Session Blog Reviews

The forthcoming 2010 Social Shopping Study by PowerReviews shows a marked increase in consumer trust in and reliance on online product reviews. However, their trust isn’t blind—online consumers are also becoming more skeptical of those reviews, willing to take them with a grain of salt. The majority of online consumers use reviews as research, and more people are reading more and more reviews. Reports MediaPost : Results from the 2010 survey indicate that 57% of shoppers trust customer reviews as a research source along with other corroborating information, but 35% question whether they are biased. Factors that degrade trust in reviews suggest that 50% do not provide enough reviews to make an educated decision, 39% doubt they are written by real customers, and 38% said a lack of negative reviews or limited information. . . . The survey indicates that consumers trust reviews more now than in 2007. About 41% of survey respondents said they read between four and seven reviews in 2010 before they felt comfortable with a purchase, down from 46% in 2007; 17% vs. 28% read between two and three; 27% vs. 17% read between eight and 15; 7% vs. 3% between 16 and 25, respectively. Six in ten consumers research for a week or more before a purchase decision, though almost 30% only research a few hours. Although they don’t always believe what they read, credibility is one of the top reasons why people prefer to research online rather than talk to a sales associate. Nearly two in three consumers spend at least 10 minutes reading customer reviews. The survey was conducted with over 1000 consumers who shop at least quarterly and spend at least $250 annually online. What do you think? How can customer reviews help your clients (or you)?

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More People Believe Online Reviews

Earthtimes (press release) Wildfire Interactive Raises $4 Million for Social Media Marketing Digital Media Wire Wildfire Interactive, a developer of social media marketing software, announced on Monday that it has raised $4.04 million in its first round of venture … Facebook Marketing Start-Up Capitalizes on Social – Media Buzz Wall Street Journal (blog) Wildfire Raises $4 Million For Social Media Marketing Platform TechCrunch (blog) Big Money in Facebook Marketing WebProNews (blog) Earthtimes (press release)

PR Web (press release) Social media marketing in 10 minutes a day iMedia Connection Is social media just the latest craze in the marketing world? Or will your business actually suffer if you don't embrace it? To determine current trends, … Social Marketing Is All About Customer Experience OfficialWire (press release) Social Media Increases Revenue and Growth by 60 Percent PR Web (press release) Opportunities in Social Media : Profiting From Digital Conversation – a new … Live-PR.com (press release) all 6 news articles

Gadgetrepublic Twitter, Facebook Leading Social Media Marketing Tools Marketing Vox News The Twitter and Facebook online social networks are neck-in-neck competition to be the most used social media marketing tools by marketers, according to a … What to Do With Social Media ClickZ News Social Media Tools: Do They Deliver? No Jitter (blog) Social media : Long-term impact a mystery MinnPost.com Drop Ship (press release) (blog)

Google is changing the way it will interact with agencies using AdWords . They’re discontinuing the Google Advertising Professionals program in favor of the Google AdWords Certification program, and eliminating fees for some agencies using the API, based on client spend. Agencies that have at least one certified employee may qualify as Certified Partners now. The certification process will also change, with more training materials, harder tests that include application and best practices, and a new badge that includes a “click to verify” CTA. Individuals certifying will now have to pass two tests instead of one, according to Search Engine Land . For large enough agencies, Google will be waiving the AdWords API fee. They’ll begin accepting applications for that program one month from today. Google is also adding a searchable database of Certified Partners now, enabling prospective clients to search for an agency to serve their AdWords needs. For once, the database is totally opt-in (good job, Google!). According to Google: Searches can be filtered by location, agency experience within a particular budget range, the types of services provided and the industry verticals an agency serves. Advertisers can then evaluate the list of Certified Partners that meet their criteria and contact the partners who seem best suited to their needs. Clearly, Google is looking at the way they interact with agencies, and trying to make their AdWords offerings more friendly to their biggest clients. What do you think? Will this change the way agencies and Google interact?

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Google Changing Its Agency Interface