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While the consumer goods industry covers a wide range of distinctive products – from kitchenware to baby and pet products to flowers, books and more – there is one thing that these vastly unique sectors have in common while selling online: the desire to give customers an authentic feel for products without an in-store experience.
There is one particular method that has proved to be successful for consumer goods brands in not only providing this genuine online buying experience – but also increasing conversions and engagement. And that strategy is User Generated Content (UGC).
By implementing a UGC strategy, consumer goods brands celebrate their niche products by building a community of loyal customers who speak on behalf of the brand on social media. Having pictures of your product ‘in action’ helps give people an idea of how your unique product would fit into their own life.
Plus, seeing hundreds of photos of happy customers in an eCommerce store only encourages customer investment. In this way, UGC becomes a visual review that powerfully engages customers.
In this blog post, we’ll present you with all the ways UGC can benefit the consumer goods industry through four examples of brands that are successfully leveraging customer content.
Let’s get started!
British pottery manufacturer, Denby Pottery, were looking for a way to improve their customers’ online shopping journey by giving them ways to visualize what their lives would be like with Denby products in their homes. They quickly realized the best way to achieve this was through a UGC shoppable gallery.
Providing unique glimpses of the brand in real life settings helps customers envision what the products will look like in their own home before making their purchase. So despite never seeing the products in person, they get a sense of how the product will fit with their other pieces, and how well it will match their color scheme and existing décor.
In regards to the integration, Ged Lightfoot, eCommerce manager at Denby said, “We know from user insight studies and heat mapping that the UGC widgets and gallery pages are amongst the most visited areas of the Denby website. Customers want to see how the products can be used in different ways, and Flowbox provides an easy way for us to embed this content throughout the site.”
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If you’re selling something like pottery, which has an aesthetic and practical value, UGC is especially effective at providing a real sense of the product in use. For instance, someone scrolling through Denby’s site may see a UGC post in which a real life customer has paired a white dining table with blue Denby plates. Seeing how happy the person is with their home styling will only tempt them to make a similar choice!
Not only does UGC help inspire customers to engage with the brand, it also makes a huge impact on conversions in the consumer goods sector. Let’s take a look at how Kambukka improved their conversion rates with authentic customer content.
Kambukka is a Belgium based lifestyle brand that sells a range of premium water bottles, coffee mugs, and food jars. Looking to increase their conversions by representing their extensive product catalogue through the eyes of their customers, they turned to Flowbox’s advanced UGC platform.
As their customers were posting super high quality photos on social media featuring Kambukka products being used in a range of ways, the brand wanted to showcase this engaging content on their website. So they developed their own UGC strategy with the goal of inspiring online customers and the hope of increasing their conversions.
As you can see, the posts show the products being used in a number of ways: we have a fashionable customer sipping coffee in her car, an active cyclist using a Kambukka water bottle, and an adorable little girl smiling gleefully with her funky water bottle. This helps future customers to see the possibilities that come with owning a Kambukka product and gives them a sneak peak of what their life could be if they make a purchase.
As a consumer goods brand, Kambukka sells a number of different products with varied uses, and it can be a challenge to market each one at the same time. What UGC does is enable them to give customers concrete ways to integrate Kambukka’s range of products into their daily lives, which is crucial in the consumer goods market.
Sabrina Ruzzi, Marketing Manager at Kambukka, said, “I think UGC demonstrates the look and feel of the brand because you can actually see the way the real product will look, which for us is very, very important… it’s like a real-life implementation of the products, which is quite important to understand all of the benefits of the product.”
One thing is for sure, representing the brand through the eyes of their customers worked wonders for Kambukka. They achieved their goal of increasing sales with a 9.81% increase in conversion rate thanks to their authentic UGC.
While increasing conversions is always the main goal, there are a number of other benefits that consumer goods brands can take advantage of with the help of UGC. Let’s take a look at how Lékué connects with customers to build a loyal brand community thanks to customer content.
Innovative kitchenware brand, Lékué, has a strong brand community, based in large part on their customers’ shared love and appreciation for healthy eating.
Lékué wanted to capitalize on all the pictures their customers were sharing, which included not just a Lékué product but also the amazing meals and snacks that customers were making.
The addition of UGC to their website meant Lekué personalized their products and showed the individual ways that real life customers welcome Lekué into their lives.
By showing the variety of meals their customers make using Lékué products, individuality and flair is injected into the site, which differentiates Lékué from other brands and keeps customers coming back to them. For instance in the photo below you can see someone has posted a picture of homemade ice cream made with Lékué molds.
The customer has written the recipe they used alongside the post- so now anyone browsing the site can easily locate not only the specific product in the post, but also a new recipe idea. What’s not to love?
Strengthening a brand community is essential for maintaining customer loyalty. When there are so many other brands to choose from you have to think outside the box to keep your customers coming back. And establishing a personal connection through a relationship based strategy like UGC, is one of the most effective ways of ensuring your customers choose you over other brands.
Now let’s take a look at other ways to increase your social engagement through UGC by exploring Nordic brand Jollyroom.
Jollyroom is the Nordic region’s largest children and baby store. They sell a wide range of high-quality baby products including strollers, toys, car seats, and children’s clothes.
As a brand selling products designed for young children, it’s important they show just how reliable and dependable they are.
This is where social proof and UGC come into play. Customers want to know that the brand they’re buying from is popular, in-demand, and high-quality – and UGC is capable of proving all of this.
They say a picture speaks a thousand words – this couldn’t be more true when it comes to social proof. A customer posting a picture of your product is like a five star visual review. It’s an incredibly powerful tool that drives positive results.
Take the picture below for instance. Not only does the customer like this car seat enough to want to post a picture on their Instagram and tag Jollyroom, it also clearly shows a very content and relaxed (not to mention, adorable) baby, who’s enjoying the comfort of Jollyroom’s car seat.
Someone browsing Jollyroom’s site would instantly see the happy baby in the car seat and think to themselves, “I want my child to be that comfortable and peaceful when I’m driving too!”
UGC is a sure-fire way to capitalize on the power of social proof – and it’s so simple. Just encourage your customers to tag you in their Instagram posts, collect these images through a UGC platform, and watch your customer loyalty sky rocket!
It’s hard to beat the benefits that consumer goods brands can get out of UGC – your customers’ photos undoubtedly provide you with the ideal way to demonstrate your unique and niche products without an in-store experience.
So if you’re looking to improve your brand’s online shopping journey, turn to your customers. A UGC strategy will help to not only provide an authentic feel of your products, it will also present your brand as an innovative presence in the eCommerce industry. It’s a win-win for you and your customers.
And it’s never been easier to achieve all of this with the help of a User Generated Content platform like Flowbox. Get in touch with our team today to experience how our advanced service can help your consumer goods brand strengthen your online performance.
