ONLINE REVIEWS         
How To Use The Voice Of Your Customer To Super-Power Your Marketing Impact And Generate More Customers

The Specialty Sleep Association (SSA) sponsored this dynamic panel during the 2018 Las Vegas Winter Market to shed light on how independent retailers can get real reviews on both products and services at an accelerated rate over their competition.   See the RESOURCES at right to watch the presentation video, download the slides in the decks used by the panelists, and watch the Q&A portion. 

Word-of-Mouth has always been recognized as one of the strongest methods retailers can use to create and keep customers.  Nowadays word-of-mouth has become word-online….  Every retailer knows how important online customer reviews have become in the sales process.  Every retailer should want to know how to get verified reviews, and how to use them to create more customers.

Michael Magnuson, founder of leading consumer buying guide for mattresses GoodBed.com, shared his perspective on the role of reviews in the mattress shopping journey today.  Drawing from nearly 10 years of experience with GoodBed, during which time millions of consumers have used the site's unbiased reviews, expert advice, and sophisticated search tools for help in finding their own perfect mattress, Michael offered his thoughts on what mattress retailers and manufacturers need to know about reviews.  This included an overview of today's mattress review landscape, as well as best practices for collecting, managing, and utilizing reviews learned from over 200,000 mattress owners having shared their mattress experiences on GoodBed's independent review platform.

James Winn, VP Sales and Operations at Feefo, a global leader in product and service reviews, discussed the importance of collecting genuine, verified customer reviews in the furniture and mattress industries.  Feefo is a Google Licensed Content Partner that has been fighting fake reviews since 2010, and is used by more than 3,500 businesses in all markets across the globe. Their award-winning platform empowers customers and businesses to make better purchasing decisions through genuine, verified customer reviews. Winn outlined how customer generated content allows businesses to build trust, which helps increase website traffic, conversion rates and ultimately, sales.

Brian Rea, Director of Retail Partnerships at Podium, a top customer interaction platform backed by Google Ventures, discussed their texting capability component which allows for collecting the review while the customer is in the store before a million other things grab at their attention.  Rea pointed out what things Google loves when it comes to reviews for furniture and mattress stores, as well as the pain points these
businesses see when it comes to online reviews.  Rea said that Podium is used by over 14,000 businesses globally to generate more reviews and help businesses communicate better with their customers.

The Q&A was so informative, thank you Moderator and SSA Board Member Brian Davis (The Bedroom Store).  Said Davis, “Over the past 5 years our business has gone through a transformation like no other time in my past 30 years in the industry. The consumers path to your door now lies through your website.”  He believes that traditional forms of advertising are becoming less and less relevant in driving consumers to his stores. “If you want consumers to shop your stores you better have a great website giving them all the information they need, and online reviews for both your company and your products.”  Brian introduced one of the big challenges within our industry: How do you get the reviews on both your products and company “when you are increasingly losing foot traffic in your showrooms?” It’s a good question.

Call or email Tambra Jones at the SSA office with your questions 559-868-4187 ~ ssadirector2013@gmail.com.

RESOURCES:

Panel Presentation Video
Magnuson Presentation Slides
Winn Presentation Slides
Rea Presentation Slides
Q&A Video