In the fast-paced world of ecommerce, user-generated content (UGC) has become a game-changer for marketing strategies. To uncover the real-world impact of UGC, we gathered insights from 18 ecommerce leaders, including C-suite leaders and founders. They share their experiences from boosting sales with a LinkedIn writing contest to increasing engagement with success stories, revealing the transformative power of UGC campaigns.
Boost sales with LinkedIn writing contest
Observing Google's clear preference for user-generated content, we designed a campaign tailored for our ecommerce clients. We hosted a LinkedIn contest for content writers and bloggers to author and post articles about our client's product on LinkedIn Pulse. We selected 25 participants, provided them with writing fees, and incentivized the top three articles with grand prizes based on engagement metrics. The campaign successfully met our expectations, leading to a boost in product sales (over 50 sales) and improved brand recognition.
Ali Ashraf, CMO, Shopify Force
Streetwear brand's #DripCheck success
User-generated content has become a powerful tool in ecommerce marketing, often significantly boosting engagement, trust, and conversions. It leverages authentic customer experiences to create relatable and credible content that resonates with potential buyers.
For example, we ran a #DripCheck campaign for a streetwear ecommerce brand.
Alright, picture this: we hit up our customers to post their freshest fits featuring our gear on social media with the hashtag #DripCheck. We're talking full-on street style, maybe with some dope urban backdrops or at local hip-hop events.
Here's how we rolled it out:
- Set up a fire landing page showcasing the illest customer photos.
- Threw down a monthly prize for the most fire fit.
- Plastered the best shots all over our product pages and email blasts.
Now, check the results:
- Social Media Blew Up – 200% jump in mentions and people using our hashtag.
- More People Copped Our Stuff – 15% boost in sales on pages with the user pics.
- Loyal Fam Grew – 25% more repeat customers from the folks who joined in.
- Content for Days – Thousands of authentic pics of our gear in action.
- Street Cred Through the Roof – Customer surveys showed 30% more trust in our brand.
This kind of campaign hits different because it's all about the culture. It's not just clothes; it's a lifestyle. Seeing real people stunting in our gear? That's the kind of authenticity that makes people want to be part of the crew. Plus, it gets our community hyped and involved, keeping them coming back for more.
Yash Gangwal, Founder, Urban Monkey
Video book campaign resonates
Our video book business frequently deploys user-generated content, noticing the huge impact this has on our ecommerce marketing efforts. About thirteen women gathered together to create and gift to their best friend a video-playing book that she'll never forget. The gift was a compiled set of videos that each friend made for her to celebrate their 30 years of friendship and her 70th birthday.
One friend recorded her opening the video, preserving her incredible reaction for all to enjoy. She laughed and cried, and was cheered on by her dear friends. Using this video in our ecommerce marketing materials meant that customers were able to see the raw videos, then how they made them, and lastly the story of giving this gift to a friend. It was wildly successful and really resonated with our audience.
Ashley Kenny, Co-Founder, Heirloom Video Books
Fashion brand's UGC discount strategy
User-generated content has helped drive great results for our ecommerce clients. It has helped to build trust and improve engagement for our clients. For example, we conducted a major UGC campaign for one of our fashion brand clients.
For a two-month campaign period, we offered customers an additional 10% discount for sharing their pictures with our hashtag. Here are the results:
- Repeated Customers – A significant percentage of customers ordered within a month using the discount code, which helped boost revenue.
- Improved Engagement – Customers were thrilled to share their experiences, and our hashtag quickly gained traction within our niche community. This exciting boost in engagement is a testament to the power of UGC.
- Building Trust – Real customers wearing the products helped us build trust and bring authenticity to our marketing campaigns, increasing the conversion rate.
- Content Library – The brand built a library of authentic photos. We reused these in other marketing channels and saved $1,000 in photography costs.
This UGC campaign not only increased our client's market visibility and sales but also made its loyal customers a community, generated an authentic content library, and helped build more authentic ad campaigns with a much higher conversion rate using the UGC.
Sid Tiwatne, Founder & Lead SEO Strategist, Tactic One
Humorous campaign reaches new demographics
We recently launched a fun and engaging campaign to debunk the myth that our collagen products are just for women. We teamed up with an Instagram influencer, who shared a playful post featuring our new Peanut Butter-Jelly Beauty Collagen Bites. In her post, she showcased her partner enjoying the bites just as much as she did.
The caption read, "Busting the myth on Beauty Bites being for the girlies only. Yes, men can eat Beauty Bites, but the real question is, do we really want to share them?" This light-hearted approach sparked a lot of engagement, with comments from followers who found the post relatable and amusing.
The outcome? The humorous tone and genuine review helped us connect with a broader audience, proving that collagen products can indeed be enjoyed by everyone. This campaign demonstrated the power of user-generated content to help in breaking stereotypes and reaching new demographics.
Keira Rumble, Founder, Krumbled Foods
Activewear's “Trail to Town” UGC triumph
Utilizing user-generated content (UGC) can enhance the credibility of your brand and cut down on marketing expenses, creating a mutually beneficial situation. As the creator of my clothing brand, I have personally witnessed the way UGC has changed our marketing strategies in e-commerce. Our top-performing UGC campaign revolved around our summer catchphrase, "From Trail to Town: Your All-Day Adventure Gear.”
We urged clients to post pictures of themselves in our versatile activewear in different locations, such as hiking trails and city cafes. The reaction was incredible! We received many genuine, related visuals that displayed the flexibility of our products. A customer stood out in a photo wearing our moisture-wicking tank top while rock climbing, and later at a rooftop yoga class.
This initiative not only reduced our expenses for a professional photoshoot but also raised our interaction rates by 150% and enhanced sales by 30%. Our audience found the practical demonstrations of our equipment's flexibility more engaging than any planned photo session. It serves as a strong indication that satisfied customers can be your most effective marketers at times.
Jessica Mor, Founder, 3RD ROCK Clothing
Neon sign stories illuminate brand engagement
Our products, by their very nature, are meant to be shared and showcased. Whether it’s a neon sign lighting up a wedding, a birthday bash, a trendy restaurant, or an art installation, each piece has a story that's waiting to be told. Recognizing this, we’ve pivoted our focus significantly towards UGC, encouraging our customers to share their experiences with our products.
The packaging of each of our signs includes a heartfelt thank-you message, inviting customers to share their vibrant setups on Instagram with tags like #mycustomneon. Leveraging Instagram's potential given that our core demographic is highly active on Instagram, we tap into this platform's massive user base of 1.28 billion monthly active users. By encouraging customers to share their moments as they unbox and light up their neon signs, we’re capturing their excitement and making it part of our brand story.
To further bolster our UGC strategy, we’ve launched competitions for existing customers. These help in generating a wealth of content and create a buzz around our brand. This approach has successfully landed us features in notable publications like Real Homes, The Spruce, and Brides.com, showing off the incredible, aspirational imagery from our customers.
UGC has been a game-changer for us, especially in the early stages of our business. It's not just about having marketable content; it’s about building trust and authenticity. When potential customers see real people using and enjoying our products, it speaks volumes more than any traditional or paid advertisement could.
UGC is diverse. It’s not just photos; it’s videos, reviews, testimonials, and more. This diversity allows us to tailor our marketing approach to suit different platforms and audiences. We’ve seen firsthand how hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuy or #IGMadeMeBuy have driven sales and engagement for brands across industries.
By encouraging our customers to be part of our brand’s story, we’re nurturing a sense of community. Aside from engagement, we’re building a loyal customer base that feels connected to our brand and what it stands for. As we rethink our marketing strategies to evolve with technologies, leveraging UGC is a tactic that is here to stay. It's a testament to the power of authenticity and community in today’s digital age.
Clare Jones, PR & Outreach Manager, Custom Neon
Influencer campaign spurs CBD brand growth
We used user-generated content to drive brand awareness for a CBD brand. We recruited a bunch of lifestyle influencers from different niches, including mommy, fitness, cooking, and pet influencers. The deliverables were 3–5 videos of them using the product, testimonials, and unboxing, as well as 10–20 photos.
We used the deliverables in email campaigns, achieving a 60% open rate and a 30% conversion rate with emails that used UGC. Our social media campaigns had a 300% engagement growth when we used UGC. We could use the UGC for product and promotional pages on the website. User-generated content helps create a connection with customers that traditional product photos and campaign photos can't make.
Windy Pierre, Ecommerce Growth Marketer, eCommerce Manager
Solar success stories spark engagement
User-generated content has been a game-changer for us, significantly boosting our marketing efforts. By showcasing real customer experiences and feedback, we've managed to build a stronger, more trustworthy brand image. Our customers are our best advocates, and their testimonials and reviews provide authentic social proof that significantly influences potential buyers. This has resulted in a noticeable increase in our lead generation and conversion rates.
One of our most successful UGC campaigns was our "Solar Success Stories" initiative. We encouraged our customers to share their experiences with our solar panels and installations on social media using the hashtag #SolarSuccessStories. To incentivize participation, we offered a discount on future services for the best stories and featured them on our website and social media platforms. The response was overwhelming, with customers enthusiastically sharing their positive experiences and the benefits they've reaped from using our solar solutions. This not only helped us reach a wider audience but also added a layer of authenticity to our marketing efforts that traditional advertising struggles to achieve.
The campaign exceeded our expectations, generating hundreds of posts and stories within the first two months. Our social media engagement increased by 50%, and traffic to our website saw a 35% boost. Additionally, the authentic customer stories helped us convert more leads into sales, contributing to a 25% increase in sales during the campaign period. The campaign also fostered a sense of community among our customers, enhancing brand loyalty and customer retention. The positive feedback loop created by UGC continues to benefit our brand, as new customers are inspired by the stories of their peers, further driving engagement and growth for Queensland Solar & Lighting.
Daniel Jarrett, CEO, QLD Solar and Lighting
UGC elevates performance marketing results
UGC has become a key pillar in our performance marketing efforts, offering an avenue to diversify creative, align more closely with the content users enjoy engaging with organically, and demonstrate a level of authenticity and trust to new users. Implementing UGC, either as an element of an ad or as an entire creative, can then in turn generate stronger click-through rates and more efficient advertising costs in your marketing. We have seen brands achieve really strong results by featuring customer reviews/testimonials as part of their ad creative or by featuring customers wearing the product on PDPs, for example.
Tom Wilson, Strategy Lead, Vervaunt
Viral unpacking video skyrockets plant sales
User-generated content has had a dramatic effect on our ecommerce marketing efforts. From videos that customers send in of unpacking their plants to honest reviews, whether they are good or bad, have made a significant impact on our e-commerce gardening niche store. One excellent example was a video an architect in Long Island, NY, made while unloading our trees at a job site. It went viral, and that was our best sales month ever in our 38 years in the business. The old saying 'Word of mouth is your best advertisement' is so true.
Tammy Sons, Founder/CEO, TN Nursery
Personal emails boost customer review rates
In my business, customer reviews are critical for helping generate future revenue. The challenge is that customers have a low response rate when you use the standard email auto-review request campaigns.
Instead of relying on the email review request campaigns, I decided to personally email each one of my customers after their product is delivered and ask them how everything went with the freight delivery. This allows me to immediately address any negative customer experiences, and it also allows me to personally ask customers if they could leave a product review. Personally asking customers to leave a product review has significantly increased the number of product and store reviews I receive from customers. Currently, I am up to 115 product reviews and 82 store reviews.
Lou Haverty, Owner, Tank Retailer
Personal massager campaign enhances brand loyalty
UGC has revolutionized our ecommerce marketing by fostering authenticity and trust. For our personal massager brand, we launched a campaign inviting customers to share their stories and photos using our product to alleviate chronic pain. We incentivized participation with a giveaway, selecting a few lucky contributors for free products.
One standout example was a video testimonial from a long-time sufferer of arthritis, detailing their journey and relief after using our massager. This heartfelt, genuine content resonated deeply with our audience, resulting in a 35% increase in social media engagement and a 20% boost in sales over three months. It also created a community of advocates who organically promoted our product, significantly enhancing brand loyalty and credibility.
Dylan Young, Marketing Specialist, CareMax
Cut-resistant gear's #TitanTough campaign wins
User-generated content (UGC) has been a game-changer for our marketing efforts. It provides authentic social proof, which is crucial for building trust with potential customers. One successful campaign we ran was inspired by the approach taken by brands like Iconic London and Glossier. We encouraged our customers to share photos and videos of themselves using our cut-resistant hockey gear with the hashtag #TitanTough on social media.
We featured the best content on our website and social media channels, creating a community feel and showing real-world applications of our products. This campaign not only boosted engagement but also resulted in a 150% increase in social media followers and a 20% increase in conversion rates over three months. The authenticity and relatability of UGC helped build a stronger connection with our audience and enhanced their confidence in purchasing our products.
The authenticity of UGC helped bridge the gap between our brand and potential customers, creating a community feel and increasing their confidence in our products. For other ecommerce brands, encouraging customers to share their real-life experiences and prominently featuring this content can significantly boost engagement and sales.
Andries de Villiers, Founder, Titan BattleGear
Influencer collaboration spurs Gigli's UGC growth
UGC has played such a significant role in shaping our marketing. Before, our marketing was pretty generic. We just focused on data insights and brand promotion, and it wasn't doing us too much good. However, when we moved on to try UGC and worked with an influencer, we found that mixing up our content and looking at unique ways to use our products seemed to really shine on social media, in particular.
From that moment forward, we changed our approach to marketing. UGC has become an extremely important part of our brand. And I believe it has driven our growth in a big way, too.
Kam Talebi, CEO, Gigli
Fridge-freezer photo contest drives sales
One particularly successful UGC campaign we ran involved a competition centered around our fridge-freezers. The campaign was designed to engage new customers by encouraging them to share photos of their newly purchased fridge-freezers in their kitchens on social media. The incentive was that the customer whose post garnered the most likes and comments would receive a full refund on their fridge-freezer, essentially getting it for free.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. Our customers eagerly participated, posting a myriad of unique and creative photos showcasing their fridge-freezers in diverse kitchen settings. This influx of user-generated photos provided us with a treasure trove of authentic content that we could leverage across our own social media channels and advertising campaigns.
The outcomes of this campaign were substantial. Firstly, it led to a notable increase in sales, particularly of fridge-freezers, but other items also saw an increase. The excitement and visibility created by the user posts made these products more appealing to potential buyers and showcased our unbeatable prices. As participants shared their posts and tagged us, our brand reached a wider audience. This organic spread of our brand through user networks significantly boosted our brand awareness.
The campaign also drove a significant uptick in direct visits to our website. Many people, intrigued by the competition and the user-generated content they saw, visited our site to learn more about our products and participate in the excitement. This was complemented by the fact that user-generated content inherently carries a level of authenticity and trust that branded content often cannot match. Seeing real customers enjoying our products in their own homes helped to build trust and credibility among potential new customers.
Lastly, the unique photos we received became a valuable asset for our marketing efforts. We used these images not only on our social media pages but also in email marketing, on our website, and in various advertising materials. This added a genuine, relatable touch to our promotional content. Overall, the campaign was a win-win for both us and our customers. It not only incentivized purchases and engagement but also created a vibrant community around our brand. This successful UGC campaign is a testament to the power of leveraging customer creativity and authenticity to drive business growth.
Alexander Hill, Head Of Sales, The Appliance Depot
Supplement UGC campaign triples sales
A video with User-Generated Content (UGC) is the best kind of ad you can run right now. It's candid social proof that is more trustworthy than highly polished professional video ads (like on TV) and feels more native to social media. I try to get every client I run ads for to obtain UGC from customers AND UGC community networks that partner with influencers for promotions.
One example of a successful UGC campaign was with my supplement client. As a new brand without many previous customers in the crowded and low-price, high-volume supplement market, we needed a way to establish credibility and traffic quickly.
We used Heepsy to find influencers to partner with. We posted the influencer content regularly and tagged them. Then, we turned the best-performing videos into ads and testimonial emails. We ran ads to our social media profiles and website, resulting in increased followers and customers. So far, we have seen a 300% increase in monthly supplement sales with the client.
We have also started asking our Most Valuable Player (MVP) customers for unboxing videos, before-and-after videos, and simple video reviews. Then, we will use these as user-generated content posts, emails, and ads.
Justin Hardy, Founder and Funnel Consultant, Hardy Marketing LLC
Musicnotes empowers amateur arrangers with UGC
In my previous role as President & Chief Operating Officer at Musicnotes, the world leader in digital sheet music sales, we underwent a large user-generated project focused on getting music arrangers to submit their arrangements for sale on the website alongside half of a million+ professional arrangements.
The effort brought in thousands of amateur arrangers and arrangements. This was great for the brand image as users were looked at as part of the company in a very personal niche.
I think if a company can involve its customers in a personal way, especially by having them contribute, it can pay huge dividends in brand points over time.
Elliott Kosmicki, Founder & President, Major Impact
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