Joint Study with CMO Council Reveals 83 Percent of Marketers Can’t See Consumers Beyond Their Own Brand

Bazaarvoice, Inc. announced today that Bazaarvoice Advertising, the company’s exclusive, first-party data and targeting platform, now offers brands and retailers the ability to reach and influence three out of four in-market shoppers. Each month, over 160 million shoppers visit the 5,000+ brand and retail sites in the Bazaarvoice Network. Marketers who use Bazaarvoice Advertising get a birds-eye view into the browsing and purchasing behavior of these shoppers, which breaks down the walled gardens that have historically limited advertising effectiveness.

“We recently ran a campaign using Bazaarvoice Advertising and were impressed to find that the effort netted a 200 percent lift in brand consideration for EGO, our new line of cordless outdoor power equipment,” said Joe Turoff, VP of Sales and Marketing for Chervon. “Bazaarvoice offers us unprecedented access to in-market shoppers and the opportunity to influence and engage them directly as they shop. We can now see who is shopping our brand and our competitors across top retailers and stay in front of them with impactful consumer reviews, recommendations and reminders to build brand recognition and close sales. Bazaarvoice’s Advertising and CGC products were a significant factor in helping us take EGO from an unknown brand to the leading position in our category at the number one home improvement retailer in the country.”

Concurrently, Bazaarvoice and the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council released the findings of their Shopper Marketing: The New Rules of Engagement survey, which offers interesting insights into modern consumers’ expectations around personalized advertising and the challenges marketers face in meeting them. Based on input from over 160 brand marketers and 2,100 consumers primarily in North America, the report revealed that while consumers are increasingly comfortable with marketers using their personal data for targeted advertising that is relevant to them, marketers are still struggling to deliver the timely, personal advertising they want.

Key research insights include:

Marketers’ data strategies are short-sighted – Walled gardens a persistent challenge for marketers. When it comes to customer data, a full 83 percent of marketers admit that they are unable to see beyond their own brand properties. This limited access to first-party customer data across the broader retail ecosystem makes nearly half (41 percent) of marketers question the accuracy of their customer data.

Relevance is priceless – Nearly half of the consumers surveyed prefer targeted brand offers over coupons and discounts. 54 percent of consumers claim to have made a purchase as a result of brand outreach regarding abandoned shopping cart items or recommendations based on past purchases, but only 34 percent of marketers believe consumers want to receive recommendations based on their past purchases or those of related peers. This spotlights a missed opportunity for marketers.

Broader shopping visibility bridges the data divide – 90 percent of marketers view access to real-time customer voice and shopping behavior as either critical or important to enabling a data-driven, personalized experience, yet only 8 percent connect the dots between that content and shopping behaviors today. Conversely, 47 percent of consumers point to reviews, social media posts and past purchase as the best places for marketers to gather insights about them, indicating the value of identifying and reaching in-market shoppers based on their consumer-generated content and shopping behavior.

“Marketing data strategies have come a long way, but as the research points out, today’s marketers still struggle to see beyond their own transaction data and rely on outdated, third-party sources to fill in the gaps,” said Sara Spivey, Chief Marketing Officer, Bazaarvoice. “Our first-party data from our Network reflects shopper activity from millions of shoppers on thousands of brand and retail websites each month. By using those insights, Bazaarvoice Advertising offers marketers the most accurate view of current and future shopper behavior and helps them provide the relevant content that consumers want.”

Bazaarvoice and the CMO Council’s Shopper Marketing: The New Rules of Engagement report validates the need for first-party data in delivering the relevant, personalized shopping experience consumers crave. Bazaarvoice helps marketers efficiently reach and influence 3 out of 4 shoppers in the United States while they’re truly in-market – even before retailers see them – by using first-party data and behavior pulled directly from shopper activity across the Bazaarvoice Network. With Bazaarvoice Advertising, marketers have an inherent advantage with the ability to run turnkey ad campaigns across display, video and native formats. They can also access reports on shopper data across the spectrum of brands and retailers, providing a broad view into purchase consideration and subsequent conversion activity across the web.

For more information on Bazaarvoice Advertising, please visit: http://www.bazaarvoice.com/advertising