Plenty increases awareness of its high quality products with Bazaarvoice

Plenty builds its reputation as a premium quality brand through Bazaarvoice’s Ratings and Reviews solution

Plenty, the leading brand in kitchen paper, thrive within a very competitive category – household cleaning products. Maintaining a price premium in such a sector, where many products can be considered non-essential, can be challenging, however with an already superior product, Plenty maintains superiority vs the competition in both absorbency and wet strength, it required additional support to help convince shoppers that it represents good value for money and believed authentic endorsements from its shoppers would help unlock this.

“As consumers today, we’re all more skeptical of marketing in general says, but if a fellow shopper says it, its authentic, so you pay attention,” said Leanne Mcleod, Brand Manager at Plenty. “We pride ourselves on having the best quality product on the market, but to hear from a wide variety of shoppers that they agree that we’re the best for your money, just validates what our brand is doing. It’s a great way to be able to demonstrate the quality of our products in a very easily interpreted way.”

In order to amplify the voice of its customers, Plenty displays ratings and reviews of its products on its website using Bazaarvoice. Customers are more likely to value other shoppers’ opinions over a brand message, so having access to a wide range of product reviews helps them to confidently make purchasing decisions.

“I’m a very big supporter of ratings and reviews because it’s a great way to display superior product quality while helping to influence buying habits,” said Mcleod.

Increasing review volume with always-on collection strategies

When building your user-generated content (UGC) program, it’s great to gather as many high-quality reviews as possible. But that shouldn’t be a one-time endeavor. You have to diligently and continuously work to gather fresh, authentic content on your brand’s product pages. Less than half (47%) of consumers think product reviews older than 3 months are still relevant, and only 25% of shoppers feel that a review retains its value after 12 months.

Plenty continues to increase its review volume through several different always-on collection strategies. For instance, when you first visit its website, you’re prompted with a pop-up that offers you entry into a sweepstakes. When customers leave a product review, they earn the chance to win £50 — and they can enter every month!

Identifying new opportunities for product innovation through consumer feedback

Not only are ratings and reviews full of invaluable information for consumers, they’re also full of rich insights for brands and retailers as well. The feedback that customers share in their UGC can help companies improve everything from their processes to their products. In fact, Plenty used what it learned from customer reviews to help create single sheet dispensing ‘Handy Towels’.

As a result of feedback and research, when faced with unexpected spillages outside of the kitchen, Plenty explored the opportunity for a quick action paper product that could be designed for multiple rooms in the house for use with a single hand. This feedback and insight led to the innovation that is Handy Towels! Post-COVID, shoppers and consumers are keen to point out they prefer to dry their hands on paper to avoid any risk of cross contamination to other family members, this improved hygiene message delivers an incremental opportunity for use – one sheet at a time.

 

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Elevating marketing strategies based on consumer insights

Insights gained from UGC can also be used to identify new and innovative ways customers are using products that the brand may have never intended, or even predicted. A prime example of this? Pet adoptions in the UK went through the roof during lockdown(s). In fact, at the beginning of the pandemic, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home reported that it had re-homed more than twice the number of animals than during a similar period the previous year. And according to their reviews, many people started began to share how Plenty helped them care for and clean-up after their pets.

In response to this new revelation into how its customers were using its products, and the massive increase in pet owners, the Plenty marketing team now creates bespoke content that suits this new growing audience category that may have never interacted with the brand before. Through the use of a dedicated page on its website, blog posts, social media posts, and a hashtag campaign (#LoveIsMessy), the brand is now talking with pet parents about the benefits of using Plenty for clearing up after their pets.

“It’s just widening those occasions when you could consider using Plenty, and letting people know that the product is suitable for a much broader range of jobs,” said Mcleod.

When bringing a new product to market, there is nothing more helpful than hearing from other happy customers. Generating UGC such as ratings and reviews are now essential to Plenty’s new product launch strategy and success.

Bazaarvoice’s role in supporting Plenty’s success

In business, experts should work with experts. While Plenty stays busy presiding expertly over its business, they can rely on the Bazaarvoice team to share their UGC expertise whenever and however it is needed to help them be successful.

“I have no hesitation in sharing that the Bazaarvoice client success and support team has been first-rate. I have full faith in all of the team members. They are very quick to respond by email or by phone, and quickly advise on a solution.”

Learn more about Ratings & Reviews.