October 2020 Recap: Site Trends and New Brands
October 2020 Recap: Site Trends and New Brands
By Shannon May
Product Marketing Manager at ExpertVoice
November 20, 2020
As we head into the holiday selling season, read on for a recap of the inspiring activity on ExpertVoice last month.
October 2020 Highlights
Experts
In October, 365,000+ experts across North America had access to the much anticipated Snow Sports Learning Event -- a four-week promotion that encouraged experts to boost their product knowledge and then get their hands on the latest apparel, hardgoods, optics, and more. Who wouldn't want to find out what’s hot this cold winter season?
Targeted experts reviewed participating brands' latest winter lessons, completed their Edu-Games, and then were rewarded with additional limited-time discounts from brands like 686, Backcountry Access, Outdoor Research, Salomon, Sweet Protection, and more.
Experts could also participate in the Electronics Category Campaign and Fall Outdoors Flash Event which launched mid-month. In addition to these onsite promotions, here are more impactful expert stats from October:
25,141
experts joined and affiliated on ExpertVoice
8,055
responses collected from custom surveys and NPS surveys
6,708
product recommendations published by experts on ExpertVoice
9,196
experts published photos to their ExpertVoice profiles
Brands
In October, we kicked off the Expert Effect, a virtual event series focused on addressing key questions our brand partners raised over the past few months. Three Thursdays in a row, we dove deep into a new topic related to the state of advocacy marketing in "the new normal." Over 150 partners from 100+ brands RSVP'd and got a sneak peek of Brand Communities Beta, Product Launch Campaigns Beta, and new syndication options coming soon to the Expert Recommendation Display. You can watch the earlier sessions with Bain & Company and Tommy Noonan, the “fake review hunter” here.
In addition to attending the virtual event series, last month brands could tap into two new reports which launched in the Analytics app of the Advocacy Platform. First was the Search Term Frequency Report which shows a 12-month summary of what search terms experts use to discover your brand and products on ExpertVoice. The second was the Recommendations Over Time Report which shows the total number of expert recommendations published each month on ExpertVoice.
More exciting news? The Advocacy Platform Homepage also launched, allowing brands to easily view their most recent expert activity all in one place. While there's no doubt October was a busy month, here are a few other exciting monthly stats:
22
brands joined ExpertVoice, including Griffin Remedy, Lost Coffee, Earth Buddy Pet, Intense Cycles, Western Rise and more
7
additional brands began sharing expert reviews on their e-commerce pages, including Nordic Naturals, MTN OPS and Holistic Hound
9
brands kicked off the recruitment phase of their Communities program, a new Advocacy Platform app that is now in beta. Participants include Federal, Superfeet and The Honest Kitchen
4
brands began building their own Product Launch Campaign, a new self-service campaign that is in beta with brands like MAMMUT, Klymit and Icebreaker
Partners
In Q3 2020, we saw an astounding 478% increase in new experts signing up for ExpertVoice and affiliating with professional partner organizations compared to the previous five quarters. Established organizations such as Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Park Law Enforcement Association, Boone and Crockett Club, and Ducks Unlimited are now offering expert perks to their elite members. These key accounts, coupled with many smaller, more intimate partnerships, helped introduce 4,500+ new experts to the expert community during the fall selling season.
Coordinated messaging to existing ExpertVoice partners about upcoming onsite promotions, such as limited-time Flash Events, also became a welcomed engagement trend. As we bring more experts onto our platform, we anticipate closing out 2020 with an uptick in new experts affiliating and engaging with brands like yours.
Looking Ahead
As we look forward to the new year, stay tuned for information about new product improvements and releases coming soon, including:
- Product Launch Campaigns: Beta brand participants started to recruit their ideal experts via a custom application, and will soon seed products and collect expert-generated content to support their product launches and gain other insights.
- Brand Communities: Beta brand participants are testing tools to build exclusive communities of experts that they can treat differently or engage in traditional ambassador programs.
If you are interested in learning more or would like to see other stats, please reach out.