Meet Ulas Sagin, our Syndication expert here at Feefo. It’s his job to explain this popular feature to our clients, and get them set up so they can hit the ground running.
Ulas is an adventurer. When he’s not helping our clients, you’ll find him road-tripping through Europe. He’s also a massive Galatasaray fan – with him cheering them on, it’s no wonder they’re the most decorated football club in Turkey!
Ulas has been with Feefo for seven years. Needless to say, he’s got loads of experience breaking down what Syndication can do. Which is why we sat down for a chat with him.
“Syndication is one of the best ways to get more from your reviews,” Ulas says enthusiastically. “In essence, it allows you to push your content to other affiliated sites within our network – and display content they’ve collected, too.”
This value exchange is one of our favourite things about Syndication. Brands who use it get more reviews, across all their sales channels. This helps them maintain a consistent rating, boost their exposure, and stand out from the crowd. Meanwhile, for retailers, Syndication is great because they can get tons of stars, before they’ve even sold a product themselves. And we all know more stars means more sales.
“What people really want is to see loads of reviews before they buy – and those reviews must be recent,” Ulas explains. “It’s the deal-breaker between them choosing to shop with you or someone else.”
He’s bang on the money. Research shows that two-thirds of people won’t buy a product if the reviews are over a year old. Quantity is just as important: shoppers are 122% more likely to convert on a page with more than five thousand reviews, than on a page with less than one hundred reviews.
“Syndication pretty much solves the recency challenge, because if someone reviews a product on an affiliated site, it instantly pops up on yours too,” says Ulas. “The same goes for quantity, because you’re getting more reviews than sales you’ve made. So essentially, you’re killing two birds with one stone.”
So the benefits of Syndication are pretty clear. But in our experience, people often confuse it with Aggregation. How do the two differ? We ask Ulas, and he breaks it down for us.
“Syndication shares reviews across our entire network of trusted third-party sites – so anyone who stocks the same product can get access. Whereas Aggregation only syncs reviews across your own client base. So both can make your content go further – but Syndication gives you the bigger reach of the two.”
Not all review providers offer both Syndication and Aggregation – but here at Feefo we do. And according to Ulas, getting started is pretty simple.
“All we need from our clients is the European Article Number, Global Trade Item Number, and Manufactured Part Number. Sounds like a bit of a faff, but they’re actually really easy to find – all you need to do is check your product catalogue.”
Ulas and his team provide extensive support to get clients started with Syndication and Aggregation.
“We like to think of ourselves as an extension of our client’s team,” he says with a smile. “We handle all the implementation stuff, so they don’t have to. And if they have any queries, we’re always here to help.”
As we’re finishing up, we can tell there’s one last thing on Ulas’ mind.
“Businesses often think they have to be with Feefo to get in touch with me, but that’s not the case. Whatever stage you’re at with your reviews, and whoever you collect with – I’m more than happy to answer any questions.”
If you have any questions about Syndication or Aggregation, just ask your questions in the Q&A box below, and Ulas will come straight back to you!