Press Release
Online Consumers Choose PowerReviews' Tag-Based Customer Reviews 2-to-1 Over Traditional Style Reviews in New Study by Keynote
Internet Shoppers Say PowerReviews Makes Shopping Faster, Easier, More Credible than Traditional Free Form Text Reviews
Millbrae, Calif. December 20, 2006 - A competitive benchmarking study performed by Keynote®, the global leader in test and measurement solutions, found that online shoppers preferred PowerReviews' tag-based customer reviews 2-to-1 over traditional free-form reviews found on Amazon.com for helping them make "informed product purchase decisions," PowerReviews announced today.
PowerReviews enables reviewers on its retail sites to add words or phrases about a product that are unique to their lifestyles and interests. These descriptors, or "tags", are summarized at the top of the review as "Pros," "Cons" and "Best Uses" to give shoppers a detailed consensus of many reviews at a glance. By contrast, the text entry in traditional free form reviews on Amazon is not summarized by descriptors, only as an average number of stars given by reviewers.
Keynote WebEffective™ 5.0, a self-service user experience research tool, was used to perform the comparison study on behalf of PowerReviews. Keynote secured the panelists to participate in the study (over 400 participants), performed the analysis and verified the results. The participants were completely unaware that the research was sponsored by PowerReviews.
Keynote asked 400 Internet shoppers to use and compare PowerReviews' tag-based customer reviews and Amazon's free form reviews to make a product purchase decision. The study found that twice as many consumers stated that the PowerReviews approach helped them make "more informed product purchase decisions" than Amazon. In addition:
- 34% more stated that PowerReviews was easier to use
- 77% more stated that PowerReviews was quicker and more efficient
- 83% more stated that PowerReviews gave them more confidence in purchase decisions
- 103% more stated that PowerReviews was more informative
The key reasons consumers gave for their preferences for PowerReviews were:
- The summary box at the top, giving the consensus of reviewers' opinions
- Pros, Cons and Best Uses on every review, making it easier to compare products
- The easy-to-read, compact and well-organized format
"This research validates the shopping experience benefits of using PowerReviews to enable online retailers to provide customer reviews and ratings on their websites," said PowerReviews CEO Andy Chen. "With our unique at-a-glance summaries of the pros, cons and best uses at the top, we expect consumers to migrate to retailers using PowerReviews, therefore increasing traffic, conversion and retention for those online retailers."
About PowerReviews™
PowerReviews is a consumer technology company that provides best-in-class customer reviews services to multi-channel retailers to help convert more shoppers and attract new shoppers through high-impact, peer-level reviews. PowerReviews' patent-pending PowerTags™ technology captures customer opinions in their own vernacular, making reviews more relatable and impactful for other shoppers. PowerReviews offers its unique customer reviews service on a fully managed basis, with no downtime risk of a traditional ASP. Its customers include TicketsNow, Adorama, Abt Electronics, Sam Ash, and Mountain Gear. Based in Millbrae, California, PowerReviews is a privately held company with funding from leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms Menlo Ventures and Draper Richards. For more information visit www.powerreviews.com.
About Keynote®
Keynote Systems (Nasdaq "KEYN") is the global leader in test & measurement solutions that improve mobile communications and online business performance. As an independent and trusted third-party, Keynote provides IT and marketing executives with an unbiased view into their Internet services from around the world. For over a decade, we have been providing measurement data and testing capabilities that allow companies to understand and improve their customer's online and mobile experience. Keynote has four test and measurement businesses: Web performance, mobile quality, streaming & VoIP, and customer experience/UX. In addition, our industry analysis group called Keynote Competitive Research publishes proprietary studies measuring customer experience and service levels across a wide range of industries.
Keynote Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at (650) 403-2400.
Keynote, The Internet Performance Authority and Perspective are registered trademarks and The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority and True Experience are trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc.
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Contact:
Lisa Tarter
TidalWave PR
415-440-4278
lisatarter@yahoo.com