10-Year Partnership Supporting Continuous Growth, with Continual Review Collection and Multi-Territory Expansion
In 2008, Skechers selected PowerReviews as its ratings and reviews partner as the company began building out its e-commerce global “footprint.” Skechers has also leveraged Questions & Answers to communicate with consumers and support improved Search Engine Optimization. Through this engagement, Skechers has built trust and relationships with consumers while leveraging Voice of the Customer insights to guide marketing, customer service, and product development efforts.
The Opportunity
As Skechers continued to expand its e-commerce efforts and grew its digital presence, the need for a User-Generated Content program became readily apparent. Skechers sought a solution that was easy to integrate and which could grow with its business, and PowerReviews checked all the boxes.
Fast-forward to the Spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily shuttered retail stores. Skechers found its investment in e-commerce paid off handsomely, as it experienced a significant year-over-year increase in e-commerce orders.
Today, the company is expanding e-commerce properties in many markets around the world, with plans to implement PowerReviews as an integral part of this multi-territory e-commerce offering.
Skechers has collected more than 340,000 reviews with an average star rating of 4.6, with over 8,000 customer images shared, through the PowerReviews platform. And in the U.S., the company has generated review coverage for 87 percent of its products with an average of 18.8 reviews per product — content that consumers have interacted with on over 2.3 million occasions.
Leveraging PowerReviews Integration with Salesforce Commerce Cloud
This UGC helped with site conversions, and it was valuable in aspects of Skechers’ recent e-commerce replatforming. Tim Lakin, Skechers e-commerce merchandising manager, said, “Among other strategies, the insights gained from curating user-generated content aided us in our customer-first layout and design approach. We wanted to have our site guided by what’s important to customers and incorporated visual iconography into the user experience to highlight the features that matter most, per customer feedback.”
Skechers partnered with Salesforce Commerce Cloud to run and drive its global e-commerce platform operations, and the PowerReviews offering is fully integrated with the Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform (in fact, it’s one of the first and only integrated reviews partners vetted and certified for Salesforce’s new Storefront Reference Architecture).
PowerReviews’ enhanced integration partnership with Salesforce Commerce Cloud enables enterprise brands, retailers and merchants to quickly implement and collect ratings, reviews and questions and answers, along with native photos and videos through a fully customized review display.
Operationalizing Questions & Answers
Skechers has used PowerReviews’ Questions & Answers feature to address purchase-blocking questions within the shopper experience. In fact, Lakin has a long Questions & Answers career. In the U.S., he’s fielded over 61,000 questions asked, interacted with 42,000 site visitors, and answered nearly all within 48 hours.
“We syndicate Questions & Answers content to our partners who can use it to support ‘one version of the truth’,” said Lakin.
Lakin also leverages PowerReviews’ Brand Engage feature, which enables him to answer questions on its retailers’ websites, so answers are consistent with the Skechers’ brand.
Mining Consumer Sentiment
Lakin says user-generated content is vital for e-commerce pros because it can reveal insights into what customers want to know – which can result in advantages in marketing and product development.
One such example was when consumers were inquiring about whether Skechers shoes were machine washable.
“Starting from interest communicated through customer questions among other areas, Skechers now includes this information in product descriptions and markets the machine-washability of our products,” said Lakin.
An Enduring Partnership
Over the past decade, PowerReviews and Sketchers have developed a strong partnership. Skechers has helped pilot new PowerReviews functionality and provided feedback to guide new development efforts. It is a hugely valued relationship and partnership.
