Main News Desk

Bazaarvoice explains the value of the participation chain

new whitepaper unveiled by CMO Sam Decker and web visionary Ze Frank

UK - November 18, 2009

Social commerce expert Bazaarvoice has launched a new whitepaper, introducing brands to the importance of the participation chain.

Entitled “Participation chains connect customers to your brand,” the paper highlights the importance of user involvement in creating a trail of content to draw in other customers.

By lengthening and deepening customers’ involvement with a brand, participation chains improve reputation, increase sales, and make consumers more likely to pass on recommendations to friends.

Combining academic studies with real world examples, the whitepaper outlines the steps to creating a highly effective participation chain. These include how to:

Pinpoint customers’ motivation for participation: original motivations for user-contributions are to help others (90%) or to help the brand (80%)[1]. Additional motivations include a need for self-expression, to stand out, express creativity or simply to look good in front of friends. By understanding customers’ motivations, marketers can pinpoint and present new opportunities to fulfill these needs, building longer chains of participation.

Identify the best links in the participation chain: following initial acts of participation (e.g posting a review), marketers can encourage further contributions. While some opportunities for participation are effectively private, for example building wishlists or sending a friend an e-mail, others are more public, such as writing a product review.

Map the participation chain to measurable business goals: brand platforms and websites present an opportunity for marketers to guide users towards specific goals. Once initial goals are achieved, new ones should be presented, continuing to lead the user forward. Marketers also need to be constantly aware of participation chain “dead ends” such as sending a success notification once someone has uploaded an image. Instead the site should suggest a next action by encourage them to share the picture with friends.

Click here to view the full whitepaper. A summary is also available here.

[1] According to a Keller Fay and Bazaarvoice study

Executive quote

“Harvard marketing researcher Michael I. Norton has found that work undertaken in association with a brand, such as self-assembly of Ikea furniture or building a teddy at Build-a-Bear, increases people’s positive feelings about the results of that labour,” said Frank. “Participation chains allow marketers to take these findings online to engage customers in the brand experience in a way that creates values for themselves and others. By creating a path for people to become invested in their brand experience, participation chains create a ripple effect of value that drives brand affinity, sales, and loyalty, while reducing return rates and hesitation.”

About the company

About the Authors

Bazaarvoice CMO Sam Decker is a recognised expert in eCommerce, word of mouth marketing, and direct marketing. He frequently speaks at marketing and eCommerce events and is author of the award-winning marketing blog at www.deckermarketing.com. Prior to Bazaarvoice, Decker helped to build Dell.com into the largest consumer eCommerce site, established their global best practices in merchandising, analytics, product management, and operations, and pioneered Dell's customer-centricity and customer segmentation strategies. He has led marketing at B2C and B2B startups, helped develop loyalty marketing strategies for Apple and Adobe, and written two marketing books. He serves on the Board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association

Ze Frank (pronounced "Zay"), a designer, speaker and popular video blogger, brings an entertaining and insightful look at how technology and creativity intersect, especially in web design, marketing and new forms of media. He rose to Internet fame in 2001 with his viral video “How to Dance Properly,” and has been making online comedy and web toys ever since. His most recent hit, “The Show with Ze Frank,” drew press praise, and thousands of viewers daily during its year-long run ending March 2007. The podcast earned him a Vloggie at the inaugural 2006 award show and a Web Award at SXSW 2007. His most brilliant move was calling on fans to write the show for him. Using collaborative tools, online viewers collectively put words in his mouth (and props in his lap); he faithfully performed this wiki-comedy each week for his “Fabuloso Friday” show.

About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice (www.bazaarvoice.co.uk) is a social commerce technology company. It helps over 650 brands globally including Argos, Boots, Halfords, Wickes, Thomas Cook, QVC and Boden to harness and amplify customer online word of mouth.

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. The blog is at http://www.bazaarblog.com

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

Recent Press Releases

2010 Archive

2009 Archive

2008 Archive

2007 Archive

Jump to:

Main News Desk

Bazaarvoice explains the value of the participation chain

Executive quote

About the company

Contact details

Related links