The world of eCommerce is a big market that is growing every day. More and more companies are deciding that they want to sell their products online. Also, this causes a lot of competition for anyone who wants to engage in internet sales.
It is vital to meet customer expectations and provide them with a good shopping experience when buying from you. The reason is that the customers decide on your earnings when they decide to buy or not to buy from you. That is why it is vital to record their experience, to get feedback on how to improve your business.
From their experience, you can get a lot of information on how to improve your business. To make getting feedback easier, you can use something called User-Generated Content.
What is User-Generated Content?
User-Generated Content (or UGC in short) is content created by people outside of your business. Your customers and social media posts, photos, mentions, hashtags, etc., can make it. So, what is it? It is other people talking about your company’s products.
Why Does User-Generated Content Matter?
Because buyers trust the experience of others more than the sellers themselves. There is a large selection, and it is challenging to decide what to buy. So the experience of others who have purchased the same product or products is significant for the customer’s assessment.
In this article, we will list for you the top five ways how user-generated content can help an eCommerce blog sell even more. Read on!
1. Users Create Content
Every time someone shares an image of your product or writes a review about it, they generate content that improves your online presence. This content is more relatable to other visitors because it is ordinary people who made te.
Also, they did not use any special equipment or photoshopping (image beautification) to make that content. The content they post also creates feedback to other users when they want more details about your product.
2. Help With SEO
Search Engine Optimization or SEO tells how easy it will be for others to find your site through Google. It is vital because the statistic has shown that most people, precisely around 75,1%, click on one of the top three search results. A minimal amount, around 0,78%, click on the second page.
These statistics show the importance of SEO and how crucial it is for every business. User-generated content can be a great tool in improving your SEO. This is especially true for product reviews.
However, a product review can increase your conversion rate up to 400%. People in comments mention words that they are more used to. That way, when others are looking for something, they are more likely to look under those words. More comments mean greater participation of people, greater interest, and engagement.
By answering these reviews or questions, you create additional content for your site. All of this affects your SEO positively.
3. Create Trust
The statistics show that 55% of customers trust more user-generated content than other forms of marketing. Visitors will have more faith and consider the opinion of ordinary people they think have no interest in selling the product.
The ability for users to review your products shows that you value the customer. Also, by providing complete transparency of your work, you can ensure their satisfaction.
4. They Expand the Community
By sharing pictures, videos, positive reviews, etc., the number of people your products reach increases. If these experiences are positive, the better.
That way, others can be more confident about visiting your site and buying some of your products. You should pay special attention to each customer. That is because a bad review can do more harm than a positive review would do good for your business.
Thoroughness and precision pay off. User-generated content helps to establish a better connection between the customer and the brand. It makes your customers not feel like ordinary customers. But instead, they feel like a part of a larger community and know that their commitment is valued.
5. They Help Guide Your Business
User-generated content can help guide your business. Based on it, you can evaluate in which direction you should develop your business. What content do customers like more, what they react to well, and what they respond to very little or not at all.
Positive and negative reviews give you clear feedback from customers from which you can extract a lot of valuable information. You can estimate which products you should invest more in, which ones customers don’t like, or which ones need to be modified further or removed from sale.
Customer satisfaction is essential for every business, which is why User Generated Content can direct you to what customers like the most and what they don’t like.
How to Get Customers to Make Content?
There are many ways you can encourage customers to make content about your business. One is by encouraging reviews like those on Google, Yelp, Amazon, eBay, etc. Reviews are viral because they are instantly available and are quick to write. They can influence other visitors’ decisions.
How vital reviews are, shows the statistic that 85% of people conduct online research before choosing to buy a product. That shows how strong reviews are and how much effect they have on other people’s purchases.
The second method is to encourage your customers to use various social media platforms and share your work on them. Social media is viral and used every day by millions of people worldwide; this allows you to reach a more significant number of people.
When someone shares their positive experience from your eCommerce on their social media, it will instigate others to visit your eCommerce site and see what it’s all about and maybe find something they like.
One great way to improve social media sharing is by using hashtags. A hashtag should be original, easily linked to your business, and easy to remember. You and your customers can use hashtags on various social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
The third way to encourage customers is by making it available for them to comment on your blog, answer their questions, and interact with them regularly. You are demonstrating to them that you value them and their opinions in this manner. You will also show that you appreciate their suggestions, compliments, and criticism so that they feel like a member of a community rather than just a regular visitor or buyer.
The fourth way is by organizing competitions. You can organize contests in which you will make so that one of the conditions for participation is that they share your page on their profile, tag a friend or friends and follow your page (if it is on social media).
This way, you can award your loyal followers. And they will, in return, share your posts so that their friends can hear about you and your eCommerce business.
Conclusion
User-generated content is crucial for any business. We recommend that everyone who wants to start a business or already has one and wants to improve it pays special attention to this content.
Interaction with customers is crucial for any business, so you should be fully dedicated to it.
It should be encouraged through various reviews, but also by sharing content through social media. The customer is involved in the process itself, which makes the process much more authentic. It is also good to share experiences, especially positive ones, on your site or social media if you have one.
Also, this will show the customers that you notice them, appreciate their feedback. But also that you orient towards making them happy and satisfied.