The product families feature in Ratings & Reviews enables you to share user-generated content (UGC) across multiple related products. By grouping products in families, you can display UGC written about one family product on the product display pages of all family products.

Share reviews using product families

Sharing reviews among products in the family increases the following key performance indicators for your Bazaarvoice implementation:

  • Percentage of products with displayed reviews
  • Number of products with displayed reviews
  • Average reviews for each product
  • Number of total displayed reviews

Types of product families

The type of product family that you use depends on how your products relate to other similar products:

  • Product variants — Products that are nearly identical to other products in terms of consumer experience, but they have different SKUs or part numbers. For example, products that come in different colors, different sizes, or are packaged in different weights or quantities may be variants of one another. Content from product variants is usually shared in all directions. All products in a family display content that was written about the other family members.

    Note: Creating a product family of product variants works best when each product variant is featured on its own product display page. If all product variants share the same page on your site, treating the variants as one product when integrating with Bazaarvoice may be simpler and more practical than setting up a product family for those products.
  • Product bundles — Groups of products sold together that otherwise may be sold individually. Content about product bundles is usually shared in one direction: from individual products to the product bundle they're part of. Typically, the PDP for a bundle displays all reviews written about the individual products. However, the PDP for each individual product shows reviews about that product only.

Configure product families

You can configure product families in your Dynamic Catalog Collection (DCC) JavaScript on product display pages, product feed, or through Workbench. You can assign a product to one or more families at the same time using these methods.

Keep the following caveats in mind when configuring product families:

  • Product family configurations do not carry over from the staging environment to the production environment.
  • If you make changes to product families in Workbench, you can only undo them in Workbench.
  • Family definitions in the product feed do not override any family operations in the Workbench.
Note: Product families only work for native reviews. Syndication ignores product family relationships. If you plan to implement or have implemented syndication, contact Bazaarvoice Support before configuring product families in your product feed.

Using the product feed

We recommend you create product families through the product feed if you have a clear idea about which products can be grouped into families. Automating those relationships in the product feed is straightforward and faster than creating them in Workbench.

You can configure product families in your product feed by including one or both of the following attributes:

  • BV_FE_FAMILY—Adds a product to a specific family.
  • BV_FE_EXPAND—Enables a product to display all content from other members of the family.
Tip: We recommend that you do not use special characters, such as commas, in product family names.

In this XML example, all products in a family display content about all other products in the family.

<Product>
     <ExternalId>...</ExternalId>
     <Name>Green iPod Nano</Name>
     <Description>...</Description>
     <BrandExternalId>...</BrandExternalId>
     <CategoryExternalId>...</CategoryExternalId>
     <ProductPageUrl>...</ProductPageUrl>
     <ImageUrl>...</ImageUrl>
     <Attributes>
          <Attribute id="BV_FE_FAMILY">
               <Value>iPod_Nanos</Value>
          </Attribute>
          <Attribute id="BV_FE_EXPAND">
               <Value>BV_FE_FAMILY:iPod_Nanos</Value>
          </Attribute>
     </Attributes>
</Product>
<Product>                 
     <ExternalId>...</ExternalId>
     <Name>Pink iPod Nano</Name>
     <Description>...</Description>
     <BrandExternalId>...</BrandExternalId>
     <CategoryExternalId>...</CategoryExternalId>
     <ProductPageUrl>...</ProductPageUrl>
     <ImageUrl>...</ImageUrl>
     <Attributes>
       <Attribute id="BV_FE_FAMILY">
        <Value>iPod_Nanos</Value>
        </Attribute>
        <Attribute id="BV_FE_EXPAND">
             <Value>BV_FE_FAMILY:iPod_Nanos</Value>
       </Attribute>
     </Attributes>
</Product>

In the following XML example, the product bundle includes BV_FE_EXPAND, so all reviews about family products display on the bundle's page. However, BV_FE_EXPAND is omitted from the product<Attribute> definitions of the individual products to prevent reviews about the bundle from displaying on individual product pages.

<Product>
     <ExternalId>...</ExternalId>  
     <Name>Value Bundle</Name>   
     <Description>...</Description>
     <BrandExternalId>...</BrandExternalId>
     <CategoryExternalId>...</CategoryExternalId>
     <ProductPageUrl>...</ProductPageUrl>
     <ImageUrl>...</ImageUrl>
     <Attributes>
          <Attribute id="BV_FE_FAMILY">
               <Value>Value_Bundle</Value>
          </Attribute>
          <!-- Including BV_FE_EXPAND displays content from all components on the bundle page -->
          <Attribute id="BV_FE_EXPAND">
               <Value>BV_FE_FAMILY:Value_Bundle</Value>
          </Attribute>
     </Attributes>
</Product>
<Product>
     <ExternalId>...</ExternalId>
     <Name>Standalone Component</Name>
     <Description>...</Description>
     <BrandExternalId>...</BrandExternalId><CategoryExternalId>...</CategoryExternalId>
     <ProductPageUrl>...</ProductPageUrl>
     <ImageUrl>...</ImageUrl>
     <Attributes>
          <Attribute id="BV_FE_FAMILY">
               <Value>Value_Bundle</Value>
          </Attribute>
     </Attributes>
     <!-- Omitting BV_FE_EXPAND prevents content from the bundle from being displayed on the component page -->
</Product>

Using Workbench

Use Workbench to manually create families in the following situations:

  • You are not familiar with XML.
  • You are unable to work on the product feed.
  • You need to create a family whose UGC-sharing relationships are not straightforward or possible to configure in the product feed.

    The following two examples describe scenarios in which a product family should be created using Workbench.

    • A category manager for MP3 players wants to share reviews across different color variants for the 32 MB and 64 MB players. Setting up separate families for the 32 MB device and the 64 MB device is straightforward in the feed. However, because the 32 MB device and 64 MB device have different SKUs, combining them into one family using the feed may not be possible. The category manager should configure the family in the Workbench.
    • A personal-care brand manager wants to bundle lip balm and sunscreen for sale during the summer months. The brand manager wants to configure a product family containing the lip balm and sunscreen so that reviews about the individual family members will be shared on the product bundle's page. However, the lip balm and sunscreen do not have a common product feed element to link them together. The brand manager should configure the product family in the Workbench. When the season ends and the brand manager no longer wants to sell the products together, the manager can delete the product family bundle using the Workbench.

Configure product families using Workbench

Note: If you require view-only access to product families, you must be assigned a role thats grants you Family Management permissions. Refer to Portal Roles and permissions.
  1. Sign in to Workbench and navigate to Content > Manage Families.
  2. Select Add New Family, and enter a name for the product family.
    3. Note: To create a new family, add or remove products within a family, or modify the Expand setting, you must be assigned a role that grants you Family Management Modification access permissions. Refer to Portal Roles and permissions.
  3. Enter the Product ID, as listed in your XML product feed, for every product you want to add to the family, and select Add Product.
  4. Deselect Expand if you do not want the corresponding product to display content from family members.
  5. Select x to return to the Manage Families page.

Best practices

Native content sharing

When two or more products are added to a product family, these products will share content, such as reviews on your website. The Bazaarvoice guidelines for native content sharing are in place to ensure, as much as possible, an authentic consumer experience in accordance with Bazaarvoice’s Authenticity Policy and definitions. These same guidelines should be considered, but will not be enforced, when you add products to the same product family. Read Bazaarvoice's guidelines and definitions .

Note: It is not possible to explicitly outline detailed criteria for every product, service, or product type. Our guidelines target the majority of product matching recommendations and aim to ensure an authentic consumer experience for our clients. We review and update them on a recurring basis.

Bazaarvoice's recommendations regarding review sharing and review collection within families aligns with our authenticity goals for transparency for end consumers, as well as with the best practices of external regulatory bodies. Bazaarvoice therefore recommends that products with significantly different qualities collect reviews independently of the others and are not added to the same product family. When adding two or more products to a product family, Bazaarvoice recommends they meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • The products have the same set of Universal Product Codes (UPCs) and European Article Numbers (EANs) so that reviews will be shared between retailer products.
  • The products are identical, meaning the products are the same in every and all aspects.
  • The only difference between the products is size, AND the size does not affect the functionality of the product or the consumer experience. For example, we would match a small shirt to a large shirt when the material/composition is the same in every other way.
  • The only difference between the two products is the color, AND the color does not affect the functionality of the product or the consumer experience. For example, we would match a black metal toaster to a white metal toaster that is otherwise identical.
  • The only difference between the two products is packaging, packaging size, or quantity included in the package. For example, we would match a package of 10 diapers with a package of 50 diapers, assuming the individual diapers themselves are identical.

Products should not be added to the same family if they differ in a way that affects functionality or consumer experience, their intended uses differ, or if they meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • The products differ in scent. For example, different scents of perfume or scented candles.
  • The products differ in flavor. For example, different flavors of toothpaste or candy.
  • The products differ in component materials. For example, a down pillow versus a cotton pillow.
  • The products differ in dimension or size in a way that alters the user experience or the functionality of the item. For example, a 10-liter garbage can versus a 50-liter garbage can.

Products such as televisions could be added to the same family despite differences in size if all of the following conditions are met:

  • All components that are critical to the functionality of both televisions are the same or similar enough that their functionality is identical.
  • The televisions are the same brand and model.
  • The user experience for the average consumer could reasonably be considered the same with either television.
  • The products differ in their intended users or use. For example, men’s shoes versus women’s shoes or a vacuum designed specifically for hard surfaces versus one for all surfaces.
  • One product is merely a component of another product. For example, a computer chip in a computer.
  • The products are not sold as being in identical conditions. For example, a new product versus a refurbished product.
    • Note: If the differences between items is enough that functionality or the user experience could be affected, the items may not be matched.