Voice of the Customer: Vital to Inspire Buyer Confidence
The dynamics of shopping are changing, becoming increasingly digital, while social media continues to play a significant role in today’s buyer journeys.
This is especially true for Infantino, who’s customers prefer the ease of online ordering. Many new mothers find it difficult to get out of the house for in-store shopping in the first few months following their babies’ births, so Infantino products are picked up by Walmart and Target’s eCommerce channels before they are even available for purchase in-store.
Voice of the Customer, captured via product ratings and reviews, is a vital element to inspire buyer confidence and pave the path to purchase, especially for new parents. “Infantino uses user generated content (UGC) to build credibility on its product detail pages to understand what product highlights and attributes shoppers are calling out,” said Monica Gardner, Marketing Manager at Infantino.
“Reviews are the No. 1 thing; they are displayed prominently on our product detail pages, and determine whether a consumer finds something they want to invest in or not. We also use UGC for social media posts; this content – coming directly from users – builds both credibility and trust.”
UGC is also a crucial element for Infantino’s retail partners that require product reviews before making products available for purchase online. A lack of product reviews can delay or stop a product launch in its tracks.
Birthing a High-Power Sampling for Reviews Program
Constantly launching new products, Infantino envisioned product sampling for reviews to be a crucial product launch element. After evaluating several ratings & reviews vendors, Infantino landed on PowerReviews as its Sampling for Reviews partner.
“Quality of reviews was an important factor for us,” said Gardner. “We wanted more than a quick sentence or two. We wanted to put products in the hands of our specific buying demographic that were invested in trying the product. We were also impressed with PowerReviews’ high review completion rate.”
Previously, Infantino partnered with a digital agency for sampling for reviews campaigns, but only experienced around a 50 percent review completion rate.
This was a low return on investment when considering the high cost the company was incurring to send out samples. With PowerReviews, Infantino is now seeing review completion rates in the 90s, with some campaigns achieving review completion rates of 100 percent.
Aside from review volume, the Sampling for Reviews campaigns are also producing a wealth of user-generated photos and videos of its products in action. Gardner says this element humanizes the reviews and also adds an extra touch of authenticity – vital in an era where fake reviews are rampant.
“We’ve received really great photos of babies interacting and engaging with our products; the PowerReviews product sampling community grants permission in advance for us to use the review content and imagery,” she said.
Tried and True Testimony
Working with PowerReviews, Infantino is now supporting sampling campaigns for up to 20 SKUs simultaneously. The campaigns have supported items large and small, ranging from its Sweet Time Dreams Fold & Go Bassinet (4.8-star rating) that retails for an MSRP of $75.00, to its Lil’ Nibbles Textured Silicone Teether – Fruit Kabob (4.8-star rating) with an MSRP of $4.99.
One notable Sampling for Reviews campaign was centered around an innovative offering – the Infantino Hip Rider 5-in-1 Hip Seat Carrier – a twist on the traditional child carrier. Reviewers reported they were skeptical at first, but ended up delighted at the product’s functionality – providing “tried and true” parent-tested and approved testimony.
The process of Sampling for Reviews begins with surveying the audience using a variety of parameters, i.e. What ages are appropriate for the product? And, What developmental stages they need to be at to safely use the product? – for example, if the child needs to be able to sit up on their own. This ensures product samples are placed with families with children aligning to these specifications.
Once the samples have been distributed, the families have a chance to try it out and then are asked to review each product responding to specific questions as part of the process (e.g. What ages are appropriate for the product? What developmental stages are required for safe use of the product?). This improves overall review quality.
A Partnership Based on Strong Teamwork and Flexibility
“PowerReviews has proven itself as a flexible partner we can rely on, which is important as our products are sourced overseas and we need to carefully orchestrate our Sampling for Reviews campaigns in conjunction with when we start shipping products.
“Throughout the campaign, PowerReviews will touch base at key intervals and key milestones. At the end of each campaign, we get a report with the review completion rate and I can distribute this information to my team and coordinate review syndication efforts,” said Gardner.
Customer feedback from product reviews is used to help guide designers in creating new products or modifying existing products, and to discover how customers are using Infantino products in different ways.
“The PowerReviews platform is great, and the team behind the platform is wonderful. We absolutely love working with the PowerReviews’ team,” said Gardner. “They are very supportive and always available to help. I have total confidence the team is going to make sure everything goes smoothly, and that allows me to focus on doing my job,” she said.
