Bazaarvoice Generative AI Study reveals consumers are open to AI in user-generated content

Over half (53%) of consumers say they trust generative AI to at least some extent

Bazaarvoice, Inc., the leading provider of full-funnel authentic user-generated content (UGC) solutions, today released its latest research, based on a survey of more than 9,000 respondents around the world. The report explores consumers’ trust of generative AI, and if they would find it useful in assisting with writing product reviews. This report is being released in conjunction with the announcement of Bazaarvoice’s AI Center of Excellence, an internal team consisting of all key disciplines, which was created to provide company-wide guidance and leadership on all things AI. Their goal is to drive not just product innovation, but also to ensure we are building things safely and securely.

“AI has the power to improve our lives in an almost countless amount of ways,” said Colin Bodell, Bazaarvoice CTO. “Bazaarvoice has been using AI and machine learning in our technology and offerings in various ways over the past decade. We also have several new offerings that utilize AI such as Content Coach, which suggests product-specific topics for consumers to write about in their reviews based on other relevant product reviews. This helps to ensure that higher-quality reviews are being written.”

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Global survey highlights include:

• Generative AI could prove helpful, because consumers struggle when writing reviews: 68% said they sometimes feel unsure about what information to share that would be helpful to other customers when writing a review
• Consumers would be open to utilizing AI when writing product reviews: 67% said that it would be at least somewhat helpful if an e-commerce site provided an AI-powered coaching to guide users in leaving a higher-quality product review
• Consumers would like AI’s assistance in the Q&A section on sites too: When asking a question about a product on a brand or retailer’s website, 45% would trust an answer that they would receive immediately that was generated by AI and 36% said maybe, depending on the answer
• Half (49%) of people said they would like to write a review on a website in which generative AI helps guide them about what to write because it would help them write a better review
• Generative AI adoption is not very high, but users like it: Only about a third (36%) of people have used generative AI tools such as ChatGPT or Bard, but 14% plan to use it in the future. Of the people who have used it, 55% said they would use it again

See more research in Bazaarvoice’s latest blog.

“AI is an incredibly powerful and vibrant tool, but it’s just that – a tool, not a strategy. With that in mind, brands and retailers need to find strategic applications for this tool,” said Zarina Lam Stanford, Bazaarvoice CMO. “While utilizing AI to its fullest extent, brands and retailers must ensure authenticity is practiced to protect brand safety, integrity, and equity. Trust is the most precious currency and AI should not ever be used to replace the genuine and authentic voices of consumers.”

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