2020 in Review: Site Trends and News Brands

By Shannon May
Product Marketing Manager at ExpertVoice

January 21, 2020

While you might be ready to close the book on 2020, take a moment to celebrate how far we’ve come together. We hope this Year in Review gives you a glimpse into some of the special moments our experts, brands, and partners helped create.

2020 Highlights

Experts

We all experienced the ups and downs of 2020 together, but unfortunately, some experts were hit harder than others by the economic impact of COVID-19. Some experts stayed home, while essential workers such as medical professionals, healthcare workers, firefighters, police, active military, retail sales associates, and others braved the front lines in their respective fields.

Over 9,000 credentialed medical professionals and healthcare workers joined the platform and were welcomed by several brands who extended their thanks with special access to their products.

Also in 2020, a few experts rallied together to share creative ways other experts could lend their expertise during unprecedented times. Finally, because consumers were encouraged to stay at home, experts also surfaced their top "at home" product recommendations for fitness and training, health and wellness, and immune support.

Although each expert is unique in their area of expertise and the community they serve, the shared experience of 2020 brought our entire community together. Here are other impactful #expertworthy stats from the year we'll never forget:

271,177

experts joined and affiliated on ExpertVoice

86,981

responses collected from custom surveys and NPS surveys

75,908

product recommendations published by experts on ExpertVoice

126,488

photos (expert-generated content) published to expert profiles

Brands

Tough times brought out the good in individuals and organizations in 2020. To help consumers make better buying decisions during times of uncertainty, brands like Crankbrothers leveraged the power of expert reviews and syndicated them to their e-commerce website.

After seeing an 18% increase in conversion and a 45% increase in average order value, AJ Allen, the Brand Manager of North America at Crankbrothers said, “We are stoked to have the chance to leverage years of reviews from knowledgeable ExpertVoice members on our own website, allowing us to continue building trust with our potential customers during the purchasing cycle.”

Also in 2020, brands attended the Expert Effect, a three-week virtual event series that addressed critical questions about brand trust in the time of COVID-19. To help ‘retool’ for the new world ahead, we learned about key factors that will influence the speed and intensity to which consumer spending returns to out-of-home or stay-at-home.

Finally, in addition to managing their Advocacy Marketing programs on ExpertVoice, brands launched other meaningful initiatives to support their customers and communities at scale in 2020. Here are more stats recapping the year:

239

brands joined ExpertVoice to reach their target expert audience and strengthen their recommendations

79

brands began sharing expert reviews on their e-commerce pages

9

brands kicked off the recruitment phase of their Communities program, a new Advocacy Platform app that is now in beta

4

brands began building their own Product Launch Campaign, a new self-service campaign that is in beta

Partners

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s the importance of relationships. With social distancing, remote work, and canceled events, our Partnerships team quickly learned how to connect with our 4,500+ professional partner organizations from afar.

New partners considering ExpertVoice for their members can now learn about the benefits, features, and frequently asked questions on a dedicated web page just for partner organizations.

Existing partners can now tap into a new digital toolkit of free resources such as flyers and social posts, to help get the word out about ExpertVoice member benefits. They also now receive a quarterly Email Newsletter that highlights platform news, resources, and upcoming promotional events that their members can participate in.

To our delight, brands also tapped into our partner network and focused on strengthening relationships with experts at specific organizations. One example was Weston, a backcountry ski and snowboarding brand that amplified its relationship with AIARE to collect more expert recommendations for its e-commerce platform. Weston also created a limited benefit and discount as a reward for graduates of the AIARE 1 Beginner Snow Safety course. Learn more about other partner success stories here.

Looking ahead in 2021

Thanks for being a part of ExpertVoice in 2020. We look forward to sharing more exciting product news and releases with you throughout 2021. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at what's to come:

Expanded offerings to the E-Commerce Advocacy Solution: Including syndicating recommendations through Bazaarvoice and the ability to collect recommendations for redirect stores.
Product Launch Campaigns: New tools to collect expert-generated content (photos and expert reviews) for specific products. Beta participants have already recruited experts via a custom application, seeded products, and will soon collect expert-generated content to support their product launches and gain other product insights.
Brand Communities: A new way for brands and experts to connect on a deeper level. Beta participants are currently testing tools within the Advocacy Platform to build exclusive communities of experts that they can treat differently or engage in traditional ambassador programs.
Partner Resources: In 2021, partners can look forward to more helpful resources that explain the value of ExpertVoice to their members, such as partner success stories, webinars, and more.

Made it this far? Check out our other blog post recapping the year -- 2020 in Review: The Advocacy Platform.