DR Power Equipment teams with Bazaarvoice to launch online reviews
DR Power Equipment, which manufactures and sells equipment and tools for property care, announced April 9 that it will partner with Bazaarvoice, an online review service, to manage consumer ratings and reviews for all of its products.
Bazaarvoice is a provider of social networking software that allows customers to actively engage with e-commerce sites. In addition to being able to rate products (with the five-star system) and write reviews, DR customers will be able to share their product experiences through their social networks. Customers will also have access to an “Ask and Answer” forum, where they can post product questions on the DR website and even provide answers to questions posted by other customers.
“Listening to our customers has always been a top priority,” said Joe Perrotto, CEO of DR Power Equipment. “Over the years, we have collected thousands of letters and e-mails, and while we share them internally, we did not have a great way to publish the comments. Bazaarvoice offers a technological solution that makes reviewing products easy for the customer and easy for us.”
DR Power is known for designing and manufacturing high-quality power equipment for property care. With the Bazaarvoice tool, sharing consumer stories will become even easier. Asked if he was concerned about the possibility of driving business away through the occasional bad review, Perrotto said, “No, we’re not concerned, because we have enormous faith in our products themselves. Our word of mouth is very strong and has always been a primary source of new business for us. And, aside from that, the reality is that customers are out there looking for product reviews, and they’re going to find them, if not on your site, then somewhere else. So, why not invite them in the front door?”
Aside from the potential sales benefit, the company expects the online reviews to streamline the harvesting of other valuable product information, like product improvement suggestions. “Knowing what customers are talking about, and reacting to it in real time, is essential to being a great company, and that’s our goal here,” added Perrotto.
The company has a long history of using testimonials for marketing purposes, both in print and broadcast media. “We started out in the ‘80s as a small company working out of a log cabin,” said Perrotto, “so we understood early on the value of the customer’s voice, well before Internet mania. This is a very natural evolution for us.”
Perrotto also encouraged consumers to join DR Power on Facebook.
