sort through multiple reviews with questions such as “Why did you like this?” or “What’s tops in this product category?”

Summarize Reviews: Sophisticated review sites such as Amazon.com initially offer busy consumers a representative sampling of reviews. Amazon also enables shoppers to quickly read a few sentences from the best and worst reviews and check out a product’s overall star rating.

Consider Syndicated Reviews: Well-moneyed retailers can create instant review domains by subscribing to syndicated review services such as BazaarVoice’s Syndicate Voice. Essentially, the service instantly populates a retailer’s site with reviews gleaned from other online stores and manufacturers that have agreed to participate in the program.

Consider Sharing Reviews With Shopping Portals: PowerReviews aggregates reviews from participating retailers on its mega-shopping review site, Buzzillions. Of course, not all retailers like the idea of sharing content generated on their own site with portals. But PowerReviews gives its participating retailers an incentive: a link back from its Buzzillions site to the store site originating each review.

See Negative Reviews as a Customer-Relations Opportunity: Besides helping you separate the dogs from your winning products, negative customer reviews can help you showcase your superior customer service. Many retailers actively respond to negative reviews in their forums and publicize their attempts to make things right—earning approving nods from every corner, according to Mulpuru.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan, New York.
Voice: 646/233-4089
E-mail: joe@joedysart.com
Website: www.joedysart.com

SEMA News - September 2009
 

By Joe Dysart

Turning Opinion Into Gold

Forrester has been closely tracking the rise of online customer review domains.

And others are playing catch-up by creating instant review domains from syndicated customer review services. More often than not, these tricked-up domains are expertly designed to aggressively woo would-be reviewers, slice, dice and sort reviews for shoppers well acquainted with the medium and, in some cases, portray prolific reviewers as mini-celebrities.

“We expect online reviews to get more sophisticated in the coming years, giving rise to new features like social navigation, review syndication, personalized reviews and review-based quality metrics,” said Megan Burns, lead author of Forrester’s January 2008 “The Design Guide for Online Customer Reviews."

Popular for the past few years, online review domains really began turning heads last year with the release of reports like that of Opinion Research in June 2008, which found that 83% of all online consumers confirmed that online evaluations and reviews influence their buying decisions. The company also found that 32% of the same sample group said that they had personally posted a product or service review online.

Not surprisingly, other studies have sparked similar respect. Fifty-five percent of retailers who sport customer reviews online rate the tactic as very effective, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, co-author of the December 2008 Forrester report, “Myths and Truths About Online Customer Reviews." And 73% of retailers say that customer review domains will be an “investment priority” for them during 2009.

“Netshops, an online specialty retailer of home and lifestyle products, reported an increase in sales of 26% due to the addition of customer reviews,” Burns said. “Petco found that products that had been reviewed by customers had a return rate that was 20.4% lower than the return rate for products that hadn’t been reviewed. And, in a current study by ForeSee Results, customer satisfaction was 11% higher among visitors who said they had seen customer reviews on a site.”

For retailers looking to compete in the rush for online review gold, the path is clear: Upgrade or perish. Those preferring the former may want to take a gander at the following best-of-breed primer, based on insights from top customer review marketing experts:

PowerReviews offers an Express version, designed for small businesses, which runs $80 per month.

Aggressively Pursue Reviewers: It’s not enough to simply offer a link from a product page to a reviews domain anymore, Mulpuru said. “Tactics like adding a link to write a customer review in the order confirmation e-mail are the new standard.”

Offer Reviewer Guidance: You’ll accumulate more reviews more quickly by giving customers a better idea of what you’re looking for. eOpinions suggested answering questions such as “Why did you buy this product?” and “What do you hate?” Requesting that reviewers employ proper grammar, spelling and punctuation also helps. And review length guidelines—Amazon.com asks for 75-300 words—can also work wonders.

Post Details About Reviewers: Reviews pack more punch if customers know who’s doing the opining. Some sites, for example, require all reviewers to be “verified owners” of a product. And others request that their resident sages rate their expertise level. “Staples.com asks people who are reviewing a laptop to describe themselves and gives them the option to choose one of four predefined labels: ‘Technically challenged,’ ‘Tech-Savvy,’ ‘Avid Gamer’ or ‘Multimedia Professional,’” Burns said. “If those options don’t resonate, users can enter their own labels.”

Post Numerous Reviews For Each Product: Generally speaking, the more product reviews you run for an item, the more sales you’ll realize, according to the “Netshops Case Study” conducted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “More reviews deliver a broader perspective, balance out anomalies and increase the likelihood that shoppers will find a review from someone like them,” Burns said.

Make Reviews Sortable, Filterable And Searchable: Online shoppers greatly appreciate the ability to sort through reviews based on a product’s overall rating, pros and cons, best uses and similar variables, Burns said. Essentially, making review data malleable allows your customer to quickly sort through multiple reviews with questions such as “Why did you like this?” or “What’s tops in this product category?”

Summarize Reviews: Sophisticated review sites such as Amazon.com initially offer busy consumers a representative sampling of reviews. Amazon also enables shoppers to quickly read a few sentences from the best and worst reviews and check out a product’s overall star rating.

Consider Syndicated Reviews: Well-moneyed retailers can create instant review domains by subscribing to syndicated review services such as BazaarVoice’s Syndicate Voice. Essentially, the service instantly populates a retailer’s site with reviews gleaned from other online stores and manufacturers that have agreed to participate in the program.

Consider Sharing Reviews With Shopping Portals: PowerReviews aggregates reviews from participating retailers on its mega-shopping review site, Buzzillions. Of course, not all retailers like the idea of sharing content generated on their own site with portals. But PowerReviews gives its participating retailers an incentive: a link back from its Buzzillions site to the store site originating each review.

See Negative Reviews as a Customer-Relations Opportunity: Besides helping you separate the dogs from your winning products, negative customer reviews can help you showcase your superior customer service. Many retailers actively respond to negative reviews in their forums and publicize their attempts to make things right—earning approving nods from every corner, according to Mulpuru.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan, New York.
Voice: 646/233-4089
E-mail: joe@joedysart.com
Website: www.joedysart.com

SEMA News - September 2009
 

By Joe Dysart

Turning Opinion Into Gold

Forrester has been closely tracking the rise of online customer review domains.

And others are playing catch-up by creating instant review domains from syndicated customer review services. More often than not, these tricked-up domains are expertly designed to aggressively woo would-be reviewers, slice, dice and sort reviews for shoppers well acquainted with the medium and, in some cases, portray prolific reviewers as mini-celebrities.

“We expect online reviews to get more sophisticated in the coming years, giving rise to new features like social navigation, review syndication, personalized reviews and review-based quality metrics,” said Megan Burns, lead author of Forrester’s January 2008 “The Design Guide for Online Customer Reviews."

Popular for the past few years, online review domains really began turning heads last year with the release of reports like that of Opinion Research in June 2008, which found that 83% of all online consumers confirmed that online evaluations and reviews influence their buying decisions. The company also found that 32% of the same sample group said that they had personally posted a product or service review online.

Not surprisingly, other studies have sparked similar respect. Fifty-five percent of retailers who sport customer reviews online rate the tactic as very effective, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, co-author of the December 2008 Forrester report, “Myths and Truths About Online Customer Reviews." And 73% of retailers say that customer review domains will be an “investment priority” for them during 2009.

“Netshops, an online specialty retailer of home and lifestyle products, reported an increase in sales of 26% due to the addition of customer reviews,” Burns said. “Petco found that products that had been reviewed by customers had a return rate that was 20.4% lower than the return rate for products that hadn’t been reviewed. And, in a current study by ForeSee Results, customer satisfaction was 11% higher among visitors who said they had seen customer reviews on a site.”

For retailers looking to compete in the rush for online review gold, the path is clear: Upgrade or perish. Those preferring the former may want to take a gander at the following best-of-breed primer, based on insights from top customer review marketing experts:

PowerReviews offers an Express version, designed for small businesses, which runs $80 per month.

Aggressively Pursue Reviewers: It’s not enough to simply offer a link from a product page to a reviews domain anymore, Mulpuru said. “Tactics like adding a link to write a customer review in the order confirmation e-mail are the new standard.”

Offer Reviewer Guidance: You’ll accumulate more reviews more quickly by giving customers a better idea of what you’re looking for. eOpinions suggested answering questions such as “Why did you buy this product?” and “What do you hate?” Requesting that reviewers employ proper grammar, spelling and punctuation also helps. And review length guidelines—Amazon.com asks for 75-300 words—can also work wonders.

Post Details About Reviewers: Reviews pack more punch if customers know who’s doing the opining. Some sites, for example, require all reviewers to be “verified owners” of a product. And others request that their resident sages rate their expertise level. “Staples.com asks people who are reviewing a laptop to describe themselves and gives them the option to choose one of four predefined labels: ‘Technically challenged,’ ‘Tech-Savvy,’ ‘Avid Gamer’ or ‘Multimedia Professional,’” Burns said. “If those options don’t resonate, users can enter their own labels.”

Post Numerous Reviews For Each Product: Generally speaking, the more product reviews you run for an item, the more sales you’ll realize, according to the “Netshops Case Study” conducted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “More reviews deliver a broader perspective, balance out anomalies and increase the likelihood that shoppers will find a review from someone like them,” Burns said.

Make Reviews Sortable, Filterable And Searchable: Online shoppers greatly appreciate the ability to sort through reviews based on a product’s overall rating, pros and cons, best uses and similar variables, Burns said. Essentially, making review data malleable allows your customer to quickly sort through multiple reviews with questions such as “Why did you like this?” or “What’s tops in this product category?”

Summarize Reviews: Sophisticated review sites such as Amazon.com initially offer busy consumers a representative sampling of reviews. Amazon also enables shoppers to quickly read a few sentences from the best and worst reviews and check out a product’s overall star rating.

Consider Syndicated Reviews: Well-moneyed retailers can create instant review domains by subscribing to syndicated review services such as BazaarVoice’s Syndicate Voice. Essentially, the service instantly populates a retailer’s site with reviews gleaned from other online stores and manufacturers that have agreed to participate in the program.

Consider Sharing Reviews With Shopping Portals: PowerReviews aggregates reviews from participating retailers on its mega-shopping review site, Buzzillions. Of course, not all retailers like the idea of sharing content generated on their own site with portals. But PowerReviews gives its participating retailers an incentive: a link back from its Buzzillions site to the store site originating each review.

See Negative Reviews as a Customer-Relations Opportunity: Besides helping you separate the dogs from your winning products, negative customer reviews can help you showcase your superior customer service. Many retailers actively respond to negative reviews in their forums and publicize their attempts to make things right—earning approving nods from every corner, according to Mulpuru.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan, New York.
Voice: 646/233-4089
E-mail: joe@joedysart.com
Website: www.joedysart.com

SEMA News - September 2009
 

By Joe Dysart

Turning Opinion Into Gold

Forrester has been closely tracking the rise of online customer review domains.

And others are playing catch-up by creating instant review domains from syndicated customer review services. More often than not, these tricked-up domains are expertly designed to aggressively woo would-be reviewers, slice, dice and sort reviews for shoppers well acquainted with the medium and, in some cases, portray prolific reviewers as mini-celebrities.

“We expect online reviews to get more sophisticated in the coming years, giving rise to new features like social navigation, review syndication, personalized reviews and review-based quality metrics,” said Megan Burns, lead author of Forrester’s January 2008 “The Design Guide for Online Customer Reviews."

Popular for the past few years, online review domains really began turning heads last year with the release of reports like that of Opinion Research in June 2008, which found that 83% of all online consumers confirmed that online evaluations and reviews influence their buying decisions. The company also found that 32% of the same sample group said that they had personally posted a product or service review online.

Not surprisingly, other studies have sparked similar respect. Fifty-five percent of retailers who sport customer reviews online rate the tactic as very effective, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, co-author of the December 2008 Forrester report, “Myths and Truths About Online Customer Reviews." And 73% of retailers say that customer review domains will be an “investment priority” for them during 2009.

“Netshops, an online specialty retailer of home and lifestyle products, reported an increase in sales of 26% due to the addition of customer reviews,” Burns said. “Petco found that products that had been reviewed by customers had a return rate that was 20.4% lower than the return rate for products that hadn’t been reviewed. And, in a current study by ForeSee Results, customer satisfaction was 11% higher among visitors who said they had seen customer reviews on a site.”

For retailers looking to compete in the rush for online review gold, the path is clear: Upgrade or perish. Those preferring the former may want to take a gander at the following best-of-breed primer, based on insights from top customer review marketing experts:

PowerReviews offers an Express version, designed for small businesses, which runs $80 per month.

Aggressively Pursue Reviewers: It’s not enough to simply offer a link from a product page to a reviews domain anymore, Mulpuru said. “Tactics like adding a link to write a customer review in the order confirmation e-mail are the new standard.”

Offer Reviewer Guidance: You’ll accumulate more reviews more quickly by giving customers a better idea of what you’re looking for. eOpinions suggested answering questions such as “Why did you buy this product?” and “What do you hate?” Requesting that reviewers employ proper grammar, spelling and punctuation also helps. And review length guidelines—Amazon.com asks for 75-300 words—can also work wonders.

Post Details About Reviewers: Reviews pack more punch if customers know who’s doing the opining. Some sites, for example, require all reviewers to be “verified owners” of a product. And others request that their resident sages rate their expertise level. “Staples.com asks people who are reviewing a laptop to describe themselves and gives them the option to choose one of four predefined labels: ‘Technically challenged,’ ‘Tech-Savvy,’ ‘Avid Gamer’ or ‘Multimedia Professional,’” Burns said. “If those options don’t resonate, users can enter their own labels.”

Post Numerous Reviews For Each Product: Generally speaking, the more product reviews you run for an item, the more sales you’ll realize, according to the “Netshops Case Study” conducted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “More reviews deliver a broader perspective, balance out anomalies and increase the likelihood that shoppers will find a review from someone like them,” Burns said.

Make Reviews Sortable, Filterable And Searchable: Online shoppers greatly appreciate the ability to sort through reviews based on a product’s overall rating, pros and cons, best uses and similar variables, Burns said. Essentially, making review data malleable allows your customer to quickly sort through multiple reviews with questions such as “Why did you like this?” or “What’s tops in this product category?”

Summarize Reviews: Sophisticated review sites such as Amazon.com initially offer busy consumers a representative sampling of reviews. Amazon also enables shoppers to quickly read a few sentences from the best and worst reviews and check out a product’s overall star rating.

Consider Syndicated Reviews: Well-moneyed retailers can create instant review domains by subscribing to syndicated review services such as BazaarVoice’s Syndicate Voice. Essentially, the service instantly populates a retailer’s site with reviews gleaned from other online stores and manufacturers that have agreed to participate in the program.

Consider Sharing Reviews With Shopping Portals: PowerReviews aggregates reviews from participating retailers on its mega-shopping review site, Buzzillions. Of course, not all retailers like the idea of sharing content generated on their own site with portals. But PowerReviews gives its participating retailers an incentive: a link back from its Buzzillions site to the store site originating each review.

See Negative Reviews as a Customer-Relations Opportunity: Besides helping you separate the dogs from your winning products, negative customer reviews can help you showcase your superior customer service. Many retailers actively respond to negative reviews in their forums and publicize their attempts to make things right—earning approving nods from every corner, according to Mulpuru.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan, New York.
Voice: 646/233-4089
E-mail: joe@joedysart.com
Website: www.joedysart.com

SEMA News - September 2009
 

By Joe Dysart

Turning Opinion Into Gold

Forrester has been closely tracking the rise of online customer review domains.

And others are playing catch-up by creating instant review domains from syndicated customer review services. More often than not, these tricked-up domains are expertly designed to aggressively woo would-be reviewers, slice, dice and sort reviews for shoppers well acquainted with the medium and, in some cases, portray prolific reviewers as mini-celebrities.

“We expect online reviews to get more sophisticated in the coming years, giving rise to new features like social navigation, review syndication, personalized reviews and review-based quality metrics,” said Megan Burns, lead author of Forrester’s January 2008 “The Design Guide for Online Customer Reviews."

Popular for the past few years, online review domains really began turning heads last year with the release of reports like that of Opinion Research in June 2008, which found that 83% of all online consumers confirmed that online evaluations and reviews influence their buying decisions. The company also found that 32% of the same sample group said that they had personally posted a product or service review online.

Not surprisingly, other studies have sparked similar respect. Fifty-five percent of retailers who sport customer reviews online rate the tactic as very effective, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, co-author of the December 2008 Forrester report, “Myths and Truths About Online Customer Reviews." And 73% of retailers say that customer review domains will be an “investment priority” for them during 2009.

“Netshops, an online specialty retailer of home and lifestyle products, reported an increase in sales of 26% due to the addition of customer reviews,” Burns said. “Petco found that products that had been reviewed by customers had a return rate that was 20.4% lower than the return rate for products that hadn’t been reviewed. And, in a current study by ForeSee Results, customer satisfaction was 11% higher among visitors who said they had seen customer reviews on a site.”

For retailers looking to compete in the rush for online review gold, the path is clear: Upgrade or perish. Those preferring the former may want to take a gander at the following best-of-breed primer, based on insights from top customer review marketing experts:

PowerReviews offers an Express version, designed for small businesses, which runs $80 per month.

Aggressively Pursue Reviewers: It’s not enough to simply offer a link from a product page to a reviews domain anymore, Mulpuru said. “Tactics like adding a link to write a customer review in the order confirmation e-mail are the new standard.”

Offer Reviewer Guidance: You’ll accumulate more reviews more quickly by giving customers a better idea of what you’re looking for. eOpinions suggested answering questions such as “Why did you buy this product?” and “What do you hate?” Requesting that reviewers employ proper grammar, spelling and punctuation also helps. And review length guidelines—Amazon.com asks for 75-300 words—can also work wonders.

Post Details About Reviewers: Reviews pack more punch if customers know who’s doing the opining. Some sites, for example, require all reviewers to be “verified owners” of a product. And others request that their resident sages rate their expertise level. “Staples.com asks people who are reviewing a laptop to describe themselves and gives them the option to choose one of four predefined labels: ‘Technically challenged,’ ‘Tech-Savvy,’ ‘Avid Gamer’ or ‘Multimedia Professional,’” Burns said. “If those options don’t resonate, users can enter their own labels.”

Post Numerous Reviews For Each Product: Generally speaking, the more product reviews you run for an item, the more sales you’ll realize, according to the “Netshops Case Study” conducted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “More reviews deliver a broader perspective, balance out anomalies and increase the likelihood that shoppers will find a review from someone like them,” Burns said.

Make Reviews Sortable, Filterable And Searchable: Online shoppers greatly appreciate the ability to sort through reviews based on a product’s overall rating, pros and cons, best uses and similar variables, Burns said. Essentially, making review data malleable allows your customer to quickly sort through multiple reviews with questions such as “Why did you like this?” or “What’s tops in this product category?”

Summarize Reviews: Sophisticated review sites such as Amazon.com initially offer busy consumers a representative sampling of reviews. Amazon also enables shoppers to quickly read a few sentences from the best and worst reviews and check out a product’s overall star rating.

Consider Syndicated Reviews: Well-moneyed retailers can create instant review domains by subscribing to syndicated review services such as BazaarVoice’s Syndicate Voice. Essentially, the service instantly populates a retailer’s site with reviews gleaned from other online stores and manufacturers that have agreed to participate in the program.

Consider Sharing Reviews With Shopping Portals: PowerReviews aggregates reviews from participating retailers on its mega-shopping review site, Buzzillions. Of course, not all retailers like the idea of sharing content generated on their own site with portals. But PowerReviews gives its participating retailers an incentive: a link back from its Buzzillions site to the store site originating each review.

See Negative Reviews as a Customer-Relations Opportunity: Besides helping you separate the dogs from your winning products, negative customer reviews can help you showcase your superior customer service. Many retailers actively respond to negative reviews in their forums and publicize their attempts to make things right—earning approving nods from every corner, according to Mulpuru.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan, New York.
Voice: 646/233-4089
E-mail: joe@joedysart.com
Website: www.joedysart.com