Read the following guidelines about nominating products before filling in the form and sending it to us for processing.

Consider which types of products you should offer

Offer strategic products that compete with those offered by other brands. Here are a few ideas:

  • New products—Offer samples of a product before it goes to market so the product has reviews when it launches.
  • Products with low review volume—Increase product review coverage on items with few or no reviews.
  • Products with old reviews—Boost existing reviews with new content to keep user-generated content (UGC) relevant.
  • Seasonal products—Maximize sales during peak shopping seasons by having content at the beginning of the season.

Verify the products are in your product catalog

We use data in your product catalog to associate ratings and reviews with your products. Use the Bazaarvoice Portal to verify the products you want to sample are in your product catalog and contain correct information:

  1. Sign in to the Bazaarvoice Portal . For information about users and permissions, see Portal roles.
  2. From the Portal menu , select Product Catalog under Manage Products. The Products page appears listing all the products in your catalog. From this page, you can view and add new ones.
Note: For information about finding products, select in the upper-right corner of Portal.

For more information, view Product catalog.

Enter your Bazaarvoice client information

  1. Download the sampling nomination form (available in English , French , and German ).
  2. In the Sampling Program Info tab, enter detailed information about your company, any additional parties involved, and specifics about the campaign.

The following table provides information about the campaign and client details we require:

Entries Explanations Examples
Type of sampling campaign Select the type of sampling campaign you purchased from the drop-down list.
Brand name Enter the name of your brand.
Client point of contact (POC) Name Enter your business address, department, and telephone number.
Client POC email address Enter your business email address.
How many products can/will be shipped to each community member? Enter the maximum number of unique products that members can select.
How will you ship products for your campaign? Select the fulfillment type from the drop-down list.
  • Brand responsible for shipping products
  • Purchased fulfillment services through Bazaarvoice
Fulfillment POC Name Enter the details for the brand PoC if you selected Brand responsible for shipping products.
Fulfillment POC email address Enter the email address for the brand PoC if you selected Brand responsible for shipping products.
How will you handle reships to members if a product is lost/broken during transit? Select an option from the drop-down list.
  • Contact me to reship to the member
  • Do not reship to member (unit will be marked as won't ship and still considered used)
  • I will include extra inventory to the warehouse for reships (only available if purchased fulfillment through Bazaarvoice)
Retailer(s) that sell the samples Enter a comprehensive list of all retailer sites on which you expect reviews to display.
Any additional requirements for the campaign? Enter campaign-specific considerations. Members need to redeem coupons in-store.
Are you offering full or sample size products? Select an option from the drop-down list.
Note: We recommend full-size products for the best campaign experience and performance.
Is it okay for members to post photos with their reviews? Enter Y or N.
Does the product being sampled require Adverse Event Reporting or Highly Regulated moderation? Select Yes or No from the drop-down list.
Is there a social embargo on these products? Select Yes or No from the drop-down list to indicate whether or not you’re happy for members to share social media content about your products before receiving them.
Note: We don't monitor social media content. If this is a pre-release product, or you don't want social media content, enter No so we can communicate this to our members.
Country for samplers (TryIt Sampling Only) Enter the country for the correct TryIt community.
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • Germany
  • France

Describe your consumers

In the Target Consumers tab, enter a detailed description of your ideal consumers for these products.

Here are some example questions to help you describe your ideal consumer:

  • Who are they?
  • What interests do they have?
  • What are their age ranges?
  • Do they own or rent their homes?
  • Do they need to live in a certain state for shipping purposes?

We will apply our best practices to target your preferred audience using your suggestions as a guide.

Nominate products

Enter details about your products and product variants in the Product Information tab of the sampling nomination form. Enter each product and product variant as a separate line item.

Note: Including detailed, enticing descriptions and URLs to high-quality images is important. They appear in the Member app and in emails to members invited to the campaign.
Tip: Select the first row under each column to display tooltips.

The following table explains each column in the Product Information tab and provides examples to help you get started:

Entries Explanations Examples
Shipping Availability Date (mm/dd/yyyy) The date products will be available to ship. We use this date to create a campaign that works with your product availability timeline. Use the format mm/dd/yyyy
Client Instance Name of the client instance that contains or will contain the product you want to nominate. This name displays in the upper-right corner of Portal. If you send reviews to one retailer only, leave this cell empty.
Product Page URL Brand or retailer product display pages. Copy and paste the link to the brand or retailer product display page.
Brand The brand of the product being sampled.
Product Name The exact product name used on product display pages. This enables members to quickly identify the product. Cotton T-Shirt, Turquoise
Product ID Typically an external ID or stock-keeping unit ID. 12345678
Sampled Product UPC (12 Digit) A unique 12-digit number assigned to a trade item in the US, Canada, European countries, Australia, and other countries. Ensure you enter a Universal Product Code (UPC) for each product variant (color, flavor, size) and product you want to offer. Doing so guarantees accurate syndication of (UGC). Learn more about our syndication guidelines. 012345678905
Variant UPCs for Syndication Enter all variant UPCs, separated by commas, where you want to share reviews for display and syndication.
Note: Don’t complete this step if you’re sampling products to a retailer’s community.
Sampled Product EAN (13 Digit Europe Only) A unique sequence of up to 13 letters and numbers assigned to a trade item in European countries. Ensure you enter a European Article Number (EAN) for each product variant (color, flavor, size) and product you want to offer. Doing so guarantees accurate syndication of UGC. Learn more about our syndication guidelines. 5012345678900
Variant EAN for Syndication Enter all variant EANs, separated by commas, where you want to share reviews for display and syndication.
Note: Don’t complete this step if you’re sampling products to a retailer’s community.
Size If the product is available in different sizes, for example, clothing, bedding, or containers, indicate which size you're offering people to sample. Medium (M)
Color If the product is available in different colors, for example, clothing, bedding, or make-up, indicate which color you're offering people to sample. Turquoise
Fair Market Value The manufacturer's suggested retail price. 20 USD
Quantity of Units The total number of units you want to offer the sampling community. 500
Product Description A detailed product description to entice members to select your product. This is a luxuriously comfortable casual staple made from soft and lightweight cotton.
Image URL For products live on a retailer site, enter the image URL. Email us the images in a zip file for unreleased products, and enter the file name here. Images must be 300 x 300 pixels. Apparel_Tshirt.zip
Category The parent category to which your product belongs. For example, "Apparel" is the parent category for "T-shirts".
Product Considerations Information required before using the sample, for example, installation time, amount of time to use a product before writing a review, and whether any other products are required to use this sample.
  • Member requires a coffee grinder because the product being offered is fresh, whole coffee beans.
  • Information about food allergens, for example, whether the product contains peanuts or shellfish, or it isn't vegetarian or vegan.
  • A naturopathic supplement that needs to be used for a month before seeing results.
Live at Retail? Enter Y if the product is available for sale at retail. Enter N if the product is new and not yet available for sale.
Expected Go-Live Date If your product isn't live at retail, enter the date it will be available. 12/24/2022
Product Dimensions—Length If Bazaarvoice manages the fulfillment of your products to your sampling community, enter the length of the individual product you’re shipping, including outer packaging.
Note: If you’re sending product bundles, the warehouse will use the dimensions of all products in the bundle to calculate the required packaging.
Product Dimensions—Height If Bazaarvoice manages the fulfillment of your products to your sampling community, enter the height of the individual product you’re shipping, including outer packaging.
Note: If you’re sending product bundles, the warehouse will use the dimensions of all products in the bundle to calculate the required packaging.
Product Dimensions—Width If Bazaarvoice manages the fulfillment of your products to your sampling community, enter the width of the individual product you’re shipping, including outer packaging.
Note: If you’re sending product bundles, the warehouse will use the dimensions of all products in the bundle to calculate the required packaging.

Define product variants

A product variant is nearly identical to another product in terms of consumer experience, but it has a different SKU or part number. Common variants include color, size, package weight, and quantity per package. Content from product variants is usually shared in all directions. All products in a given family display content that was written about the other family members.

Creating a product family of product variants works best when each product variant features in 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.

To define a variant in the Product Information tab:

  • In the Product Name column, enter a product name that describes a group of products with the same feature.
  • In the same column, enter a variant name that clearly describes that product feature (weight, in the below example) and makes it easier for members to select samples.
  • Enter a unique logistics reference to aid inventory management and warehousing.
  • Add an image of the variant so members can easily see the differences between the variants when they’re selecting products to sample.

Variant example

  • Product name—Cheese
  • Variant name—400g
  • Logistics reference—DAIRYFREE-400
  • Image URL—https://img.cheesefactory.com/groceries/dairy/star-cheese
Product Name Product ID Sampled Product UPC (12 digit) Product Description Image URL
Cheddar cheese 300g 1111111 123456789998 Shredded sharp cheddar cheese www.cheeseco.com/images/300g
Cheddar cheese 400g 1111112 123456789999 Shredded sharp cheddar cheese www.cheeseco.com/images/400g

Provide information on social activities

In the Social Activities tab of the sampling nomination form, enter details about social media content.

Note: Only enter details in this tab if you purchased a Social Call-to-Action as part of your Sampling contract.

The following table provides information about the details we require:

Entries Explanations Examples
What date is acceptable for social posts to go live? Enter the date you’re happy for social posts about your products to go live. If there is a social embargo on your products, note when this ends. 06/16/2022
Brand Social Handle Enter all social handles where your sampling community can post content about your products. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook
Unique Campaign Hashtag Enter a unique campaign hashtag. We recommend you use one unique hashtag for each campaign.

You can also add details of copy points you’d like members to discuss in their Social posts and provide any further information and links you’d like to share with Bazaarvoice.

Submit the sampling nomination form

Note: If you are a US client and have purchased fulfillment services from us, complete the steps below and proceed to Fulfill and ship orders.
  1. Once you’ve completed the sampling nomination form, sign in to the Support Community .
  2. Select Open a Case.
  3. Select Sampling Campaign Initiation to submit a request for a new campaign.
  4. Fill in the Subject and Description fields.
  5. Select Confirm.
  6. Attach the sampling nomination form.
  7. Select Comment.