Client: Rubbermaid
Agency: Bazaarvoice
Objective: To improve sales of the company’s food ?storage containers based ?on consumer feedback.
Since 2008, Rubbermaid has been using social commerce service provider Bazaarvoice’s Ratings & Reviews program, which allows customers to comment and post reviews of the company’s products on its site, as well as syndication of the reviews to retailer sites like Walmart.com.?
“When you see them in collection on a website, there’s a lot of value there,” says Jim Deitzel, senior manager of e-marketing for Rubbermaid. “It’s not just marketing copy. It helps consumers limit their choice and provides honest consumer feedback that others can read.”?
The company’s marketing team decided that with the growing importance placed on these reviews of CPG products, Rubbermaid should incorporate the voice of the consumer into its traditional print advertising and offers as well. ?
STRATEGY: Rubbermaid’s recently launched Easy Find Lid containers had been receiving strong reviews from customers who tried them, but since they were still relatively new, many shoppers had yet to hear about the product. It seemed like the perfect product to ?promote using online customer reviews.?
Deitzel’s team found a few strong endorsements, including one declaring, “These containers are the best,” extolling how easy they stack as well as their high quality and low price. Rubbermaid printed a portion of that review, along with the image of a cursor arrow, a ?five-star rating and the line, “You rated Easy Find Lids 4.8 out of 5” on a dollar-off coupon that ran in a Sunday free-standing insert. ?
The marketer expected that the combination of the star ratings and quotes would catch the attention of readers accustomed to Yelp, ?Amazon.com and other social review sites.?
RESULTS: It turned out to be correct. The coupon was a hit, enjoying a redemption rate 10% higher than the same coupon run without the review snippet, which Rubbermaid ran the year before. ?
The company plans to do more with its customer reviews in the near future. According to Deitzel, Rubbermaid will be incorporating customer quotes on the company booth for an upcoming trade show, and it has been looking into how to add quotes to in-store displays and even on the packaging itself. It has already started including quick response codes on its packaging that direct mobile phone users to a site where they can see the reviews other consumers have posted.?
“If you’re in aisle and not sure if you want to buy or what size you need, we want to know what can we provide you that will help you make that decision,” says Deitzel. “We want to make it so that anyone can get organized and it’s not a far-fetched idea.”
