The power of user generated content continues to amaze me. In early February, Smarter integrated video reviews into it’s shopping search listings. While not the only shopping engine stepping into video product reviews (ShopWiki has them too), I absolutely love the way Smarter displays these videos.

The screenshot highlights a product level view, but also notice the call out in the left hand nav which shows up for general search results or browsing (dental floss, camera phones, mice/trackballs, etc.)

Late last year I bought an electric razor. Too bad I didn’t see the Norelco Quadra review (click on Norelco Quadra to view), powered by Smarter partner Expo TV.

Expo TV provides the 24,000 product video reviews and Smarter.com matches them to the product level. And that’s the real beauty of the integration, as a part of product research, the video reviews are invaluable. According to Smarter’s product evangelist, Paul Willmes, “the reviews are by people who actually own [the product] which makes it more real. It makes the opinion more valuable, like a friend giving you advice.”

Expo TV pays for the reviews then an editorial staff reviews each video and rates it on a scale from 1 - 5. Smarter.com only takes reviews with a rating of 3 or higher.

My main question for Paul was whether the videos increase click-through or conversion rates for the merchants. According to Paul, “merchants have provided positive feedback and are asking how they list their own videos on Smarter. Where there is video available, click-through rate for products goes up.”

This presents some cool optimization opportunities for smart retailers…