ekomi Whitepaper Benefit from Better Conversion Rates in Google with Customer Reviews November 2012

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Dwain Ryan
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1 ekomi Whitepaper Benefit from Better Conversion Rates in Google with Customer Reviews November 2012

Overview: The days in which customers blindly trusted the promises made by online retailers are over ekomi The Feedback Company is Europe s largest independent provider of transaction-based reviews

More than 10,000 companies leverage ekomi s cloud-based social commerce platform to increase sales, reduce returns and drive organic traffic through self-perpetuating User Generated Content (UGC).

2 Overview: The days in which customers blindly trusted the promises made by online retailers are over ekomi The Feedback Company is Europe s largest independent provider of transaction-based reviews and ratings. More than 10,000 companies leverage ekomi s cloud-based social commerce platform to increase sales, reduce returns and drive organic traffic through self-perpetuating User Generated Content (UGC). This groundbreaking social commerce technology enables online businesses to generate customer reviews, product reviews, ratings, social recommendations and create viral effects on websites, social media and search engines. ekomi boosts customer trust and brings greater success in ecommerce. The theory is that if a potential customer can see that other customers of an online provider are satisfied, he or she will be more likely to trust the provider and buy there. If you don t ask, you won t receive an answer. The feedback process is a fundamental part of any business model. Proactively seeking out customer views, analyzing trends within feedback, publishing them and generating quality user-content can greatly improve your turnover. Customer Reviews in SEM & SEA The main element of ekomi s service is the ability to collect reviews. These reviews given are impartial and third party abuse of the review system is prevented. To do this, ekomi has developed intelligent software which is currently used by many international online-shop providers. The software allows customers who have completed a transaction with the company to leave a review. Effectively using the power of customer feedback to optimize your conversion rate, will increase sales and generate loyalty. You will gain loyal customers who will shop with you again and again. Once it has been generated, customer feedback must be used effectively in order to obtain the greatest possible benefit. The following elements are necessary to manage customer reviews: - Efficient and secure feedback storage - Review of all feedback by a qualified worker - Analysis of positive and negative feedback - Introduction of any necessary action by customer service All feedback is acknowledged with Thank-you for your feedback, but because negative customer feedback requires more intensive work, ekomi has developed the moderated customer dialog. 60% of customers have confidence in a recommendation from a customer who made a purchase or subscribed to the services of a company (Forrester Research 2011)

Negative Feedback Procedure The customer dialog was developed and introduced by ekomi to clarify unclear situations, to protect companies against unwarranted negative feedback and to promote

3 Negative Feedback Procedure The customer dialog was developed and introduced by ekomi to clarify unclear situations, to protect companies against unwarranted negative feedback and to promote communication between consumers and companies (based on experiences, 90 % of negative reviews are the result of a lack of communication). Did you know that 95 % of dissatisfied customers would buy from you again if their problem is resolved rapidly and efficiently? If the shop and the customer cannot find a solution, ekomi can act as a mediator in accordance with its Terms & Conditions. Once a representative amount of customer feedback has been collected, as well as being displayed on the shop s website, it will also be transmitted to Google to optimize retail processes and profitability. Integrating Reviews in Google: SEM & SEA Google Seller Rating Stars Google Seller Ratings make it easier for potential customers to identify highly-rated merchants when searching with Google. These star ratings, aggregated from review sites all around the web, allow people to find merchants that are highly recommended by online shoppers like themselves. On average, ads with Seller Ratings get a 17% higher click through rate (CTR) than the same ads without ratings. 1 The following is required to publish the Google Seller - At least 30 available reviews from the last 12 months - Average rating of at least 4 stars or more - Connection to the Google interface through a third party such as ekomi When these requirements are fulfilled, the reviews will be automatically added to your Adwords account. The goal here is to collect the highest possible number of 4+ star reviews to separate yourself from the competition. How reviews are used and displayed Displaying reviews in an online shop improves a company s search engine optimization (SEO) and helps it to achieve a leading position in search results. This in turn brings in more customers and more sales. Figure 1: SEO optimized ekomi Certificate Page with the search Customer review site name Figure 2: Increased visibility by displaying the seller profile and associated stars. The reviews of your shop and products collected by ekomi are updated in real time. The greater the quantity and the quality of the content, the higher the quality score and the higher the rank of the website in search results. This position at the top of major search engines can lead to an increase in online traffic to the site, in addition to improved conversion rates. 1

Figure 3: ekomi offers an App to show the Certificate Page on a Facebook Wall Figure 4: Social Commerce Recommendation Recommend now and share your experience ekomi ReviewsandRich Snippets Until

4 ekomi also recognizes the importance of Social Media. To tap into this resource, ekomi has developed the ekomi Facebook app. With this app, fans of the online shop s Facebook page are able to post their review to their own Wall and recommend the online shop to their friends. Figure 3: ekomi offers an App to show the Certificate Page on a Facebook Wall Figure 4: Social Commerce Recommendation Recommend now and share your experience ekomi ReviewsandRich Snippets Until recently it was only possible to show the most simple information in Goolge s organic search results, such as the page s title, a short summary and of course the URL. Now, Rich Snippets are a revolutionary way to display additional information within the organic search results: - They categorize the organic results and make them easier to understand - They allow more detailed information to be displayed - They allow users to better understand the value, the credibility and the real trust of the website By implementing Rich Snippets, you can also display customer reviews in Google Search results and encourage Internet users to click on your link instead of your competitor s. More clicks mean more traffic and therefore more sales. Product Reviews to enhance SEO Integration of Shop Reviews in Google Shopping Another possible way to increase sales with Google is by creating a Google Merchant Account. When a product is uploaded it is then listed in Google Shopping. That means that the product will also show up in organic Google searches. The following is necessary to integrate product: - Data Feed or link to Google (e.g. through ekomi) - Customer account with ekomi & signed Google Policy (extension of the Merchant Centre terms) - Availability of feedback data in a defined format (Product Feed) - Google Merchant Account - Area to display the product reviews within the website product reviews distributed across the whole catalog

How products reviews are used and displayed It is important to not just collect product reviews, but also to display them.

First, an online shop provides ekomi with a list of all the products they sell, then ekomi can implement the product review system.

5 How products reviews are used and displayed It is important to not just collect product reviews, but also to display them. That is the only way to share the experience customers had purchasing the different products in your shop. First, an online shop provides ekomi with a list of all the products they sell, then ekomi can implement the product review system. In this way, customers are able to evaluate the products they have purchased. Google provides each merchant with an individual review profile which provides a summary of all reviews from various sources. This provides customer with a complete overview of the quality of an online provider which provides the perfect basis for purchasing decisions. (Example: Figure 4: Customer reviews Figure 5: Sources sorted ereputation and Social Media Potential customers visiting an online shop today bring a fundamental skepticism with them which can prevent them from buying. Offering customer reviews therefore represents an effective way of integrating feedback directly into the selling pages and enhancing credibility throughout the sales process. A non-independent retailer-produced feedback platform showing only positive reviews will not increase confidence and is likely to not be trusted, therefore creating an adverse effect. If visitors are not convinced of the genuineness of the reviews they will be less effective than if the customer is convinced of their authenticity. The following ensures that customer feedback is presented credibly and effectively: - The appraisal and handling of customer reviews is carried out by an independent, external supplier - The online retailer is unable to manipulate the feedback received - Customer feedback is presented in a way which is easy to read and in an attractive format which enhances the overall result How can Social Media help you with your online marketing strategy? Working in Social Media may be very useful for the marketing strategy of your business. Here are some of the advantages: - Decreased marketing costs - Growth potential (more than 500 Million Users worldwide) - The decision of where your reviews are displayed - Maintaining the conversion rate It has been proven that disappointed customers rarely return to buy again (they are far more likely to spread ill will towards your products and services through blogs or other online channels, and these can greatly damage your reputation). It has been proven that disappointed customers rarely return to buy again (they

Return on Investment (ROI) A study carried out by WorldPay has shown that online fraud is up 14% worldwide.

More than half of online customers are concerned about becoming the victim of fraud.

customers is without question. Our customers understand the advantages of using ekomi.

rate of return on investment, as shown by an internal Figure 7: 83% reported an increase in visitors to the website of

6 Return on Investment (ROI) A study carried out by WorldPay has shown that online fraud is up 14% worldwide. That is why 63% of online buyers have concerns about the security of their online business. More than half of online customers are concerned about becoming the victim of fraud. This is why the importance of a service, such as the one offered by ekomi, which can provide guidance to potential customers is without question. Our customers understand the advantages of using ekomi. By implementing our service, they are able to strengthen the trust of their customers, which directly results in a high rate of return on investment, as shown by an internal Figure 7: 83% reported an increase in visitors to the website of 10% or more. 54% noticed a 31% or higher increase in web traffic. Figure 8: 83% of those surveyed whose order volume increased after implementing ekomi, saw an increase of 10% or more. 58% saw traffic increase of more than 30%.

7 About ekomi, was established in 2008 in Berlin (). A German market leader and Google Partner, ekomi manages an intelligent service of customer feedbacks, which allows companies and customers to make deals in a fair and transparent way, by using information taken previously to apply it in SEO campaigns and Google Adwords. At present ekomi has gathered more than 6 millions of reviews for thousands of online shops from 8 countries, ranking as one of the leading companies in feedback sector. us Berlin Tél. : info@ekomi.fr Web : 6

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