For years, we’ve relied on polished stock photos to make products look good. But those perfect images can sometimes feel too perfect and make us question their authenticity.
As online shoppers get smarter, they want something real and relatable. That’s where user-generated content (UGC) comes in.
Unlike stock photos, UGC shows real people using your products in real life. It’s trustworthy, and that’s what today’s consumers want to see. UGC builds trust and creates a stronger connection with your audience, which equals better conversions.
The Downsides of Stock Photos
Not Authentic
Stock photos don’t capture the unique personality of your brand. They can look too perfect and staged, making us question their authenticity. When we see the same image on multiple sites, our content looks less trustworthy and boring.
Overuse and Irrelevance
Stock photos are overused. You’ll find the same image on multiple sites, which makes it hard to create a unique brand identity. Some stock images are also irrelevant to your product, diluting your message. This leads to irrelevant content that doesn’t resonate with your audience.
Consumer Perception
Today’s consumers want authenticity. When they see generic photos, they feel disconnected from your brand. UGC, on the other hand, shows real people and real-life usage, which can be more relatable and build trust faster. That makes a big difference, especially on digital screens, where visual engagement is key.
Limiting Your Brand’s Credibility
Stock photos can take your brand away from your audience. They lack the personal touch that UGC offers. Using authentic customer images or even influencer content can make your products more credible and relatable. Using footer actions like testimonials or customer reviews with real images can increase engagement.
Cost
High-quality stock images can be expensive. Prices range from $0.49 to $9.16 per image, which can add up quickly for small businesses. Investing in UGC is often more cost-effective and gives better returns in terms of engagement and conversions.
User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content (UGC) is any content created and shared by consumers, not the brand itself. This includes photos, videos, reviews and social media posts. Unlike traditional content, which is polished and produced by the brand, UGC is real and created by real people.
Examples of UGC:
- Customer Photos: Customers share pictures of themselves using your products.
- Reviews: Honest feedback from buyers on your website or social platforms.
- Unboxing Videos: Videos of customers opening and trying your products.
Why UGC: UGC resonates more with consumers because it’s real. People trust content from other users more than ads from brands.
Tools to Collect UGC: Using tools like RaveCapture can help you collect high-quality UGC easily. These tools make it easier to collect and organize user content.
Statistics:
- 1/3 of ecommerce marketers think Instagram generates the most UGC.
- Trust in traditional advertising is declining, making UGC more valuable as it’s perceived as authentic and trustworthy.
- Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are the main platforms on which to collect and share UGC.
Adding UGC to your content marketing can increase consumer trust, drive purchase decisions, and ultimately increase ecommerce conversions.
The Authenticity In UGC
Consumer Trust: Authentic content builds trust and credibility. When real customers share their experiences, it creates a real representation of your product. Those honest reviews help potential buyers feel more confident in their buying decisions.
Seeing previous customers use your product can have a big impact. Customer reviews and user-generated visual content show real-life usage, making it easier for others to imagine themselves using the product.
Psychological Impact: Visual content from happy customers influences purchase decisions. When people see others using your product, it creates an emotional connection. That emotional bond can be powerful and drive them to buy.
Real World Examples:
- Coca-Cola: Their “Share a Coke” campaign asked users to share photos with personalized Coke bottles. It increased engagement and sales.
- GoPro: GoPro shows the real experiences of adventurers using their cameras and creates excitement and trust among potential buyers.
- Glossier: Glossier relies heavily on user-generated content to show real people using their skincare and makeup products.
Actionable Tip: Ask your customers to leave honest reviews, post photos or videos of themselves using your products, and show off positive reviews on your site and social media. These will build trust with your customers and increase conversions.
How UGC Improves The Customer Experience
User-generated content (UGC) can enhance the experience for your ecommerce site visitors.
- Engagement: UGC creates a sense of community and interaction on your site. When potential customers see real-life content from others, they feel part of a bigger community, which increases engagement.
- Personalization: UGC allows for more personalized shopping experiences. Customer photos and reviews cater to different needs so you can better target your audience. A visual content gallery with real-life product images helps online shoppers imagine the product in use.
- Dynamic Content: Regularly updated UGC keeps your site fresh and engaging. Each new social media post or customer review is dynamic content that attracts and retains visitors. It brings back old and new visitors to see recent customer experiences.
- Customer Loyalty: Positive UGC can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customers who share their experiences feel valued and are more likely to become loyal customers. This helps you retain your customers and attract new ones.
- Social Proof: UGC is social proof. Seeing product recommendations and real-time feedback from other mobile users can have a big impact on purchase decisions. It also reduces the time to respond to customer inquiries by providing existing answers in reviews and comments.
- Cognitive Ease: Seeing familiar social content and images makes the shopping process easier. Customers find it more comfortable to engage with content that looks like what they see on their own social feeds, making the shopping experience more seamless.
- Customer Support: UGC can help your customer support team. When common questions and issues are answered in reviews or user photos, it reduces the volume of inquiries. This allows your support team to focus on more complex issues and overall support efficiency.
Adding UGC to your strategy is not just about adding content; it’s about the entire customer journey.
How To Implement UGC On Your Ecommerce Site
To integrate user generated content (UGC) you need to follow a few simple steps. First ask your customers to create and share photos and videos of them using your products. Then show these on your site or social media to build trust and engagement.
Collecting UGC
Ask customers to upload photos and videos on your site. You can use RaveCapture to make it easy to collect and display content. Email campaigns and social media posts can prompt your audience to share their experiences.
Displaying UGC
Product Pages: Show customer photos and reviews on product pages so site visitors can see the product in real life. This will increase the chances of them buying.
Scrollable Galleries: Feature a gallery of customer photos and videos. This shows happy customers and provides authentic content for new buyers to trust.
Shoppable Image Galleries: Turn customer photos into shoppable images. Visitors can see the product in use and click to buy.
Marketing
Include UGC in your email marketing. Show customer photos or testimonials in newsletters and promotional emails. This is social proof and makes your content more relatable.
Post customer-generated content regularly on social media. Create campaigns around user stories and experiences. Integrate UGC into your content marketing by using these real-life examples in blog posts and other formats.
Legal
Always ask for permission before using someone’s content. Explain clearly how you’ll use their photos or videos. Having a standard release form makes it easier and ensures you have the right to display their content across all your marketing channels.
How To Measure UGC Impact On Conversions
Metrics
Tracking the right metrics is key. Focus on engagement rates, conversion rates, and customer retention. Engagement rates will tell you how many users are interacting with your User-Generated Content (UGC), conversion rates will show how often these interactions lead to sales, and customer retention will show long-term loyalty.
Conversion Lift
You’ll see a conversion lift among users who interact with UGC. For example, there can be up to a 102.4% conversion lift among shoppers who interact with UGC on product pages. This is a higher ROI without additional spending on traditional advertising.
Interaction Conversion
When shoppers interact with UGC, like reviews or photos, the conversion rate can increase dramatically. One-star reviews can be more helpful than five because they are honest feedback. This leads to better-informed purchasing decisions and higher conversion among shoppers.
Conversion Increase
Just showing UGC can increase conversions by 8.5%. That’s the key takeaway: even minimal UGC interaction has a positive effect. Imagine the impact this can have on e-commerce conversions across your site.
User-generated content is authentic, resonates, builds trust, and drives conversions. RaveCapture makes it easy to collect, showcase, and measure this valuable content, turning real customer experiences into marketing assets.
Get started today and see how UGC will transform your images and customer experience. You might be surprised.