September 5, 2019

Storytelling, User-Generated Content and Building Trust: 6 Tips to Succeed in All

Statistics show that only 3% of consumers have never prioritize visual information while buying something. This means that visual content is absolutely necessary for ecommerce business. Written content has not such big influence as visual one does. The reason for it is that videos and interactive elements demonstrate the interaction with a product, you can see its size and fit better and also how it can be used in your daily life. It creates an image of lifestyle a shopper can have and this why people like it that much.

However, not only the content matters but also who did it. Over 85% of shoppers prefer user-generated content to a company’s one. Therefore, focus on it and develop it in your brand. How you can do that you will find in these 6 tips we prepared.

1. Storytelling and authenticity

Your brand should have a story. It is not about how the company was found or how the content is prepared. A brand story is about telling the shoppers what inspires you. It should not be too long and boring, it should encourage customers in return to tell what inspires them in your brand.

Make a campaign, share clients’ opinions and provoke the activity online you need for building a relationship with customers. It is proved that not only loyalty is an essential marketing aspect but also customer experience. Make this experience emotional and pleasant and this will persuade the shoppers to come back.

2. Community and space

Brand’s story is a good way to start but you also should think about creating a community around your company. User-generated content is a nice way to unite shoppers and raise their involvement. Try to start chats online through this content and make a conversation with a brand easy for a customer. It will help to integrate new clients inside the community and get the shoppers closer to your company’s culture.

What is also good to take into consideration is a space for your community. Where you would communicate with clients? How to make it appropriate and comfortable? The best option for most companies is Instagram. It is simple in terms of collecting data and you can easily found a community there. That is why, the chance of sale increase is higher. Try to get in touch with some micro influencers and they can provide their followers with an advertisement of your brand. You do not have to pay an enormous sum of money, just make it natural.

3. Support user-generated content

As soon as you have your own community and brand story, be certain that your customers know what type of content to post. Tell the people exactly what you are searching for right away. For example, The Big Green Egg company just asks the clients about their preferences for grilling on the weekend. After that they give a special hashtag for the post so they could easily moderate it. However, be genuine in your questions. Do not give hints on your products, just ask people and see their tastes from their answers. Also remember that user-generated content should not be too perfect and polished. The conversation with a customer should be honest and real. 

For more visual inspiration there are several companies to follow. For instance, Target Style with its concentration on the specific product in their conversations with users. The company supports clients’ content and do not edit their pictures before posting preserving the authenticity of a user’s picture. It is all about creating a genuine and natural image. Therefore, it is extremely important to ask the customers very specific questions to gain the content you need.

4. Ask beforehand

Do not forget about customers’ reviews. As good as Instagram, this way of getting visuals can also benefit your business. Encourage people not only to give feedback but also to attach visual elements: photos, videos with a product. Try to add image upload buttons from social media or a photo library and make it even easier for a client. Reviews collection can be difficult but there are several tips to simplify the process.

Initially, make the process of posting a review understandable. It should be simple and not time-consuming. Collect Reviews has the Review Your Purchases option. It gives you an opportunity to send the clients a special form for rating and writing a review and what is important adding visual information for a great number of products everything on one page.

It is absolutely needed for those companies who knows their customers purchase several items at once. It can also differentiate and filter low-rated and high-rated reviews and give them an order. Use the tool to help the shoppers and gain more content.

5. Verified reviews

It takes time till a customer will make a purchase. Therefore, you should have some hints on the fact that your content is original and authentic. Keep an eye on the origin of your reviews and pictures because there are a lot of people (up to 40% according to statistics) who believe review badges and indicators while investigating the reviews.

Through Brand Engage, reviewer badges give buyers confidence knowing who specifically left the review and whether it was a verified buyer or from the actual brand.

6. Product campaigns

It is really easy and convenient to sell product on Instagram: paid advertisement and referrals work really good. That is why, take care of mobile sales. Statistics show that 70% of Instagram users are more likely to purchase through a device rather than those who do not have an account on Instagram. Gaining more user-generated content requires not only advertisement and posts but also creating a product sampling community. Influencers can write daily reviews and depict their experience through videos and photos.

Through such campaigns you have more chances to reach more casual platform users. For instance, SeroVital have a promotion among everyday bloggers with each of them talking to their own audience. They also use BzzAgent and, thus, get to talk to over 200 million users. SeroVital also collects a great amount of visual information and weekly update their user-generated content page. All of that affected their success so be sure storytelling, user-generated content and trust of the audience do matter.

Alice works on the Renewals and Account Management team at Collect Reviews. She is a professional writer and content critic. Feel free to bug her on Linkedin.