Once a customer has made a purchase, the next step for e-commerce businesses is to keep them engaged by gathering user-generated content (UGC).
This type of content is invaluable because it enhances credibility, boosts customer interaction, and can significantly influence future sales.
UGC – customer reviews, photos and videos – is more trusted than traditional marketing content. By showing real customer experiences, businesses can create a sense of community and loyalty among their customers.
But to collect user-generated content, you need the right tools. These tools simplify the process of collecting UGC and integrate it into your e-commerce platform so you can display it where it matters most.
This article will walk you through the options, from simple forms to complex platforms.
1. Google Forms
Google Forms is a simple and free tool to collect customer feedback and UGC after purchase.
Google Forms Benefits
- Easy to set up: You can create forms with various question types, multiple choice, short answer and rating scales. This flexibility means you can tailor your forms to the information you want to collect.
- Free: Google Forms is free to use and is perfect for businesses of all sizes. This is especially great for startups and small businesses who want to gather valuable insights without extra cost.
- Integrates: It works with other Google Workspace tools like Google Sheets for easy data management. This integration means you can organize and analyze data efficiently and support your marketing campaigns by providing customer satisfaction and preference insights.
Use Case
For small businesses or those just starting out, Google Forms is a great way to start collecting user-generated content (UGC). You can ask customers to share photos, reviews or feedback about their purchases. This UGC can be used in marketing campaigns to add brand authenticity and engage potential customers by showcasing real experiences and user reviews.
Limitations
- Manual Data Management: You’ll need to process and analyze the collected data manually, which can be time-consuming, especially if you have a large volume of responses.
- Limited Third-Party Integration: Google Forms doesn’t directly connect with many e-commerce platforms, so you’ll need to take extra steps to use the collected information. This can be a hurdle when trying to streamline processes.
Despite the limitations, Google Forms is still a good option to collect and manage UGC from your customers. It’s an easy way to start collecting valuable feedback and user reviews which is the foundation of building trust and marketing strategies.
2. Typeform
Typeform is more interactive and visually appealing than standard forms like Google Forms. It has a range of customizable templates that makes form creation easy and adaptable to your brand.
You can collect UGC through beautifully designed forms that support multimedia responses, including images, videos and audio. This helps you engage your customers better and gather more detailed feedback.
Typeform Benefits
- Customizable templates: You can adjust templates to match your brand’s design.
- User-friendly: The interface is easy for your customers to use.
- Supports multimedia: Add images and videos to your forms.
Use Case
Typeform’s target audiences are businesses, e-commerce companies, and individuals seeking a more engaging way to collect UGC.
After a customer purchases, you can use it to collect reviews, photos, or even video testimonials, which can add credibility to your brand and help you produce high-quality content like case studies or success stories.
Limitations
Despite the benefits, there are some drawbacks. Typeform has limited automation features and e-commerce integrations.
If you need advanced features and seamless e-commerce connections, you might need to use additional tools.
3. SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is a versatile tool to create customizable surveys to collect user generated content (UGC) after a purchase. It has a range of question types including multiple choice, open ended and Likert scale questions. This makes it perfect for gathering detailed feedback and multimedia content from your customers.
You can design surveys that match your brand’s design. You can add your logo, use your brand’s colors and adjust the layout to ensure consistency. This will help your customers have a better experience and engage more.
SurveyMonkey Benefits
- Range of question types: Collect text, images and even video responses.
- Customizable surveys: Tailor the surveys to your brand.
- Data analysis tools: Robust tools to analyze responses, generate reports and identify trends.
You can put the survey link in your post purchase email or display it as a pop up on your thank you page. This way you can capture immediate feedback which is key to improving customer satisfaction and driving more sales.
Limitations
While SurveyMonkey is powerful, it can be expensive. Subscription fees can be a concern, especially for small businesses. It also has less ecommerce integrations compared to other tools in the market.
But if budget is not an issue, this tool can give you valuable insights to customer satisfaction and help you improve your products and services based on real user feedback.
4. RaveCapture
RaveCapture is an advanced user-generated content (UGC) platform that specializes in customer photos and videos. This tool helps your e-commerce store collect and display authentic customer reviews and stories in one place.
RaveCapture Benefits
RaveCapture automates the collection of UGC by sending follow-up emails or SMS after a purchase.
This makes it easy to collect reviews and multimedia content like photos and videos. The platform integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce and Neto.
Using it to tie UGC to specific products will not only make your website more authentic but also influence future purchases.
Use Case
If you want to maximize the impact of UGC RaveCapture is a game changer. This is perfect for ecommerce stores that need a high tech solution to manage content. By using RaveCapture you can add customer testimonials to your product pages and boost your store’s credibility and engagement.
Limitations
One con is that RaveCapture can be expensive for new ecommerce stores. Also setting it up can be more complex compared to simpler tools. So you’ll need to invest some time to get everything configured correctly.
5. Yotpo
Yotpo is a specialized platform for ecommerce businesses to collect user generated content (UGC) and reviews. It has various solutions to help you build customer trust and drive sales.
Yotpo Benefits
- Automated Review Requests: Yotpo sends review requests to your customers after a purchase, so you get more authentic reviews.
- Integration: Integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Magento. Plus, setup is quick and easy.
- Media Uploads: Supports photo and video uploads so satisfied customers can share customer photos.
Use Case
Yotpo is perfect for businesses that want to automate the review collection process. You can display UGC on your product pages and encourage more positive reviews. This is good for credibility and higher conversion rates.
Limitations
While Yotpo has many features, it can be expensive, so it’s more suitable for established businesses with bigger budgets. This can be a con if you’re a small or new business looking to manage costs.
Overall if you have the budget Yotpo is a great tool to collect and showcase customer testimonials and boost your store’s trust and engagement.
6. Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice is a full solution for collecting and leveraging user generated content (UGC). It’s a great tool for managing reviews, questions and photos. You can collect content post purchase and make sure your customers are heard.
Bazaarvoice Benefits
- Advanced analytics so you can make data-driven decisions based on customer feedback.
- Multi-channel distribution so you can share UGC across social media and other channels.
- Integrates with e-commerce platforms so content collection and management is seamless.
For larger businesses, Bazaarvoice is great if you want a UGC strategy. It allows you to manage and display UGC to boost customer satisfaction and engagement on multiple social media networks. If you want to
Limitations
The platform is expensive and requires annual payment. The pricing plans are complex, and setup can be tricky. While it has many features, smaller businesses may find it not cost-effective.
7. Loox
Loox is a user generated content (UGC) platform that focuses on photo and video reviews. It helps ecommerce stores collect visual feedback from customers which can increase trust and sales.
Loox has over 100,000 Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants as customers by turning real customers into brand ambassadors.
Loox Benefits
One of the biggest advantages of Loox is that it automates photo review requests and collection. After a purchase, the system sends an email to your customers to leave a review, so it’s easy and hassle-free.
Loox has various social proof display options to show these reviews on your website. This can increase your credibility and give potential buyers more confidence in your products.
It integrates with Shopify. If you’re on Shopify, Loox is especially great because it’s built within the Shopify ecosystem and enhances the user experience.
Use Case
Loox is perfect for e-commerce businesses that want to show customer photos with text reviews. If you want to show how real customers use and enjoy your products, Loox is a great way to collect and display this type of content.
Limitations
While Loox has many features, it’s mainly Shopify-centric, so it’s more beneficial for businesses already on Shopify. If you’re on another platform, you may find Loox not suitable for your needs.
8. Emplifi
Emplifi (formerly Pixlee TurnTo) is a customer engagement platform to supercharge your social media and ecommerce. It has tools to collect and manage user generated content (UGC) in one place.
You can collect multimedia reviews like photos, videos, ratings and testimonials. Show real customer experiences and increase trust and engagement. Emplifi also integrates with social media and e-commerce platforms, so you can pull content from multiple sources.
Emplifi Benefits
It has more features to cater to a wider audience, including content moderation, analytics and multi-channel integration.
Emplifi has advanced analytics and insights to track the impact of UGC on your campaigns. It helps you understand customer sentiment and improve your strategy based on real data. By adding UGC, you can create a more authentic and engaging customer journey.
For businesses that want to use UGC across multiple social media channels and e-commerce platforms, Emplifi is perfect.
It gives you insights into what customers are saying about your products, which can inform your marketing.
Use Case
For businesses that want to use UGC across multiple social media channels and e-commerce platforms, Emplifi is perfect.
It gives you insights into what customers are saying about your products, which can inform your marketing. A great use case is a fashion retailer using Emplifi to collect and show customer photos and videos.
By sharing these on multiple marketing channels, including social media, email campaigns and their website, you can increase your engagement rate and conversions.
Limitations
It requires more investment and a more complex setup than simpler tools. Emplifi’s higher plan prices are not available on their website, so you need to contact sales.
But the lowest plan starts at $2,400 USD/year. That may be a barrier for smaller businesses looking for cost effective solutions.
9. Trustpilot
Trustpilot is a review platform that allows you to collect user-generated content (UGC) after a purchase. Many consumers trust Trustpilot, so it’s a great tool to collect verified reviews.
Trustpilot Benefits
- Trusted by consumers: Trustpilot is known for its reviews. This can boost your business’s reputation and build trust with potential customers.
- It supports multimedia reviews: You can collect text reviews, photos, and videos, which adds authenticity.
- SEO benefits: Trustpilot reviews can improve your search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic to your site.
Use Case
Trustpilot is good for businesses that want to build trust through verified reviews and user generated content. By showing these reviews on your site you’ll encourage new customers to buy.
Limitations
- Subscription costs: While Trustpilot has a free plan, advanced features require a subscription. The costs can add up if you need all the features.
- Limited customization: Customizing the Trustpilot widgets to match your brand can be limited. That may be a drawback if brand consistency is important to you.
By using Trustpilot with your e-commerce platform, you can collect and showcase UGC continuously and make your business more attractive to potential customers.
10. Reviews.io
Reviews.io is a review platform that supports multimedia user generated content (UGC). With this tool you can collect reviews, photos and videos and create a rich customer experience.
Benefits:
- Collect various UGC: Reviews.io allows you to collect text, photo and video reviews and boost your e-commerce store credibility.
- Content Review: Implement review processes to ensure the reviews shown are useful and authentic.
- Free plan: Start with a free plan that includes 25 review invites perfect for new businesses testing the waters.
Use Case
Good for businesses that want to build trust and credibility, Reviews.io will show you customer experiences. That’s great for new products or brands that want to build a loyal customer base fast.
Limitations
- Subscription costs: As you need more review invites the cost of the subscription increases. While there are flexible plans available, scaling up will require budgeting.
- Learning curve: Some advanced features and integrations may take some time and effort to learn, especially if you’re new to UGC.
Building trust and credibility through real customer feedback is key to e-commerce success, and Reviews.io is a robust platform for achieving that.
Each of the above user-generated content platforms can collect reviews after purchase. But if you’ll ask about our top 3, here they are:
- RaveCapture. Great for collecting multimedia reviews and integrates well with ecommerce platforms so it’s good for social proof. Focuses on authentic customer content to build trust and conversions across social networks and channels.
- Bazaarvoice. Has robust features for managing UGC across multiple platforms, advanced analytics and multi-channel distribution. Good for larger businesses that want to maximize their UGC strategy.
- Google Forms. Simple and affordable tool for UGC, great for small businesses. Integrates with Google Workspace for easy data management, good for those new to collecting customer feedback.
Ultimately, the best tool will always be the one that can fit your needs and budget.