Newsletter #1 - UGC

In this first newsletter, we will see how to achieve a +111% conversion rate thanks to your community, without paying £20k an influencer! 🤜🤛

For the past few months, I've been fascinated by user-generated content, mainly how e-commerce brands use it to double their sales.

In this email, I'm sharing with you all the findings, actionable advice and tips I've gathered to boost your growth through UGCs ⤵️

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Two (very) good reasons to be interested in UGCs

#1 They are ultra-efficient marketing tools...

By sharing photos of its customers in trench coats, Burberry's website recorded more than 7.5 million visits from 150 countries...in 2009!

In 2012, Coca-Cola generated over 12 million impressions through UGCs.

#2 ...and super conversion levers 🦹

• User-generated content is 42% more effective than branded content,
• Their engagement rate is 6.9 times higher,
• 90% of users believe that positive reviews of your products influence their purchase decision.

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Agency techniques to create good UGCs

After testing 20k creatives for over 200 advertisers, Matthieu from Stride Up agency revealed two things about UGCs:

#1 "The uglier it is, the better it works." 🤑

Consumers are 2.4 times more likely to view user-generated content as authentic compared to content created by your brand.

A high-performing and qualitative UGC must therefore be authentic and created by your client...

... at least in form!

Because there is nothing to stop you from briefing them to ensure you have usable content!

#2 "Videos convert the most." 🎬

Photos and reviews are great, but the video remains the format that inspires the most trust.

The holy grail? A facecam customer who speaks up, expresses his satisfaction, does an unboxing, live fitting…

For more performance, he recommends including the acquisition codes:

• 9:16, 4:5, 1:1 formats,
• Subtitles (for those who watch the networks at work),
• 30 to 40 seconds in length (it's not an Insta-real, it takes longer to convince your client).

For editing, Stride Up advises playing with the AIDA mechanisms:

• 💡 attracting Attention thanks to a stop scroller that will make your prospects want to watch the video,
• 🧐 Generate Interest by using a secondary hook,
• 😍 create Desire by listing the benefits of the product or its differentiating points,
• 🤳 Encourage the customer to take Action by inserting a CTA at the end of the video!

A good example from the brand Les Miraculeux ⤵️

Examples of effective strategies to collect UGCs

#1 Stop thinking about customers, think about community 👨👩👧👦

68% of buyers will consistently leave a review of your product or service if you ask them to.

As for pampering them, you're already doing that very well: DNVBs have an average 34% higher re-purchase rate than a retail e-tailer! 🤩

Here are some more techniques to boost your community engagement:

• Asphalte or Nidéco bet for product co-creation: this allows them to engage their subscribers ultra-efficiently while increasing their reach and awareness!

• CAVAL optimises its post-purchase experience to increase customer satisfaction: impeccable delivery, memorable unboxing thanks to personalised packaging and a simplified, hassle-free returns process!

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#2 Spread the word! 📣

Each brand has its own technique to encourage its customers to send content for free:

• 🍀 Balzac organises competitions to encourage its subscribers to share photos of their products.
• 🗞 Ysé dédie highlights its customers in its newsletters and in fitting sessions on its site.
• 💌 Unbottled uses its post-purchase emails to encourage its customers to share content with an "I'm posting on Instagram" CTA (Transactional or tracking emails, shipping or delivery confirmation, etc.).
• 📦 The Bradery directly puts a CTA on their packaging. A # or even a QR code works too!

☝️ 85% of consumers would not send content on their own but would be inclined to do so in exchange for something in return. A gifted product or voucher whose value changes according to the content generated can help (e.g., -5% for a comment, -10% for a Google review, -20% for a story, etc.).

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⭐️ Can you imagine building customer loyalty through unboxing?

Here is a complete article to give you all our ideas to optimise your unboxing such as The Bradery, and encourage your customers to share it on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

Read me!

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Finally, if you're interested in this lever but don't have the time to set up a collection strategy, here are my two tips:

• 🏴‍☠️ The tool Flowbox makes it easy to retrieve content, even if you are not logged in on a publication!
• 🙋🏼‍♀️ You can contact Joseph from Wiink from me; after only five months of use, Blissim has achieved incredible results with their solution:

2K reviews on FB and Trustpilot

12k content: videos, photos, stories, lives, etc.

1.6k ambassadors and 500 recruited each month

370k interactions

13M coverage! 🤯

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Three tips to increase the impact of your UGCs

Brands that convert thanks to UGCs rely on a multi-channel strategy.

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#1 Integrate them into your site ➡️

Websites that post UGC have seen an increase in their conversion rate of up to 111%!

Posting UGCs directly on your site increases your credibility, helps your customers project themselves with your products and encourages the act of buying.

• ⭐️ Lashilé adds customer reviews directly to its product pages.
• 📸 Like LePantalon, you can replace your product pictures with UGCs

• 💻 Respire has created a page on its website entirely dedicated to customer reviews and photos!

• 🔁 UGCs can also be displayed in a footer, on a scrolling text.

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#2 Incorporate UGCs into your emailing and post-purchase email campaigns!

• 👙 Ysé displays her subscribers' photos in its newsletters, while Smoon adds her customer reviews to the footer!
• 🧼 Follow-up emails have an average open rate of 75%. Like Unbottled, rely on this channel to highlight your UGCs!

💌 Like Unbottled, do you want to increase your conversion rate up to 8% thanks to automated emails?

Here is a detailed article with tips and agency strategies to generate sales with post-purchase emails to live the same success story as Unbottled and Ubac!

Tell me everything!

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#3 Use UGCs in your Ads campaigns!

If your videos respect the acquisition criteria and play with the AIDA mechanisms (see Stride Up's ⤴️ tips), why not use your UGCs in your paid acquisition campaigns?

🦀 Thanks to this strategy, the brand Poiscaille generated +85k coverage and divided its CAC by 2!

That's it for me. I've revealed everything I know about UGCs!