How to Add User-Generated Content in Email to Boost Engagement?

84% of consumers are likely to trust brands featuring user-generated content (Global Newswire). UGC (user-generated content) adds authenticity to your brand’s image.

While making a purchase, consumers trust the opinions of other customers. Utilizing user-generated content (UGC) for email campaigns can boost your business. 

If your email campaigns are not showing the desired results? It could be because they lack the authenticity that comes with UGC. So, let’s find out how you can make the most out of your emails with user-generated content.  

So, What Is User Generated Content In Email Marketing?

As the name suggests, UGC is created by your customers sharing their experience with your brand, products, or services. UGC can be anything like pictures, videos, reviews, testimonials, success stories, social media feeds, and others. It’s a form of direct or indirect endorsement your brand receives from satisfied customers. 

Adding user-generated content in email campaigns can boost your brand image and credibility, and spread awareness. Additionally, leveraging user-generated content for email campaigns can help you acquire more leads and close deals faster. Overall, email campaigns with UGC can result in 4x higher click-through rates than your average emails, according to a study conducted by Shopify.        

Benefits of Using User-Generated (UGC) Content For Email Campaigns:

Using user-generated content in email campaigns can offer you several advantages. Here are the key benefits:

Enhanced Audience Engagement and Community Building:

Integrating interactive UGC elements into email marketing like polls and surveys can boost customer engagement. For instance, a sports brand could host a photo contest for workout enthusiasts. Customers who are actively involved are more likely to open, interact with, and reply to your emails.

Cost-Effective Content Strategy:

UGC offers a cost-effective solution for content creation. Satisfied customers often willingly share unique and authentic content you can use to promote your brand. 

Curating the best user-generated content allows brands to add a new perspective to various email campaigns.

It saves money and ensures a continuous stream of fresh, relatable content that resonates with your audience.

Reinforced Credibility:

When customers see others enjoying your product, they will buy it. That’s how influential UGC can be as social proof in email marketing. It affects purchase decisions and also helps create brand advocates who share positive experiences willingly. 

You can feature these subscribers in email campaigns, where they share testimonials or success stories. They are the ones who will build a layer of confidence around your brand in the long run.

Personalized and Targeted Approach:

You can gain actionable insights into customer preferences and behaviors by analyzing UGC. These insights can help you effectively segregate your customer base for creating hyper-personalized content. Personalization based on UGC can enhance customer experience and boost conversion rates, as well.

How To Leverage User-Generated Content In Email?

You’ve gathered plenty of user-generated content for your email campaign. What’s next? You need to decide how to utilize this content effectively. Consider your business objectives, your audience, and the message you want to send. Here are some instances of how you can make the most of this content in your emails:

• You can showcase user-generated content as testimonials or success stories in a product launch email to highlight customer satisfaction. 
• Use it as social proof with your promotional or cold emails. 
• Use them with newsletters or content marketing emails to create awareness. You can even use them with retainer emails to ensure customer loyalty. 

There are several other ways you can use user-generated content for email campaigns. Start with defining the area that needs your attention. Need inspiration? Here are some proven use cases you can consider for implementing user-generated content in emails.

Here are some well-known examples of user-generated content in email campaigns:-

The Share a Coke Campaign:

Coca-Cola’s ‘’Share a Coke” campaign rocked the email marketing domain by inviting customers to personalize bottles and share them online. They showcased real photos and stories from customers in their email newsletters. By doing this, Coca-Cola created an authentic, engaging experience that increased participation and boosted its campaign’s success.

The White Cup Contest:

Starbucks started the “White Cup Contest” to encourage customers to decorate cups and share designs online. They highlighted the winning designs in emails and rewarded creativity. It helped Starbucks stir up its customer base. Additionally, it helped them nurture a sense of community that led to more brand engagement.

Key Factors To Consider While Integrating UGC in Email Campaigns:

If emails bring in most of your profits, then boosting them with user-generated content (UGC) can lead to quicker results. But to maximize the effectiveness of your email campaigns with UGC, there are key factors to keep in mind. 

It might seem a bit overwhelming at first. Don’t worry! We specialize in it. Check out how we can help your business level up with business here. Coming back to the central idea, the following are the factors that need your consideration:

Optimize UGC for design, performance, and deliverability:

• Ensure UGC reflects the brand’s visual identity, tone, and style to maintain consistency across email campaigns.
• Verify that UGC content serves the purpose of the email, whether it’s promoting a product, sharing a testimonial, or encouraging user engagement.
  

Edit and resize UGC to fit email format and size:

• Adjust UGC dimensions and resolution to match the layout and specifications of the email template.
• Enhance image quality to ensure clarity and sharpness to optimize for various screen sizes and resolutions.
• Test UGC on different devices and browsers to guarantee compatibility and seamless display.
  

Link UGC to the source:

• Attribute UGC to its rightful source or creator, acknowledging their contribution to the content.
• Provide a clickable link directing recipients to the original platform or page where the UGC was originally shared.
• Implement tracking mechanisms to monitor the performance of UGC-driven engagement and conversions.

Utilize tools for optimization and tracking:

• Leverage design tools like Canva or Photoshop for editing and enhancing UGC visuals.
• Use image compression tools like TinyPNG to reduce file size without compromising quality for faster loading times.
• Customize URLs using services like Bitly to create trackable links for UGC attribution.
• Employ analytics platforms such as Google Analytics or Mailchimp to monitor the impact of UGC on email campaign performance.
  

How To Measure The Impact of Your Emails with UGC?

Once you’ve sent out those emails, It’s time to measure and analyze how successful your email campaign was. Following are the core areas you can focus on to measure the impact of user-generated content for email campaigns:

Evaluate UGC Impact:

• Measure impact on email metrics and outcomes.
• Get actionable insights on open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates.
  

Utilize Monitoring Tools:

• Use tools like Mailchimp, HubSpot, or Campaign Monitor for performance analysis.
  

Conduct A/B Testing:

• Implement and compare different methods of using UGC.
• Utilize tools like Optimizely, VWO, or ConvertKit for experimentation.

Gather Feedback:

• Collect and analyze subscriber and customer feedback.
• Use SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Qualtrics for surveys and polls.

Summing It Up

Integrating user-generated content (UGC) into email marketing campaigns enhances customer engagement and drives results. By incorporating interactive elements, cost-effective strategies, social proof, and personalized targeting, UGC strengthens connections with customers, leading to increased brand authenticity.

Your brand can create compelling email campaigns by featuring the voices of satisfied customers, resonating on a personal level. Utilizing UGC strategically is crucial for brands aiming to thrive in today’s business landscape.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! What’s your take on using user-generated content in email marketing? Share your insights in the comments below!

What’s next?

If you haven’t yet made the most out of your emails, let us help you out. At Marrina Decisions, we can help you set up personalized B2B email campaigns that deliver quick results. Reach out to us at info@marrinadecisions.com