If you’re not using user-generated content as much as you'd like, here are a few ways you can leverage it to boost conversions.
Brands can no longer ignore millennials. Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are the demographic cohort that follows Generation X. Millennials - born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s - are the largest living generation and buy more than any other groups of people.
1. Millennials, explained
Millennials grew up with technology - the internet, social media, smartphones. And today, they spend, on average, 18 hours per day with media, and over 71% of them check social networking sites at least once a day.
For this reason, they don’t respond to traditional media like any other groups of individuals, and they trust and produce user-generated content (UGC) more than anyone else. Millennials are also the biggest content drivers, contributing to over 70% of all UGC.
User-generated content can be anything from photos and videos to customer reviews and discussions created by customers, and publicly available to other consumers.
Millennials trust UGC 50% more than original branded content, which is why user-generated content also has a major impact on millennial spending, with 84% of individuals claiming that they use UGC to make purchasing decisions. For this reason, savvy companies whose audience are millennial consumers have started encouraging the creation and promotion of user-generated content on their marketing channels.
2. Creating an engaging user journey
Creating a perfect and seamless user experience that carries millennials through a purchase from the very beginning is what every company aspires to. But not many businesses know how to achieve this successfully.
The key to a successful customer journey is knowing how to implement trust throughout the different stages of the process. UGC encourages millennials to learn more about your business, your products and your service, and understand how your customers feel about you in a trusted way.
For example, instead of stock photos, choose authentic pictures like photos of your customers using your own products. Or maybe you'd prefer showing how much consumers have enjoyed your products by displaying online reviews?
Placing user-generated content on your website's key pages can significantly improve your conversion rate and help you decrease your cart abandonment rate.
Dusk leverages product reviews as UGC
Fabletics displays their customers' photos as well as online reviews on their homepage
When consumers come across trust signals such as user-generated content, they're more likely to continue to engage with your brand, and less likely to continue their research elsewhere.
Did you know that 65% of millennials admit they evaluate information that is shared on social media before buying?
Indeed, sharing user-generated content on social media can be a great opportunity to reach and engage with your audience as well, as social campaigns that incorporate UGC usually see a 50% lift in engagement.
Every GoPro customer has the potential to become a content creator. GoPro only share their customers' photos on social media
This year, we observed an 11% decline in trust globally, with only 71% of people admitting they trust consumer brands. Today, 89% of global consumers check online reviews as part of their online buying journey, and consumers turn to their peers for third-party validation.
Don't forget – your customers are your best marketers.
Today's consumers want a fully integrated social experience, where they can find any information they need quickly and efficiently. Displaying UGC and encouraging customers to interact with your brand can not only boost trust and engagement, but also customer loyalty.
3. Letting your customers tell your story
Letting customers share their experience through user-generated content can help them connect with your business and your community, and asking your customers for user-generated content can help your business engage with its community too.
Displaying it on key pages and at key stages of the user journey will also help you build trusted relationships with new browsers and with potential customers.
Daniel Wellington share their favourite customer photos with #DWPickOfTheDay on Instagram
Letting your customers tell your brand story can increase conversions and boost loyalty in the long term. Remember - your customers’ stamp of approval means a lot more than your self-proclaimed excellence from a millennial’s point of view.
If you'd like to learn more about the importance of third-party validation to convert more browsers into customers this holiday season, give our "7 Tried and Tested Conversion Strategies" guide a read below.
