Main News Desk

Bazaarvoice and CMO Club Survey: CMOs Look For Higher Social Media Measurability in 2010

CMOs plan to invest more in social media and expect these activities to have a direct impact on global revenues

UK - December 11, 2009

Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today previewed the results of a new survey conducted with The CMO Club that illuminates the biggest challenges, plans, and expectations for social marketing around the globe in 2010. The majority of respondents – 81% – expect to link up to 10% of their annual revenues to their social media investment in 2010, up from just 44% in 2009. The full study will be unveiled alongside social media best practices during Bazaarvoice’s 17 December webcast featuring CMOs from Bearcom, WeddingWire, and e.l.f. Cosmetics, as well as Bazaarvoice CMO Sam Decker. To reserve your spot for the webcast, please click here.

CMO Perspectives and Predictions for 2010

The social media measurability survey, completed by members of The CMO Club with global P&L responsibility, finds that social media measurement will become universal in 2010 as CMOs continue to invest more in social media and focus their social initiatives on driving revenue. In parallel, social marketing metrics that focus solely on web goals (traffic, page views, fans) will begin to be supplanted by metrics like conversion, revenue, and average order value that track to the bottom line. In this context, the study provides essential insights and benchmarks for prioritising the quality of social interactions and gauging social media’s direct impact on business metrics.

Key findings include:

The exact impact of social tools on business goals remains elusive: 53% of respondents are unsure about their return on Twitter; 50% are unsure about the direct value of LinkedIn; and 50% are not sure how to measure the impact of industry blogs on business metrics. Customer ratings and reviews is the best understood marketing activity from an ROI perspective.

As social spending grows, so do revenue expectations: More than 64% of CMOs reported that they plan to increase their social media budgets within the next year. The number of CMOs who don’t hold social media accountable for sales will continue to dwindle, as nearly three-fourths of respondents (72%) who did not attach revenue to social spend in 2009 reported they would create such a link in 2010. CMOs who are already seeing a strong link between social media and revenue in 2009 expect this impact to be even more profound in 2010, with the majority of respondents (81%) expecting to attribute up to 10% of their 2010 revenues to their social media investments.

Social initiatives must now track to the bottom line: In 2009, the top metrics tracked for social media initiatives included site traffic (90%), number of page views (85%), and number of fans (83%). In 2010, CMOs expect top metrics to track more closely to P&L business goals – not just web-related goals. The fastest-growing metrics for 2010 include revenue, conversion, and average order value, which grew 333%, 174%, and 150% respectively.

CMOs tap more consumer-generated content to shape products or services: Today, 80% of CMOs use customer insights to shape decision-making at the executive level and 90% of those surveyed use customer stories and product suggestions to shape a brand’s product or services. By the end of 2010, almost all CMOs say they plan to incorporate a broader range of content sources including customer reviews (59% increase), pre-sales Q&A (24% increase) and Twitter (407% increase) to influence product decisions.

Executive quote

“While 2009 may have been a trial run for many brands and social media, in 2010, CMOs expect social initiatives to directly impact their bottom lines, without exception,” said Decker, who also recently authored Get Them Talking: How Growing Participation Chains Will Grow Sales. “While not all brands know how to measure direct results, they strive to focus on business-generating impacts, rather than sheer volume of social interactions. More and more, brands will focus their social initiatives to drive commerce, blending social and e-commerce to build social commerce. We are very pleased to be working with more than 650 leading companies to demonstrate how social commerce ties directly to their bottom line.”

About the company

About Bazaarvoice

Bazaarvoice (www.bazaarvoice.co.uk) is a social commerce technology company. Its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions have served more than 80 billion pieces of customer-generated content helping over 650 brands globally to harness and amplify customer online word of mouth. In the UK, clients include Argos, Boots, Halfords, Wickes, Thomas Cook, QVC and Boden.

Bazaarvoice’s products - Ratings & Reviews™, Ask & Answer™ and Stories™ - are social commerce applications that drive sales. They enable customers to review products, ask and answer questions and share stories online; enhancing the online shopping experience and allowing them to make more informed and rewarding purchase decisions. Benefits for the retailer include content ownership, seamless customisation, increased search engine optimisation impact, advanced analytics and syndication across the web. Retailers can also leverage the content generated across on and offline marketing channels.

Founded in 2005, Bazaarvoice has offices in the UK, US, France and Singapore. The company was named in 2007’s Red Herring Global 100 and received the Technology Vendor of the Year award from Retail Systems in 2009.

For more information and access to client success stories, visit http://www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at http://www.bazaarvoice.com/blog/, and follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice

Contact details

For further press information and photography please contact:
Patrick Hussey at LEWIS, the PR agency
Tel: +44 (0) 161 457 2056
Fax: +44 (0) 161 601 7741
Email: bazaarvoiceUK@lewispr.com
Website: www.lewispr.com

Supporting materials

About the Survey

The survey was conducted with 133 CMOs in September 2009. Leading participating industries include software/hardware (17%), finance/insurance (9%), travel/hospitality (9%), media/publishing (9%), consumer goods (8%), and retail (7.5%), among others. Annual revenues ranged from $6 to $50 million (25%), $51 to $999 million (42%), and over $1 billion (23%).

About CMO Club

The CMO Club (TheCMOclub.com) was created for the unique purpose of bringing chief marketing officers together in an environment of openness and contribution that enables them to become better at what they do. Tailored exclusively to top marketing executives, this club hosts dinners and events, shares reports and research from leaders in the marketing industry, and leverages the first online network for "CMOs only" for sharing ideas, helping each other, and serving as a resource for CMO career opportunities. The CMO Club was founded in 2006 by seasoned marketing executive Pete Krainik and currently has more than 800 members.

Recent Press Releases

2010 Archive

2009 Archive

2008 Archive

2007 Archive

Jump to: