In times when promotional marketing and advertising is increasing by the day, user generated content has become one of the most powerful ways for brands to establish authentic connections with their audience. Be it product reviews, customer photos and videos, or testimonials, most businesses give them a place on their website alone, forgetting to integrate this endorsement from ‘real’ consumers into their marketing.
So in this post, we’re going to help you explore how to effectively leverage UGC in email marketing to double the engagement on your campaigns.
Why should you use user-generated content in email marketing?
Studies have found that emails featuring UGC have a 4x higher click-through rate than those without. The campaigns also see a 73% increase in conversion rates as the promotional messages get an endorsement from a consumer similar to the recipient.
Similar to how user generated content acts as social proof and authentic content on social media, incorporating real experiences from actual customers encourages meaningful engagement. UGC can help give hesitant buyers a nudge towards making the purchase.
The good thing is that if you’re using Klaviyo, Mailchimp and Drip for email marketing automation, embedding UGC is as easy as using templates.
How to use UGC in email marketing campaigns?
Tools like Klaviyo, Mailchimp and Drip come with features like dynamic content blocks, integrations with social media profiles, pre-built email templates, photo galleries and more. Here’s how you can use UGC in different ways for email marketing:
1. Highlight your best sellers
Based on the number of purchases made, take note of your best sellers and what consumers have to say about them. Create email marketing campaigns to introduce other audience segments about these products. UGC can help nudge new subscribers or dormant ones to explore what others are buying and influence their purchase decisions.
Klaviyo, Mailchimp and Drip all offer pre-built templates with sections specifically designed for testimonials. These templates make it easier to showcase customer reviews around best-sellers more prominently.
2. Recover abandoned carts
Another great way to use UGC in email marketing is when recovering abandoned carts. While most send simple email reminders or discounts to bring back shoppers, using UGC can help convince them more effectively. Show them the value the product in cart is bringing to similar consumers and combine it with other tactics to encourage completing the purchase.
If you’re looking for Klaviyo alternatives, you can use Mailchimp and Drip for gallery content blocks. This lets you add multiple UGC for the abandoned product on a rotator. Another way to show how customers are using your products is to integrate with your social media profiles and pull the user-generated images from the feed.
3. Share product recommendations
Personalized product recommendations in email marketing have proven to help brands upsell and cross-sell more effectively. But instead of the usual content blocks of recommendations based on previous purchases or interactions, use UGC. Use user generated content to show what similar consumers are purchasing alongside to get the most value out of the purchase.
Both Klaviyo and Mailchimp offer dynamic blocks that let you showcase personalized recommendations alongside reviews.
4. Post-purchase engagement
Another way to integrate UGC and email marketing is to create an automated flow for post-purchase engagement. This includes reaching out to customers and requesting them to submit a photo or review of the product. The strategy helps you gather more social proof, and also shows customers you care about their opinion.
We also recommend incentivizing UGC submissions for higher engagement rates. This can include offering a discount code on future purchases or featuring their submissions on your website/ social media accounts. All the email marketing tools here have a workflow set that you can use to collect user generated content through emails.
Best practices for using UGC in email marketing
No matter which platform you’re using for email marketing automation, here are some best practices we recommend following:
- Always request permission – If you’re sharing customer photos and videos in your emails, be sure to seek permission first from the creator.
- Optimize for mobile – Most of your customers will open emails on their phone. So ensure that UGC like photos, videos and reviews are easy to view and read on smaller screens.
- Test different formats – Experiment with different layouts and placements of UGC in your emails. You can also test different types of UGC in campaign types to see what works better with your audience.
- Integrate only with key channels – Online businesses often gather customer feedback across different channels. We recommend integrating UGC only from those that are your primary touchpoints.
- Use recent UGC – Ensure the user generated content you include is recent and outdated. This shows the recency of experiences for customers, helping you build trust.
Conclusion
Incorporating user-generated content into your email campaigns using tools like Klaviyo, Mailchimp and Drip can help improve audience engagement.
Each platform offers unique features that make it easy to integrate UGC into your campaigns. From pulling reviews and photos to testimonials on your website, social media and other platforms, each of these tools have seamless integrations.
Want to give your emails a unique touch? It’s time to start using UGC in your email campaigns.
