When 'bottom-up' becomes the new normal

When 'bottom-up' becomes the new normal   

Google. Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. The one thing they’ve all got in common is that they’re driven by information input and volunteered by individuals. For marketers steeped in decade upon decade of top-down messaging, this is an extraordinary development. But the big question remains unresolved: will ‘bottom up’ and ‘peer to peer’ remain a mere adjunct to a largely unchanged top-down system? Or are we witnessing the beginnings of a new marketing ‘modus operandi’?

Let’s take one tiny piece of ‘bottom up’ information as an examplar: the humble customer product review.

Not long ago, the mere fact that customers could now comment on a product was exciting, refreshing and revolutionary. For companies like Amazon who embraced it first, it was a significant differentiator. Among traditionalist marketers it was repugnant: why let somebody criticise what we’re trying to sell? Every message has to be ‘on message’, or else!

But consumers liked the peer review. It helped them make decisions, reduce anxiety and build trust. Retailers that carried reviews discovered it improved traffic and led to an uplift in sales. People got used to the idea. It became the new normal – an expectation.

At the same time, however, there was a ‘wild west’ element to it. You didn’t really know who was writing the review (many were churned out by cynical PR operators). Even if the reviewer was genuine, they may not know what they were talking about. And what about the silent majority who never submitted reviews? All in all, while hugely beneficial, the peer review was also an ad hoc, chaotic set-up, and full of flaws.

What it needed was structure, discipline and process – a shift from a one-off incidental consumer activity enabled by some clever new software to an organised, focused business model. This is what Reevoo did. As it explains in a new paper published today, this structured approach brings many benefits.

Left to themselves, fewer than 1% of customers bother to contribute a review. But a disciplined process of positively asking for reviews from known buyers can take this response rate up to 15%. This means that a) more products get reviewed, b) each product gets lots more reviews and c) it’s possible to get much more granular, detailed information from the review – not just ‘it sucks!’ or ‘it’s great!’ but “the picture quality is great but the sound quality isn’t that good’, etc. 

DEEPAK KUMAR

PGDM 2 ND SEM