How to Turn User Generated Content into Revenue with Ratings and Reviews via Gigya This white paper examines three ways brands can start effectively harnessing ratings and reviews to stimulate both new and repeat conversions: 1. Boosting brand awareness and referral traffic 2. Improving long-tail SEO 3. Building a transparent, brand-loyal community

1.
How to Turn User Generated Content into
Revenue with Ratings and Reviews
3 ways to grow awareness, SEO results, and customer loyalty
A MARKETING GUIDE BY GIGYA

2. HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS
In the age of the connected consumer, customers are
continuously talking and sharing about your brand,
product or service - and everybody’s listening.
When consumers have the power to tweet about the nasty cashier while she’s ringing
them up, or that fantastic filet mignon directly from the table, brands’ reputations
precede them. Social networks have given consumers proverbial megaphones to
broadcast their experiences in real-time, and brand image and perception is
increasingly shaped by social opinion. In fact, while 70% of Millennials consider it their
responsibility to share feedback with companies after both positive and negative
experiences (AdAge), 90% of consumers admit that their purchase decisions are
influenced by consumer ratings and reviews (MarketingLand).
Letting disgruntled customers or brand advocates slip through the cracks can be the
difference between widespread success and fast failure. By providing customers with
an open forum for posting ratings and reviews, businesses can effectively monitor
and react to consumer opinions in real-time. Smart brands are learning how to
leverage consumer connectivity and feedback to build brand awareness, influence
brand perception, and foster authentic relationships with both potential and existing
customers.
This white paper examines three ways brands can start effectively
harnessing ratings and reviews to stimulate both new and repeat
conversions:
1.
2.
Improving long-tail SEO
3.
Boosting brand awareness and referral traffic
Building a transparent, brand-loyal community

3. HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS
Boosting Brand Awareness and Referral Traffic
In the golden days of advertising, a catchy slogan and flashy image were enough to
catch consumer attention. But with the rise of digital, mobile and social technologies,
consumers are so inundated with ads across such a variety of devices that ad
response rates have massively declined. While the average consumer is served about
1,700 banner ads each month, the average CTR for display ads is a mere 0.1%
(HubSpot). Today’s connected consumers are increasingly relying on word-of-mouth
to discover new brands, ranking recommendations from friends and family as the
most trusted source of brand information, followed by online reviews (Digital
Intelligence Today).
HOW SHARING IMPROVES
RATINGS & REVIEWS RESULTS
Not only are smart brands adding
ratings and reviews to their sites to
help break through the advertising
noise with authentic feedback about
their products or services, but they are
also giving users an easy way to share
this feedback with their preferred
social networks. Enabling influential
users to syndicate ratings and reviews
among their social circles is a proven
way to increase brand awareness and
boost valuable referral traffic,
resulting in new customers and
increased conversion rates. In fact,
81% of people say that posts by
friends on social media influence their
purchase decisions (Forbes).
90% of consumers say their purchase
decisions are influenced by online reviews.

4. HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS
Improving Long-Tail SEO
SEO is a huge pain point for many marketers as they struggle through keyword
discovery and fight against the conglomerates that be to surface under phrases that
people actually use. When it comes to search rankings, relevant, quality content is key,
and customer reviews provide valuable user generated content that improves
keyword performance. User generated content is especially useful because it puts
your product or service in terms typically used by consumers, uncovering new
keywords and increasing search ability. Websites that feature ratings and reviews
typically experience a 10-20% increase in CTR on search engine results pages (Inchoo).
HOW GAMIFICATION IMPROVES RATINGS & REVIEWS RESULTS
To encourage consumer ratings and reviews and reap the benefits of increased user
generated content, successful brands are offering consumers rewards for sharing
feedback by making it part of an engaging gamification process. Participants can earn
badges to display on their profiles and accumulate points that can be redeemed
online or in-store by posting ratings, reviews and comments. One brand that has
effectively taken this approach is cosmetics retailer Lush. Consumers can earn points
toward various achievements by leaving comments, and user rankings are displayed
across the site to encourage user-generated content with a fun, interactive
competition.
Websites that feature ratings and reviews typically
experience a 10-20% increase in search engine results.

5. HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS
Building a Transparent, Loyal Community
Most brands spend valuable time and resources carefully crafting the right messaging
and visuals to accurately convey their products and services and shape consumer
opinion. However, in the age of the connected consumer, customer reviews are
trusted 12x more than descriptions that come from manufacturers (Brick Marketing).
In turn, 76.5% of shoppers say that a site looking credible and trustworthy is an
important factor in their decision making processes (BigCommerce). Not only does
generating authentic customer feedback help brands more effectively optimize their
products and services, but it also creates a connected and brand loyal community,
increasing consumer trust and transparency to foster authentic relationships that
result in new and repeat customers.
HOW SOCIAL LOGIN IMPROVES RATINGS & REVIEWS RESULTS
Social login allows users to register for and login to your site using their existing social
media accounts. Using social login is an easy way for users to authenticate their
identities, greatly increasing the quantity and quality of user generated content on
your site. Seeing genuine reviews from real customers increases the validity of your
website to both new and returning customers, fostering increased consumer trust
and shopping cart conversions. Implementing social login also allows you to tie all
user feedback and activity to a single identity to help identify, reward and leverage
brand advocates.
CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY
By implementing Social Login, Dallas Morning News saw a 92% increase in comment
activity and a 95% decrease in labor needs for spam moderation!

6. HOW TO TURN UGC INTO REVENUE WITH RATINGS & REVIEWS
DID YOU KNOW…
Customer reviews and testimonials are considered an important purchasing factor by
40.9% of consumers (BigCommerce), and featuring reviews on your website can
improve sales by up to 18%! (Brick Marketing).
Where to Start
To effectively leverage ratings and reviews to build brand awareness, increase SEO
and boost consumer loyalty, be sure to follow these three strategies:
1. Make ratings and reviews sharable
2. Incentivize consumer feedback with gamification
3. Authenticate user generated content with social login
About Gigya
Gigya provides clients with the rich data, intelligence and tools needed to reach
consumers with the right messages, on the right platforms at the right times. Gigya
drives user acquisition and engagement for over 700 enterprises and reaches 1.5
billion unique users per month, ensuring that today’s businesses stay relevant in the
age of the connected consumer.
For more resources and information on how to successfully implement a ratings and
reviews strategy, visit Gigya.com. To get started right away, you can speak with a
product expert by calling: 888-920-1702