Make UGC Work For You
Make UGC Work For You
By David Shum
Copywriter at ExpertVoice
September 1, 2021
Five reviews. That's all it takes to lift a product’s likelihood to sell by 270%. In fact, customers that interact with ratings and reviews are twice as likely to convert as those who don’t. It’s safe to say, reviews are one of the most important pieces of user-generated content (UGC) you can own and display on your e-commerce site.
So what do you do?
Do you launch products and hope your customers come back with in-depth glowing reviews? Do you cross your fingers and hope new customers will filter through the reviews that say, “Great” or “Haven’t received it yet but 5 stars”? Or all those reviews that don’t say anything at all? Follow the ExpertVoice guide to see what you can do to make UGC work for you.
1. Evaluate and identify a gap
What is your current UGC doing for your brand? Take a step back and see where your UGC is coming from and where it’s going. Perhaps you don’t have any or maybe you have an abundance of it but it’s not being utilized. If you display reviews and UGC on your website, are they measurable and impactful? Let’s look at an example from one of ExpertVoice’s brand partners, Crankbrothers. As a leader in cycling parts and accessories, Crankbrothers saw a 30% growth in year-over-year sales when they displayed expert reviews as an elite set of transparent product recommendations. Do your reviews have a similar impact or is there an opportunity to improve them?
2. Develop a UGC strategy
Don’t leave it up to chance. After identifying the gaps in how UGC is being generated, curated and utilized, it’s time to strategize and put pen to paper. You can directly influence what you receive. There’s a sweet spot between organically curating product reviews and paying for them. After identifying how you’re going to collect UGC, how will it be used? Where will your product recommendations live? Crankbrothers engaged their most trusted experts with educational content about their brand and products and provided them opportunities to purchase and experience the product firsthand. The result? An audience of better recommenders who provided them with quality, trustworthy recommendations they could put to work in their e-commerce experience. After some testing and placement optimization to ensure UGC surfaced at the right time and place, they saw a 45% increase in average order value and an 18% increase in conversion.
3. Identify your core audience that generates top UGC
Customers are unique, so is the content they produce. User28329 and Benjamin C. are polar opposites. User28329 is an anonymous user whose reviews average 17 and a half characters and have little to no substance. Meanwhile, Benjamin C. is a regular customer and an expert in your industry. He shares his real name, his credentials in the industry and a detailed product recommendation. Benjamin brings authenticity to the table, therefore his UGC carries more weight and is more trusted. Find the Benjamin’s.
4. Engage with your audience to gather UGC
Now that you have Benjamin’s...and Eleanor’s, Janet’s, Michael’s and a core audience identified, let’s keep them coming. Did they post a nice picture? Like it, comment on it and feature it. See a product review they left? Thank them for it and answer any questions or concerns they may have. Building a relationship with your core audience will keep your audience engaged to help ensure that quality, trustworthy and predictable UGC will keep rolling in.
ExpertVoice and UGC
You can gather credible, informative UGC and easily measure their impact and success using ExpertVoice. ExpertVoice connects your brand to an exclusive network of experts — people who live and work in the field or at your retailers. They’re not just anyone. Their profiles include their name, profile picture, background in the field and more. Through education and product seeding, these experts become your source of UGC. Who better to review your products than the people who are likely to use them most frequently?
It's easy
With the experts and UGC gathered in one place, ExpertVoice has the tools necessary to stream UGC right to your website and product pages. With authentic, credible UGC, you’ll see an increase in site order value and a decrease in return rates – resulting in a 15-30% increase in revenue. And this is happening right now for brands.
There are many success stories of E-Commerce Advocacy. We can do the same for your brand. Learn more about how ExpertVoice can help you deliver the right message at the right time to the right consumers.