In the past year, many brands prioritized building an online presence to connect with customers in light of social distancing. But that transition left a lot to be desired by consumers looking to get a better understanding of the product. Luckily, with user-generated content (UGC), many brands are finding ways to provide social proof for their products.
Not only is UGC great for adding context to the products through social proof, but it's also very helpful for converting more shoppers. But many brands miss the opportunity for converting shoppers by keeping their UGC static and disconnected from the product catalog. With shoppable UGC, you can convert more shoppers while building authentic connections with customers.
How to make your UGC shoppable
There are a lot of ways you can use existing UGC to convert more customers. These tried-and-true tips can help you make the most of your existing content on your brand's eCommerce site.
Tie UGC with your eCommerce ads
Think about where your customers are spending the most time on your eCommerce store. You can use UGC on your social media platforms, but you're going to benefit a lot more by including some of that content in your social and digital ads.
By showcasing socially-oriented content in ads, eCommerce brands can create a cohesive experience that connects the social browser to the landing page.
Feature UGC on product pages — with a CTA
Every online brand focuses on using high-quality visual imagery to make its products stand out on web pages. To stand out from the competition, you can skip the step of using still imagery and instead turn to your customers for dynamic content. Seeing other customers share their experiences about using a brand's products creates significant trust in people interested in your brand. Customers are getting smarter, and instead of relying on the brand's advertisement, they would much rather prefer to see user-generated content.
Add UGC to your emails
Another effective way of making user-generated content shoppable is through your email marketing campaign. This could improve the popularity of your emails, as well as boost your eCommerce efforts. All you have to do is drop in some of the UGC images from your social media gallery, paste some links of testimonials, and voila!
JoJo Maman Bébé features shoppable UGC in their email campaigns to convert customers to subscribe to their emails.
For this, it is also important to know the ins and outs of your eCommerce store and social media platforms. You want to add all those links in your emails that are most popular with the customers and pages that are not visible enough.
Post-purchase communication
Post-purchase emails can convert more existing customers, all while reducing the costs of acquisition. With UGC, you can not only convert more customers, but you can also solicit UGC from customers who have recently bought, and also solicit ratings and reviews.
For example, Alo Yoga sends its customers a check-in email after every purchase, with pictures of other customers wearing the same products they purchased to inspire them to post on the brand's Instagram as well. They also send review forms for customers to rate their experience.
Alo Yoga tags their products in their UGC on different pages to make all their UGC shoppable.
Make it shoppable
If you're only using user-generated content on social, you're missing a huge opportunity to convert more shoppers. Even without an overly sales-y approach, your UGC can work wonders on new channels where customers are likely to buy. By providing transparency with your store products, you're giving customers a greater incentive to trust and shop with you. After all, your business is built on effective customer experiences, so being aware of creating and using content to attract customers is key to success.
Nahla Davies is a software developer and tech writer. Before devoting her work full time to technical writing, she managed—among other intriguing things—to serve as a lead programmer at an Inc. 5,000 experiential branding organization whose clients include Samsung, Time Warner, Netflix, and Sony.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on pixlee.com. Any statistics or statements included in this article were current at the time of original publication.
