Challenges

Footwear brand Dr. Martens was in search of a new reviews partner after facing limitations around the ownership and management of their customer reviews.

All reviews collected by the Dr. Martens team were posted on the brand site as well as their reviews provider’s site, which affected their search engine optimization (SEO) and site traffic. Additionally, reviews were posted to the Dr. Martens site automatically — leaving no room for their team to moderate the reviews to ensure that they’re relevant and appropriate.

While Dr. Martens is already a well-established brand with a huge following, they wanted a reviews provider that could support their growth and help them scale their business.

Their brand also required a global reviews provider that would allow them to make an impact within different markets while catering to their customers’ specific footwear needs.

Dr. Martens wanted their customers to express their individualism through their footwear choices, and the ability to showcase this social proof all throughout their site to drive conversion and boost buyer confidence along the path to purchase.

Solutions

The search for a new reviews provider led Dr. Martens to consider Yotpo per recommendations from other retailers. It wasn’t long before the Dr. Martens team realised that Yotpo’s product and functionality aligned well with the brand’s requirements — making it a great corporate and cultural fit for their team.

After a seamless migration to Yotpo Reviews and support from their dedicated customer success team, Dr. Martens was able to strategize more on their customer reviews and brand growth.

With Yotpo’s help, Dr. Martens had full ownership and control of their reviews. All customer content remained on their site allowing them to improve SEO as well as site traffic. And with Yotpo’s moderation tool, the brand could easily manage the content that was posted to their site.

Yotpo’s support for multi-language implementation was highly valued as well. It provided a great opportunity for growth as Dr. Martens successfully implemented Yotpo across 19 websites across the globe without any language limitations.

Because displaying social proof through customer reviews and photos was very important to the Dr. Martens team, they leveraged Yotpo Reviews features such as Photo Review Requests and Smart Filters.

Photo Review Requests allowed the brand to seamlessly collect photos of how their customers styled their products, and then display those photos alongside written reviews. Dr. Martens also took advantage of Yotpo’s Smart Filters, which allowed shoppers to sort through reviews to find the information that is most relevant to them.

With the customer content the brand collected, they were able to boost buyer confidence and foster a sense of community for their customers. Plus, the combination of on site reviews and the brand’s “True to Size” fit guide also helped the Dr. Martens team reduce their return rate.

Results

Yotpo has had a significant impact on Dr Martens’ business, particularly in terms of on-site engagement, conversions, and reducing returns. For instance, the combination of customer reviews and the “True to Size” feature on the brand site empowers customers to make well-informed purchase decisions. This empowerment through social proof contributes to fewer returns, leading to lower refund costs, reduced stock holding, and increased customer satisfaction.

Customer reviews play a vital role in providing valuable information to shoppers regarding fitting and size, which is highly valued by Dr. Martens and their customers. Since launching with Yotpo, the brand has collected over 1.8 million reviews across all of their global domains. Dr. Martens has also maintained an average star rating of 4.5, ultimately boosting buyer confidence. Reading genuine reviews has validated the brand’s story and enhanced the connection customers feel with the heritage and quality of Dr. Martens’ products.

Asking customers to submit photos alongside their reviews have also made an impact with the brand collecting upwards of 164,000 customer photos. These photos have been instrumental in showcasing how each shopper styles the products they’ve purchased. And by leveraging social proof and providing a platform for customers to express themselves, Dr. Martens continues to strengthen its brand identity as a symbol of individuality and self-expression in the footwear industry.

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