Content has been there ever since the inception of marketing. It was just conveyed in different forms and channels to promote the offerings of a business.

With time, people have become bored and exhausted with the brand-pushed content that is all product-centric and has no value for the consumers.

And bad experiences such as dissimilarity in words and actions of the businesses have harmed people’s trust, product authenticity, security concerns, and engagement.

Chronic issues in eCommerce

In the eCommerce arena, People have accepted eCommerce platforms as their shopping venues as they provide global shopping accessibility, express deliveries, returns, discounts & lower prices than offline retail.

But the key thing they lack is trustworthiness, genuineness, engagement possibilities, fast & secure services. This is all related to the consumer’s shopping experience.

Consumer experience is the most essential element in any commercial activity.

And believe me, every successful firm and marketer will tell you the same thing.

Here’s the evidence:

“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around.” – Steve Jobs

“Customer experience isn’t an expense. Managing customer experience

bolsters your brand.” – Stan Phelps

Here comes the need for the user-generated content in marketing for eCommerce platforms.

Let’s see what UGC is and how it benefits to increase eCommerce sales.

User-generated content

User-generated content is any form of content – be it images, textual, videos, audio, or even spoken words that have been created and shared by a user.

User-generated content is a cost-free content created by the users that presents an opportunity for businesses to leverage it to their advantage.

Nielsen’s consumer trust index states that 92% of consumers trust organic user-generated content over the traditional brand’s advertising content.

Social media is the biggest hub of user-generated content and it has been proven to influence the consumer’s buying decisions highly. User-generated content can be product images, visual testimonials, video reviews, textual feedback or any other social media stream content.

As discussed earlier, Consumer experience is crucial in the eCommerce industry. It was stated that 86% of the consumers were willing to pay more in exchange for better customer experience.

User-generated content can be of excessive use for eCommerce to enhance the consumer experience by promoting authentic, reliable content that enables interaction and engagement.

This will immensely help your business in growing conversions and increase eCommerce sales.

We have brought together

5 key benefits that UGC has for any eCommerce

1. Gain Crucial Audience Insights

It is a benefit that is undertone and had stayed away from the limelight. But it is one of the most crucial benefits for any business. User-generated content is all voluntary and based on their emotions, likings, preferences, demands, and experiences.

And this presents an opportunity for you to analyze, interpret, evaluate, and understand the audiences’ mindset, their buying behavior, patterns, and much more.

Exploring UGC will show you where users are facing issues, discrepancies, complaints, demands, and constructive feedback. Based on that, You could then better optimize and customize your eCommerce to make it more engaging, personalized, and interactive.

Further, it will help you in defining the right target audience and effective marketing leading to more conversions and sales.

2. Shoppability

You might have great products, competitive prices, and various added benefits. But if you lack the necessary elements of easy product discoverability, ease of access, responsiveness, visual aesthetics, and attractive design, then your eCommerce platform might not be as shoppable.

Adding a social media feed with UGC gathered from different social media stream into one feed will enhance the engagement, conversions, and sales.

You can use social media aggregation tools to create shoppable posts through a feed with all relevant UGC content and embed it on your eCommerce website.

You can even integrate shoppable tags to attractive UGC visuals in the feed for shoppable posts. This will allow the users to buy the showcased product in real-time through the post.

Instagram shoppable posts are a great example of shoppable posts. Instagram shoppable posts add a layer of shopping to social browsing.

It will save a lot of time, product & information research efforts, and will provide easy checkout with the shorter purchase process.

Consumers will be interested in buying the products as UGC posts will act as a trust-building source where users can see how the product would look in real-life and its aesthetics.

3. Build Social Proof

Word of mouth is still the biggest and most effective form of marketing out there. And it is essential for your eCommerce to have a social proof as it initiates a positive word of mouth.

You might have heard this term that People trust people, not logos.

It stands true, especially in eCommerce. Adding consumer posted photos and videos about your products and business to your website will make the consumers trust your products, authenticity, security, and build community.

UGC assures shoppers that your products are worth the investment through social proof.

And Consumers are more likely to be your loyal customers if they trust your eCommerce business.

4. UGC Enables Interactivity & Engagement

In the present world, it is essential for any eCommerce platform to have interaction and engagement possibilities. So, consumers can feel more related, connected, and appreciated by the business.

By integrating UGC throughout your eCommerce platform you can facilitate interaction between the past consumers and new users.

And showcasing UGC will enable the engagement as well with your eCommerce. It has been proven that websites with UGC feed get 90% more dwell time supported by 20% increased return visits (source).

Further, Positive interaction and engagement will result in a relationship building with consumers.

Growing interaction and engagement with the eCommerce is a crucial factor that is positively correlated to higher conversions and increase eCommerce sales.

5. Advertising Effectiveness & Efficiency

Social media has billions of users and is also the biggest hub for UGC. Therefore, it is essential that advertising is effective and resourceful.

Advertising is about broadening the reach and awareness of your eCommerce to an immense audience. Using UGC posts and visual content will create a strong brand identity & images for your eCommerce.

Besides, it will be more trustworthy and credible than the direct or brand created content advertising.

UGC pushed by business as part of their marketing always gets higher engagement and more exposure. This will result in maximum traffic to your eCommerce resulting in maximum conversions.

Also, you don’t have to invest time & money in creating content, and just re-market UGC as your voice. It will be more effective and efficient.

To Conclude

User-generated content is a diamond mine with perpetual access and limitless diamonds. It depends upon you how you polish it and shape to make it priceless.

Making UGC as a part of your eCommerce & marketing creates a superior shopping experience for consumers. And using some content aggregation tools and shoppable posts could help you refine and design the UGC creatively and effectively.

And as we know, happy customers will create more positive UGC for you. So, you should integrate UGC with your eCommerce for supreme results.

About The Author:

I’m Alice Herman and I’m a digital marketer and technical writer. I’m passionate about exploring and writing about innovation, technology, and digital marketing trends. Learn all about Driving Your Business Sales Using Social Media and how can it help you to grow your business.