Headquartered in Seattle, Outdoor Research is a brand renowned for its functional, quality outdoor gear and commitment to helping people thrive outside. Celebrated for crafting gear that outdoor explorers have relied on for decades, the brand reached a significant milestone this year by venturing into the mountain biking category for the first time with the launch of the Freewheel Mountain Bike Collection.

01 - CHALLENGE

Building Bike Collection Buzz

Outdoor Research first partnered with ExpertVoice in 2013. Ryan Donk, the brand's Digital Program Manager, explains their primary aim: "Our goal is for experts to become brand advocates for us through word of mouth and digital product reviews, which will drive sales for general customers.” 

Over the years, the reviews they collect on ExpertVoice have proven to boost conversion rates on product detail pages (PDPs) and provide valuable marketing content for the brand. So when E-commerce Director Courtney Tucker learned about ExpertVoice’s product sampling offering, she saw a huge opportunity to support their upcoming launch. The brand was set to introduce their Freewheel Mountain Bike Collection in Spring 2024, featuring an eight-piece assortment designed in collaboration with athletes and customers, including shorts, shirts, gloves and more. To hit the market with trusted testimonials, they needed to gather authentic, high-quality product reviews and UGC quickly. 

02 - SOLUTION

Sampling Products to Credible Testers 

To generate buzz and collect feedback for the new collection, Outdoor Research launched a Product Sampling Campaign with ExpertVoice in early 2024 to have credible gear testers try out the line before the official release.

Having experts in the mountain bike industry wear-test our new product line early on and share positive sentiment helps generate awareness about Outdoor Research entering this new category.”

They hand-picked 35 participants from a pool of qualified applicants. “The ExpertVoice team did a phenomenal job of vetting and narrowing down to a highly desirable and qualified set of candidates who were genuinely excited about being the first to test the new product,” said Courtney Tucker. 

The structured approach ensured gear testers met expectations. “I admired the framework and explicit guidelines that ExpertVoice provided, ensuring they delivered product reviews, user-generated content and Instagram posts in a timely manner,” added Tucker.

After participants were selected and sampling began, the reviews started rolling in. Tucker’s favorite was the very first one they received, “You could feel his enthusiasm and excitement about the product… He provided very detailed feedback about the fit and features of the shorts and I especially appreciated that he’s been in the bike industry for 25 years and has worn every MTB short out there.’” And that was just the start. 

03 - RESULTS

Reviews Come Rolling In

The Product Sampling Campaign with ExpertVoice resulted in a surge of trustworthy reviews, “We received amazing imagery of our gear-testers in the wild, which supported our storytelling efforts for launch and throughout the season with site and email content.” 

The brand knows good reviews resonate and often lends itself to effective marketing content. That’s why Outdoor Research built a campaign around the reviews collected on ExpertVoice, creating a blog post and a dedicated marketing email that highlighted expert reviews and wear-testing images. “The email had the highest click rate of the week, showing consumers were really drawn to this authentic content!” 

Before partnering with ExpertVoice, Outdoor Research had limited reviews on their product detail pages (PDPs) for their mountain biking products. Now, those same pages are full of trustworthy product testimonials from biking pros. The reviews were syndicated to their website via an integration with PowerReviews — allowing Outdoor Research to seamlessly share across their e-commerce experience. Tucker noted, “Reviews on product detail pages aided in driving conversion by providing customers with trusted accolades on the products they considered buying.”

Results by the numbers: 

• Incentivized reviews were 431% longer on average than organic reviews
• Reviews had a 4.9/5 average star rating
• 88% of reviewers shared photos, which the brand repurposed in marketing channels

I was extremely pleased with this sampling campaign from start to finish. Our team shared the successful outcomes with business partners and the executive team. The positive reviews for our new collection launch were outstanding… We are excited to run another sampling campaign next season based on how well this first one went!”