It would be so nice if consumers would just take marketers at their word. You know your brand is great, and your product pages share everything a potential buyer would want to know.
But, alas, most consumers don’t exactly trust brands to be unbiased. Instead, they trust people like them — in other words, other customers.
That’s where user-generated content, or UGC, comes in. Just take a look at these stats:
- Eight in ten shoppers say UGC highly influences their purchasing decisions.
- Six in ten shoppers believe UGC is the most authentic type of marketing content.
- On average, shoppers find UGC to be 10 times more persuasive than influencer content.
So, what makes a successful UGC strategy? It includes three key components:
- Collect more reviews to build trust.
- Display your reviews for maximum effect.
- Analyze your reviews for fresh insights.
To succeed at UGC in 2024, you’ll want to nail all three. Read on to learn how to do just that, with our top UGC content tips for 2024.
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1. Collect more reviews to build trust
To make UGC work for you, you need to have UGC in the first place. Here are 5 proven tips for collecting UGC in 2024.
- Email your customers after they make a purchase. Email is the easiest way to collect reviews from your customers, because you have a record of what they bought and an email to reach them at.
- Run a contest or sweepstakes. Offering a prize is a great way to generate reviews. Pro Tip: Work with your influencer partners to spread the word!
- Offer a freebie. Some people need a little extra push to put in the work to write a review. Offer a discount on their next purchase or mail them a free sample in exchange for a review.
- Ask for reviews on social media. Every once in a while, when you’re out of fresh ideas for social content, write a post encouraging people to leave a review. You can even feature other reviews to give people inspiration of what to write (and motivate them to leave a review in the hopes of being featured).
- Add a request for photos in your review form. Photos can be an especially persuasive form of UGC. They show people what your product looks like, and in the case of apparel or cosmetics, how it looks on different people.
2. Display your reviews for maximum effect
Once you start getting reviews, it’s time to put them to work! Display your reviews prominently on your product pages and throughout your website. Adding a review carousel to your home page is a fantastic way to introduce new shoppers to your brand — and just how much people love it!
On your product pages, display your star rating above the fold, along with the rest of your key product information. Ask your developers to add an anchor tag so that when shoppers click on the star ratings, it brings them to the reviews section of the product page.
In the reviews section, offer filters and sorting options so shoppers can hone in on the UGC they’re after. Here’s a great example from Nordstrom. Shoppers can filter by star rating, pros and cons, size, color, or width. They can even enter their own search term or select only reviews with photos.
3. Analyze your reviews for fresh insights
Finally, check in on your reviews regularly. Every quarter is a good place to start, but every month is even better. Your reviews can share essential insights like:
- What customers love (or hate) about individual products
- Issues with shipping or fulfillment that need to be addressed
- New keywords you can use to describe your products
- Your top-rated (and lowest-rated) products
With these tips guiding your 2024 UGC strategy, you’ll be running a well-oiled machine. For more on making your marketing work smarter for you, contact Your Marketing People.
