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Within the clothing and apparel sector, worldwide eCommerce revenue and revenue per user, after the global pandemic, are expected to reach $672.71 billion by 2023. With the growing demand for a compelling online journey, t. need to enhance and update your eCommerce strategy is more important than ever.
Then, in the mix, is the trend of social shopping, which continues to grow with the rise of social proof. Customers want to know that their latest looks are Instagram approved, and that’s often where they find new products too.
So what can your brand do to bridge social shopping with your eCommerce? That’s where User Generated Content strategy comes into the picture.
UGC is 5X more likely to convert customers into buying your products than professional product shots. For fashion and apparel brands in particular, there’s huge potential for growing your engagement and your sales.
And we’ve got proof! Let’s take a look at how these 5 fashion and apparel brands are using customer content to improve their eCommerce marketing.
In the clothing & apparel sector, social shopping has a strong influence on fashion trends. Seeing an image of another user pairing one of your brand’s dresses with a jacket helps them envision how they would wear the product after purchase.
One could argue that models could do the same – but customers are aware that products don’t look the same styled professionally as they do on a normal user. Creating a feeling of authenticity around a brand’s identity can be an important step in a shopper’s process – they can see themselves reflected in the imagery and they are informed in how to style the product. As Simão Figueiredo, eCommerce & UX Specialist at Salsa Jeans said:
“This concept can help us because the consumer that lands on our homepage will see content from people continuing to post their looks in their homes. They are continuing with their life, they are super happy, they are wearing jeans at home. This can help other customers who land on Salsa, and they don’t know the brand. They can see these images that can create a different feeling for them.”
That’s why User Generated Content is so powerful.
Shoppers want to know that the people who spent money on your products love them! And customer content is the perfect way to show off your products in an authentic way.
Salsa Jeans relied on UGC when adapting to the increase in online shopping during the pandemic. With customers unable to connect with their products in-store the innovative brand rose to the challenge and devised their “Never Surrender” campaign. The campaign encouraged customers to post content featuring Salsa Jeans products alongside the hashtag #NeverSurrender, fostering a strong bond with their consumer base and adding new younger customers to their list of happy Salsa Jeans wearers. This included a charity capsule collection in which 100% of proceeds were donated to the red cross.
The simple yet effective #salsajeans hashtag allows the brand to collect highly quality User Generated Content too. Take a look at the example below.
So let’s learn how fashion and apparel brands increase their conversion rate with genuine customer content.
With a strong online presence and an existing active community, the childrenswear brand – The Animals Observatory, was looking for ways to engage with this valuable content.
Integrating UGC on their website proved the perfect method for leveraging their enthusiastic customer base!
So with Flowbox, the brand implemented a dedicated community page which showcases their vibrant content! Visitors can filter UGC based on different categories so that it is easy to use with constant new products and catalogs.
Implementing UGC on the website has also meant that customers are compelled to post more because they feel as if they are adding value to the brand themselves.
But aside from encouraging community growth, Carmen de Paz says that the brand recognises the role of UGC as “a decisive factor in the purchasing process”. This reinforces the power of social proof provided by UGC, and how it converts into profit for the brand.
“The most important value that Flowbox added to our customer journey is that it increased our conversion rate, especially in the product page”.
Carmen de Paz, Head of Growth
To learn more, read the The Animals Observatory case study here.
For now, let’s move on to the power of visual reviews.
With Flowbox’s User Generated Content platform, you can easily collect, manage, publish and analyze your customer content for a truly killer strategy. Keep up with your fashion and apparel competitors –request a demo to learn more.
Word-of-mouth has always been the most powerful form of marketing – and that’s why User Generated Content is so compelling. Your customers are already on social media producing high-quality content. If that content features your clothing, it’s like a stamp of approval that all of their friends can see.
As we know, written reviews are a great format for convincing people that your products look great, fit well, and are well-produced. But when you add a visual element to it, shoppers don’t have to just imagine how people look and feel in your products – they can see it for themselves.
If this kind of content exists on social media, wouldn’t you want to use it?
TopVintage has discovered the importance of these visual reviews to enhance their customers’ online shopping journey. Learn how TopVintage increased their average order value by 8.33% through their use of UGC in this case study.
Once you’re leveraging visual reviews, you can start forming a community of people who love your brand and who talk about it on social media. Hopefully, with every happy face showing off your clothes, your community will only continue to grow.
When your customers engage with your products on social media, you can extend this engagement into your eCommerce store. The best way to achieve this is to create a community that is excited to be considered a part of your brand.
When you feature this community prominently on your site, they feel like they belong to something bigger than just the purchase of a new dress. Suddenly, they are an ambassador for your brand, which will only make them – and others – want to post more.
KARL LAGERFELD is a brilliant of example this. They encourage their large fan base to post content featuring their products to be displayed on their eCommerce store. They give back to their loyal customers by acknowledging their authentic Instagram content and showcasing it on their website.
This proved effective as KARL LAGERFELD saw a 7.02% increase of conversion rate of people who interacted with UGC. They also saw a 20.84% average order value increase.
They also feature their earned images and videos within a shoppable lookbook, so that users never run out of inspirational styling content. Then, the fact that they can directly purchase the featured products from the content that interests them only makes the shopping journey that much more compelling.
When an internationally renowned brand like United Colors of Benetton wanted to share its product message about its sustainable practices with a larger audience, UGC was the perfect way to do so.
“We would like United Colors of Benetton to be seen as a colorful, good-quality and eclectic collection – suitable for all and committed to be more and more sustainable. And User Generated Content is a great complement to this approach.”
Vanessa Roccatelli – Digital Marketing Manager at United Colors of Benetton
Through UGC they were able to connect with both young new customers and their loyal core customer base. When new customers see images and videos of the Benetton community enjoying their designs, they too want to experience this connection to the brand’s promise of a brighter future, together.
Now after collecting over 294k User Generated images and videos, both old and new customers can scroll through authentic images of other customers enjoying this innovative brand’s designs, giving them full social proof to convert.
Find out more about United Colors of Benetton’s UGC strategy in this case study.
Now that you’ve learned how these 5 fashion and apparel brands made the decision to embed an Instagram feed and leverage User Generated Content in their eCommerce stores, it’s your turn to try it out. But let us help you!
Then start improving your eCommerce performance with the help of your customers. With so many key benefits, it’s really a no-brainer for fashion and apparel brands.
