King of Shaves sends over 3,000 reviews to major retail sites

King of Shaves boosts review volume at retail sites with sampling community

Smart marketers understand the positive impact of using the voice of the customer to provide shoppers with the kind of information they want to make a purchasing decision. Addressing this consumer demand is especially effective for small brands constantly seeking advantages over larger competitors.

The King of Shaves, a British manufacturer and distributor of shaving, skincare and razor products, embraces user-generated content to help stand out from its considerable competitors.

We pride ourselves on the level and quality of service and products we provide. We strive to gain competitive advantage by exceeding our customer’s expectations, said Jane Greenaway, Customer Care Manager at The King Of Shaves Company.

The brand uses reviews to increase sales in its retail channels, and to gather insights into the buyer and the customer experience.

Getting the right products into the right hands

The continuous pursuit of fresh, relevant user-generated content is a fundamental practice for success. In fact, visitors who interact with reviews on shave.com are 155% more likely to buy, and the revenue per visitor is 139% higher compared to visitors who do not read reviews on the brand’s site.

Among a variety of other tactics, The King of Shaves drives review volume by sending product samples to Bazaarvoice’s sampling community of consumers and asking for honest feedback.

Bazaarvoice first provided The King of Shaves with a targeted list of community members to receive products. This included consumers who expressed interest in health and beauty and use grooming products.

The King of Shaves chose to send a selection of samples from across the range, including five best-selling products and ones simply needing a boost in reviews volume. The company sent a total of 200 products to the targeted Bazaarvoice sampling community members, which generated 179 new reviews (89.5% review submission rate) with a 4.4 average overall rating.

Leveraging the Bazaarvoice Network of more than 5,700 brand and retail sites, the brand reaches a wider audience by distributing reviews to retail partner sites, where a majority of customers research and shop.

With the Bazaarvoice Network, the company currently has more than 3,000 reviews at major retail sites like CVS, Boots, Superdrug, and Asda. The distributed content accounts for 99% of review volume at those sites and helps drive more sales.

Gathering actionable insights

Not only do reviews from Bazaarvoice sampling members drive conversions on the brand site and in the retail channel, the authentic feedback also gives The King of Shaves a clear picture of the products’ strengths and weaknesses. These insights are crucial for the company to make informative service and product improvements and developments.

We have always encouraged feedback, and the reviews are a much more structured way for gathering the information we want to ensure customers buy products they’ll love. They help us to help the customer, and without a satisfied customer, we have no business, said Jane.

The reviews collected from The King of Shaves’ sampling members contained more text than reviews gathered from other means and included more photos, encouraging interaction from the visual consumer. The review submission form requests ratings on the ease of use of the products, the customer’s skin type, shave frequency, and the reason for purchase. This level of detailed feedback is especially valuable to small companies that can act quickly.

We ensure we read, and where necessary, respond to every single review submitted. Because we’re a relatively small company, we tend to be more flexible than our competitors and can take action on the insights, said Jane.

For example, the company discovered the importance to its customers of being British, vegan, and environmentally-friendly. The company now features these qualities more prominently in website and packaging designs. Alternative dispensing mechanisms and product designs are also in development as a direct result of customer review comments.

Setting the company up for continued success

By collecting a high volume of insightful reviews from the Bazaarvoice sampling community, and by distributing the reviews to retail sites, The King of Shaves is confident in its ability to continue standing out in a competitive marketplace.