User-generated content works - only when you use it smartly. This post shows how, and also covers some amazing examples. Let's go!
What is User Generated Content (UGC)? Why it Matters?
User-generated content is content that users create for your website—that includes the reviews on your product page, along with:
- Tweets
- Instagram posts
- Fan fiction
- Mentions
- Reels and Videos
It matters because UGC helps cement purchase decisions—79% of consumers rely on this form of social proof before purchasing anything.
In this article—we take a look at some brilliant user generated content examples on:
But, first, here are some trends in UGC, to look out for in 2024:
10 UGC Trends for 2024 (No. 4 is really important)
- Brands must become curators—64% of customers want brands to feature customer-created content
- UGC must remain trustworthy—only 46% of consumers trust sponsored content
- Brands must adapt to user generated content to drive profitability, according to Deloitte
- Millennials and live streams will dictate shopping experiences, says McKinsey
- Storytelling will remain primary for user-generated content
- Micro and nano influencers will drive influence across audiences
- Artificial Intelligence will be key in generating user generated content
- Immersive experiences through AR & VR like a “Virtual Try On” will be key for generating UGC for brands
- UGC will play an ever-increasing role in product videos and images
- Co-creation will drive UGC—81% of consumers feel a brand becomes more authentic when it collaborates with customers
19 Creative User Generated Content Examples On eCommerce Websites
1. Briogeo – Show The Product Through Them
Briogeo knows that 60% of Gen Z and Millennial customers will not buy their products if they don’t feature customer images.
Note how the microcopy on the image indicates that the image is indeed from a real user.
💡 Pro Tip: Offer replenishment in the form of subscriptions with tiered discounts and highlight payment options for frictionless sales—but don’t forget to add in actual reviews as well.
2. Colorescience – Show Them How To Use The Product
Nearly 96% of customers worldwide have watched a product tutorial video.
Meanwhile, 89% have bought a product because of one—Colorescience leverages this by featuring product tutorials from UGC creators.
💡 Pro Tip: Ensure to offer up product bundles through UGC videos on other pages—note how Colorescience does it on their homepage:
2. Tee Public – Turn Into Fan Art
Tee Public takes user generated content to a new level by using elements of co-creation and social commerce.
Here’s how—Tee Public turns fan art into products by letting users submit designs.
Everyone who submits designs gets an individual designer page—which is shoppable, of course.
💡 Pro Tip: If you plan to run a creator program, don’t forget to announce the same and run contests—note how Tee Public uses its notification bar. ↓
3. Allure & Walmart – Partner Up With Brands
There’s nothing better than two brands coming together.
However, how does this conversational commerce strategy relate to UGC?
Walmart opens itself up to the most common form of user-generated content—comments.
Additionally, the partnership builds a trust badge—which works wonders on the checkout rate.
💡 Pro Tip: Run remarketing and retargeting campaigns via email and Facebook Ads on all users who engaged with the live stream and ended up on your site.
Also Read: 11 Killer eCommerce Advertising Strategies
4. Patagonia – Feature Experts As Authors
By assigning customers author pages, Patagonia builds their SEO efforts and increases customer retention all in one go.
Two types of UGC are used in these examples—the first type is the blog content that the author creates.
The second type of user-generated content comes in the form of the experts themselves.
It’s worth noting that bloggers/content creators/influencers are among the top three sources of influence on consumer purchase decisions.
💡 Pro Tip: Offer user-generated content creators their affiliate links or codes, and if needed, offer products within author pages as well.
5. Proactiv – Show a Before After On Your Homepage
Proactiv, a skincare brand, showcases a photo gallery of user-generated content on its homepage.
The gallery features before-after transformations from individuals who’ve used Proactiv products, along with testimonials.
The CTA asks users to opt for the routine showcased in the transformations.
💡 Pro Tip: How you portray your customers is key—thus, it’s always a good idea to offer diversity in your images, like Proactiv:
6. American Eagle – Ask Them To Tag You
What’s the ‘hardest to achieve’ yet the most effective social signal?
Your customers tagging you on their socials.
Note how American Eagle showcases a customer photo gallery from Instagram on their product page.
💡 Pro Tip: Don’t have a photo of a customer wearing a particular product—tune your copy to say something like:
“Buying this item? Here’s your chance to be featured 1st! Tag @yourbrand.”
7. Reitmans – Use UGC to Drive Product Discovery
Taking a break from using popular “influencers”, Reitmans drives product discovery by pairing products with photos of customers.
We love how Reitmans projects authenticity by not picking people based on engagement count.
💡 Pro Tip: Offer this feature on your product page, and ensure a “Shop Similar” button to showcase a collection of similar items from your inventory.
8. Moosejaw – Feature Them In a Hall of Fame
This classic example of user-generated content works perfectly for delivering amazing post-purchase experiences.
Moosejaw incentivizes customers to submit photos of their pups, win a free dog hoodie, and a feature in the “Dog Hall of Fame.”
💡 Pro Tip: Highlight your free rewards using visual cues, and highlight award winners with the reward if possible.
9. Cozy Earth – Use Them In Your Navigation
Over 70% of consumers trust customer opinions posted online.
Cozy Earth leverages that by featuring customer reviews directly in the navigation menu—which, in turn, drives product recommendations.
💡 Pro Tip: Maintain the conversion rate on mobile by ensuring the images on the navigation menu are responsive.
10. Gas Monkey Garage – Create Powerful Nudges
Gas Monkey Garage uses powerful on-site push notifications to drive user-generated content.
Instead of offering a shipping threshold, this nudge combines nudge and scarcity marketing.
The user-generated content in this example comes from the photos of winners of an on-site giveaway.
💡 Pro Tip: If you are nudging users for giveaways or limited-time offers, use a countdown timer to accelerate the FOMO and exclusivity. For example: “Your chance to win {reward} is ending in 02:39:51.”
11. Fabletics – Use Customers To Show The Fit
Instead of using professional models, Fabletics features users wearing products of different sizes.
What’s of note is that Fabletics directly pairs the testimonial with the size selector.
💡 Pro Tip: Offer inclusivity with body-positive guides—for example, you can offer options to let users select their height, body type and age. Ensure that you feature customers of all shapes, sizes, and ages.
13. Bored Cow – Create Video Testimonials
If establishing authenticity is a challenge, Bored Cow crushes it by offering short video testimonials from various customers.
These testimonials highlight and solve specific pain points about the product.
Notably, these testimonials appear on the homepage and the product page. However, the narratives change as per the page.
💡 Pro Tip: Try to solve objections—refer to the most common searches on your search bar and queries on your live chat.
14. Hobby Craft – Feature Employees As SMEs (Expand)
86% of consumers cite trust as a purchasing factor—while one in four customers return products due to inadequate product information.
It’s quite hard to tailor product descriptions to offer the full how-to—but, Hobbycraft solves this problem by featuring employees as experts.
The result: Increased Employee Advocacy + 81% More Likely to be Purchased
💡 Pro Tip: Let your customers choose and filter experts by specific interests, needs, and values. Note how Hobbycraft does it:
15. Madewell – Create a Special Edit
Madewell offers curated product recommendations based on featured influencers.
The recommendations feature items in trend, making purchase decisions more straightforward and convenient.
What’s notable is that Madewell uses price anchoring to drive up the persuasion factor.
💡 Pro Tip: Announce the launch of the edit collection in your email newsletter, as well.
16. Whiteline Performance – Feature Content Creators Using Your Products
Whiteline Performance, an automobile performance parts manufacturer, features a YouTube video from the ‘Mighty Car Mods’ YouTube channel on their blog page.
Unlike Colorescience, which uses short videos directly on its homepage and product page, Whiteline Performance’s goals are:
- To generate micro-conversions
- Appeal to a larger fan base while driving cross-channel product discovery
- Drive traffic without extra advertising spend
💡 Pro Tip: Feature short clips from videos created by your partner creators on your product page—this lets users see their potential purchase in use.
17. Bored Cow – Create a Recipe With Them
87% of consumers will not purchase a product with the wrong product descriptions.
If your customers don’t know what to do with a product, 57% of them won’t bother to ask you.
Offering recipes, like Bored Cow does, is a classic example of self-service, and customers are more than happy to participate (in exchange for the right rewards, ofc)
💡 Pro Tip: Add a video of your recipes to drive better engagement. Furthermore, always treat your recipe pages like well-tuned landing pages—note how Bored Cow does it.
18. Cozy Earth – Create a Brand Ambassador Program
Cozy Earth's brand ambassador programme is geared towards fostering particpation.
Which in turn, generates a vast amount of user-generated content—note how Cozy Earth showcases some examples from their top creators.
💡 Pro Tip: Creating a brand ambassador program is akin to developing a customer loyalty program—thus, offering the right rewards is key.
19. Bala – Leverage the Q&A Format
Communities are at the core of increasing CLV and customer retention with a reduced CAC.
Bala, a fitness brand, features a Q&A post on its community page.
This builds trust, all while motivating users and providing insights into fitness routines.
Additionally, it also positions Bala as knowledgeable and shows consumers, “Bala cares about its consumers!”
💡 Pro Tip: Launch exclusive “Ask Me Anything” shoppable live streams on community pages.
8 Ways Of Using User-Generated Content In Emails
1. Shokz – Showcase Favorite Creators
User-generated content works across all stages of the funnel.
Shokz, (previously Aftershokz) features influences who advocate Shokz’s products actively in their emails.
The goal here is to drive engagement and consideration.
💡 Pro Tip: Introduce your favorite creators one by one in a dedicated email series—showcase their stories, and pair product recommendations.
2. Urban Outfitters – Tell Them What’s In Trend
Telling them what’s trending = Letting customers choose their journey.
Urban Outfitters does the same by bringing users product recommendations in their emails.
💡 Pro Tip: Encourage subscribers to guess the next big trend based on user-generated content clues, with winners receiving early access to trend-aligned products.
3. Bored Cow – Incorporate Reviews Visually
This strategy is the most common yet the most effective way to use user-generated content to drive conversions.
Bored Cow is back again as an example, because of the way they use reviews in pre-purchase emails.
💡 Pro Tip: Ensure that your product page contains the same review as well—which helps drive the social proof.
4. Zero Acre Farms – Feature Recipes From Customers
Zero Acre Farms drives re-engagement emails with recipes from customers.
💡 Pro Tip: Lead to recipe pages that offer pre-packaged kits containing all the ingredients needed to recreate popular user-generated recipes featured in emails.
5. Windsor – Feature BTS Content
The best way to humanize your brand is to show what happens behind the scenes.
On clicking on the email, users are taken to a shoppable live stream.
In this live stream, Windsor leads users to a celebration of an influencer’s prom by featuring a behind-the-scenes video.
💡 Pro Tip: Encourage subscribers to create DIY projects using your products in exchange for a chance to be featured.
6. Flaunt – Use Them For Upselling
Flaunt’s user-generated content drives the upsell email.
Note that the product on offer is extremely exclusive and has a premium price point.
💡 Pro Tip: Launch a drip campaign and feature two user-curated product bundles in an email and ask subscribers to vote for their favorite. Offer the winning bundle at a discounted price for a limited time.
7. Silent Theory – Show Customers Wearing New Arrivals
Silent Theory uses customers as models in their product launch emails.
💡 Pro Tip: Utilize subscriber data to recommend trend-based products that align with their previous purchases, increasing the likelihood of successful conversions.
8. Awe – Use Influencers As Inspiration
This particular example from Awe is among the best user generated content examples—here's why:
This email can work as upselling, re-engagement, and win-back emails, all at the same time.
💡 Pro Tip: Drive the open rate by adding a quote from an influencer like “I thought this wasn’t that good, but…”
Lastly, Good UGC + Good UX = Conversions
Adding user-generated content is just one of the ways to make your traffic convert.
But, by how much?
98% of visitors who visit an eCommerce site—drop off without buying anything.
Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors.
And this is the problem Convertcart solves.
We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversions.
How we can help you:
Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions.
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
