User-generated content strategies promise big wins (like stronger trust, higher engagement, and higher conversions)… yet most companies still treat UGC as an afterthought, relying on generic testimonials that underperform.
The tips below are from first-hand, tested strategies in turning real customer content into measurable results. Juicer.io asked several experienced marketing leaders about what UGC actually worked for them.
With the right tips, these marketers were able to achieve 32% longer time on page, lift conversion rates by 7–14%, and even deliver 45% higher video watch-through rates while lowering ad costs. Read on to see how.
7 expert-backed user-generated content strategies
We asked the real pros and our partners about what successful user-generated content tactics delivered the strongest results.
1. Highlight the journey, not just the destination
Don’t focus on polished “after” shots – highlight real progress as it happens. In-between moments and early wins feel more relatable and align closely with how potential buyers make decisions.
Tom Bukevicius, Principal of Scube Marketing, has seen strong results from encouraging customers to share updates along the way rather than waiting for a final testimonial. By collecting casual progress photos and short notes, his team shifted the narrative from promises to “a shared journey”.
The outcome was tangible:
- Time on page increased by 32%.
- Conversion rates improved by 14% compared to static testimonials.
- Fewer visitors hesitated because they could see momentum instead of promises.
Aaron Weiss, CEO and Co-Founder of Cowboy Pools, applies a similar principle through what he calls “ownership-in-progress” content. By prompting customers to share UGC at key moments – delivery, first fill, and first weekend of use – raw, honest, entertaining content is delivered that answers common buyer questions without overt selling.
The results? “Conversion rates on pages featuring this user-generated content outperformed static product imagery because customers could picture themselves owning the pool, not just admiring it. It shortened the buying cycle and reduced pre-purchase support questions, which told us the content wasn’t just engaging; it was doing real work.”
Journey-focused UGC builds trust at scale. It lowers uncertainty, replaces marketing claims with lived experience, and helps buyers visualize themselves taking the same steps. And these real, in-progress moments are powerful conversion drivers—don’t let them disappear into your social feed.
By curating and displaying customer photos and videos directly on your website with juicer.io, you can extend their lifespan, reinforce trust at key decision points, and turn everyday updates into long-term revenue assets.
2. Convert hesitation points into conversion opportunities
Every funnel has friction points – pricing pages, comparison tables, checkout – where potential customers pause and second-guess. But placing the right user-generated content exactly where that hesitation occurs, can turn doubt into momentum.
Rather than using customer stories purely for awareness, Volodymyr Lebedenko, Head of Marketing at HostZealot, and his team map out where users tend to stall and then design user-generated content specifically for those moments. For HostZealot, those hesitation points were pricing and comparison pages.
To address them, they asked their power users targeted questions like:
- What is that one thing that made you choose us over the others?
- What did you need to see or understand before you moved forward?
- What made the final decision click?
Short, first-person snippets such as “At first, I was worried this wouldn’t scale with our traffic, but…” were then placed directly beneath calls to action and within sales follow-ups.
The impact was measurable in key metrics. Conversion rates increased by 7% over eight weeks, and the sales cycle shortened as common objections were resolved before prospects needed to voice them.
By using peer explanations in place of brand claims, it didn’t just build trust – it actively answered the questions that stalled decisions and nudged users toward action.
3. Turn customers into storytellers, not just reviewers
Traditional reviews ask customers to evaluate a product. Strong UGC can go another step further: when people have the opportunity to explain who they are, what they value, or how they want to be perceived, content engagement becomes more meaningful.
Loc Dang, Marketing Executive at Mim Concept, saw a clear shift when his team reframed how they requested user-generated content.
Don’t prompt customers to describe whether they liked a piece of furniture. Ask what owning it said about them. The question wasn’t about satisfaction… It was about self-expression.
This subtle change transformed the nature of the content; customers began using UGC as a kind of social shorthand. The result was not only higher engagement, but also a stronger alignment between the brand and the audience it attracted.:
“The main benefit was that comments and engagement became more self-selecting and we got pre-qualified customers before they reached our site.”
Identity-driven user-generated content shifts the conversation from “Is this good?” to “Is this me?”. A far more powerful driver of loyalty, affinity, and long-term conversion.
4. Lead with the problem, not the product
Instead of opening with features or brand mentions, invite creators and customers to start with the struggle they were trying to solve, says Rohit Agarwal, Co-Founder of Zenius. When the problem is clear and relatable, the product naturally becomes the answer.
While running a promotional campaign for a productivity app, he encouraged creators to open by describing their genuine workflow challenges. This made the app as a tool feel organic and useful, not promotional.
The results were impressive:
“The client recorded a 45% increase in the watch-through rate for these videos compared to their previous campaigns. The paid media CPMs also dropped because engagement increased by 44%.”
Shan Abbasi, Director of Business Development at PayCompass, echoes this approach from a different angle:
“showing how problems are solved with real user cases matters more than the good word spread – even from a verified account. Thus, our simple belief is that when trust is the product, proof becomes content.”
Which brings us to our next strategy…
5. Sow proof of impact, not just praise
Generic praise rarely changes minds. Don’t just ask customers to say that your product is “great,” invite them to show how it made a difference.
Shan Abbasi, Director of Business Development at PayCompass, found that before-and-after workflows, real issues caught, or specific moments of impact give future buyers something far more convincing than enthusiasm alone.
At PayCompass, their biggest breakthrough came when they stopped collecting traditional testimonials altogether:
“With a lot of trial and error with UGC strategies at PayCompass, we learnt that the best of UGC isn’t praise, it looks scripted and dull; however, when it’s about proof, you’re already adding value for your target audience.”
What remained were practical use cases that educated prospects while building credibility.
Current customers weren’t pushed to “sell” PayCompass; instead, they demonstrated competence and showed where the product genuinely solved problems.
6. Share what users almost didn’t share
Some of the most powerful UGC comes from moments users nearly kept to themselves. Rather than asking for polished final work, invite customers to share the drafts they hesitated over, the work they kept revisiting, or the content they weren’t quite ready to publish.
Kevin Moore, Chief Marketing Officer at Walter AI, made “before and afters” himself with the material users submitted. He took those hesitant drafts, “humanized” and improved them, highlighted what and how aspects were changed, and utilized this in his marketing strategy.
Displaying these before-and-after drafts on landing pages and in remarketing campaigns delivered measurable impact: conversion rates increased by 18%, and return visits rose by 22%.
More importantly, the content worked because it mirrored real internal struggles where prospects see their own hesitation reflected – and resolved.
“The users recognized their own experiences within the examples. Doubt was replaced with confidence, without over-the-top persuasive tactics. That change did all of the selling for us.”
7. Put together small updates to show the full journey
Big success stories often skip the part prospects care about most: what actually happens along the way.
By collecting small, informal progress updates over time, you can show the real arc of a customer’s experience: early doubts, gradual improvements, and tangible momentum.
Remember Tom Bukevicius, Principal of Scube Marketing? He found success by doing just that: inviting customers to document progress and not just final outcomes. Skip traditional testimonials, and just ask users to share quick notes or photos as they used the product week by week.
These updates were then organized into simple timelines on product pages and in emails, helping prospects visualize what to realistically expect.
The impact was clear and measurable. Pages featuring these timelines saw a 32% increase in time on page and a 14% lift in conversion rates compared to static testimonials.
“Fewer visitors hesitated because they could see momentum instead of promises. This approach replaced persuasion with proof in motion.”
UGC content examples worth replicating
From beauty, to tourism, to shopping and all the rest, plenty of brands are implementing user-generated content in social media channels expertly. Check out this handful of examples to get inspired.
Visit Bruges: Where locals & tourists contribute to UGC
Visit Bruges, the official tourism website for Bruges, Belgium, uses user-generated content to let travelers experience the city before they arrive.
Through a #VisitBruges branded hashtag feed powered by juicer.io, the site showcases photos and videos shared by both locals and visitors. Read more about running viral UGC hashtag campaigns here.
Instead of a flashy, brand-owned gallery, the feed highlights real journeys and everyday moments helping potential travelers explore Bruges through authentic experiences and setting clear but inspiring expectations for their trip.
GoPro: Bringing the action straight to their feed
Through the #GoProHero marketing campaign, the brand invites customers to share real action footage captured on their GoPro cameras: surfing waves, scaling cliffs, skydiving, or exploring remote landscapes.
I mean, what could be designed sitting at a computer in Adobe that’s more stunning than that?
The result of this campaign is a constant stream of high-impact, adrenaline-fueled content that doubles as inspiration and product validation, making the brand feel less like a company and more like a global community of creators. Check out this user-generated content video guide to dig deeper.
Fenty Beauty: Inclusivity via real customers, not a photoshoot
Fenty Beauty embeds customer-generated videos directly on its product pages, showing real people testing products across a wide range of skin tones and textures.
No photoshoots, no models, no perfect lighting. Shoppers can see how foundations, concealers, and finishes actually apply and perform in everyday conditions.
This showcases Fenty’s commitment to inclusivity, and helps potential and existing customers confidently choose the right product for themselves – without needing a sales pitch.
Burrow: Realistic expectations for major purchases
Burrow integrates customer-uploaded photos and reviews directly into its product pages, allowing shoppers to see how sofas, chairs, and tables look in real living spaces.
Visitors can explore how each piece fits different room sizes, layouts, and styles. This real-world context builds confidence when going into major purchases of big pieces of furniture, building trust through social proof. While also allowing people to show off their chic homes.
Juicer.io: The complete UGC platform to power social proof
Across all our examples, one thing is clear: customers trust brands more when they can see real people using real products in real contexts. Juicer.io builds on this idea by giving brands a simple way to collect, manage, and showcase user-generated content at scale.
Juicer pulls UGC from branded and campaign hashtags across all major social media platforms into one centralized dashboard. From there, teams can easily moderate content, approving what aligns with their brand and filtering out what doesn’t, before displaying curated social feeds directly on their website.
The result is a constantly updated layer of authentic content that reflects how customers actually engage with a brand, without requiring ongoing manual effort.
Let juicer.io complement your marketing strategy by adding credibility, freshness, and social proof exactly where it matters most. Get started by creating a free account at juicer.io.
FAQs about user-generated content strategies
What is a user-generated content strategy?
A UGC strategy is a structured approach to collecting, curating, and distributing brand related content created by real users rather than the brand’s channels. Its goal is to build trust, foster brand loyalty, create user content, grow brand identity, boost engagement, find ugc creators, and gather social proof by showcasing genuine customer experiences across social media marketing channels.
What are the different types of user-generated content?
User-generated content appears in many formats in marketing efforts, ranging from casual social posts to detailed customer stories. These formats vary in effort, intent, and placement, but all reflect real user perspectives in place of branded messaging to increase brand awareness.
Types of user-generated content:
- Customer reviews and ratings: Short written or star-based feedback that helps validate purchasing decisions at key conversion points and enhancing brand visibility.
- Social media posts: Organic photos, videos, or captions users share featuring a product or service in real-life contexts. Branded hashtag campaigns can be employed as a user-generated content strategy here.
- Testimonials: Longer, curated customer statements explaining outcomes, value, or transformation.
- Case studies and stories: In-depth narratives showing a user’s journey, challenges, and results over time.
What’s the difference between user-generated content and influencer marketing?
UGC is created by everyday customers and centers on authenticity and relatability, often without payment. UGC aligns with authentic and relatable content usually found in normal people’s social media accounts and social media channels. Influencer marketing relies on paid or incentivized creators with established audiences, prioritizing reach and visibility over peer-level trust and usually work as brand advocates, often with brand-generated content.
