What is UGC Video + Best Examples in 2024

The worrying fact is that the customers today don’t fall for your usual ads anymore. 

The good news is that you can beat your competitors by using user-generated content video (UGC video).

Yep, it’s not about the traditional ads with branded content anymore. The trends have changed - people now look for unique ways to connect with brands - through stories and experiences. 

And who better to share an honest experience with your brand than your customers? 

Let’s take a deep dive into UGC video content. Discover where to get it, different types, and the best ways to use it in your marketing campaigns.  

What Is a UGC Video?

Just like user generated content, user-generated videos are videos that are created by the users rather than brands. Unlike branded content, these videos appear more genuine, trustworthy, and authentic. They are valuable and unique pieces of content that successful e-commerce brands already use in their marketing strategy. 

After all, statistics say that a whopping 92% of consumers trust word-of-mouth above all other forms of advertising. And that’s where user-generated videos (UGVs) step in. 

The most popular UGC video types are:

• Problem & Solution Videos
• Unboxing videos
• Testimonial/ Review Videos
• Tutorial (How-to-Use Videos)
• Gifting Videos
• Objection Handling Videos
• Offer Videos
• Discovery Videos
• Reasons Why Videos
• Product Description (Educational)

Types of UGC Videos: Examples

Problem & Solution Videos

Imagine a video that highlights a common problem and showcases your product as an effective solution.

That's what the Problem & Solution videos are all about. They show a solution to a problem from an actual customer.

These types of videos are relatable, they're real, and they show that your product works as promised. For e-commerce brands, this is incredibly valuable. 

When it works best?

• Show how your product solves a specific problem; point out a problem the audience has or can relate to. Then, offer your product as a solution (and show that it works).

Unboxing videos

Let’s admit it – we all love watching unboxing videos. Seeing what’s inside; how the package looks, and unique add-ons: thank you cards, extra gifts, stickers, and more. Unboxing Videos capture this excitement and share it with your existing and potential customers.

It's a first-hand experience with your product. Customers see it being used for the first time by a real person. They can also see if the product is as advertised, the packaging quality, delivery, and other details. 

These videos create anticipation and build trust. This unfiltered first impression can turn a potential customer into a buyer.

When it works best?

• Showcase the packaging that enhances the customer's experience
• Emphasize a surprising aspect involved with the product: a gift, accessory, thank you card... 
• Highlight the care and attention to detail with presentation or packaging
• When there's a new or highly anticipated product launch
• When you want to show the product’s immediate use or assembly

Testimonials or Review Videos

Nothing speaks louder than a satisfied customer. Testimonial videos and customer reviews work as word-of-mouth that can hook potential buyers by showing how beneficial your product has been to others. 

These types of videos convince the viewers of two things:

• that your product is trustworthy 
• The need to have the product OR that the product works

These types of videos build credibility around your brand. Plus, they’re great because they work for any niche and are extremely popular.

When it works best?

• When you want to showcase how useful/beneficial it has been for your customers
• To inspire Social Proof
• When you want to illustrate satisfaction with your product
• Demonstrate the superiority of your product compared to the competition

How-to-Use Videos

Sometimes, your product needs a little explanation or a walk-through so that customers can see how it works in real life. Tutorial video is the best way to explain how to use your product.

Tutorials are clear, step-by-step guides that help your customers understand how to best use your product. These are great for skincare applications, brewing coffee, and using an app or a tool. They aren’t just walk-throughs but often come with helpful tips 

These tutorials are not just informative. They showcase your products and show the customers how they look like, how to use them, and potentially also their benefits. In these videos, you get the chance to stress the highlights of your product: ease of use, how quickly it brings results, etc. 

These UGC style videos are great for a few reasons:

• helping customers get the most out of their purchases
• increasing satisfaction
• reducing returns

When it works best?

• Products with a learning curve
• When it's not obvious how to use the product right away
• When the end benefits of the products aren't straightforward
• Requires several steps to get to the final result

Gifting Videos

Who doesn’t love to give presents to their loved ones? Capture this with Gifting Videos. They're not just about the product but the emotion and experience of sharing.

These videos can help e-commerce brands sell more products as gift ideas, especially during the holiday season.

When it works best?

• Usually used in gifting events, like Mother's Day, Valentine's, and Father's day
• When you want viewers to relate to the problem of never knowing what to gift to someone
• When you want to plant a gift idea (what is a good gift for a girlfriend, mother, or father) on a specific occasion

Objection Killer Videos

Let’s face it, every customer has hesitations. The Objection Killer Videos can turn doubters into loyal customers by openly addressing their concerns and doubts. 

By tackling common concerns through UGC, you're showing transparency and a commitment to quality. This proactive approach to customer service can enhance brand loyalty.

When it works best?

• When you want to address a general misconception or myths about your product
• Remember to back it up with strong, positive, and attention-grabbing results, features, and benefits. Outline why your product is much better than what people expect it to be.

Offer Videos

Who doesn't love to save money with a great offer? Let the UGC creators show the real value of your offer in their videos and encourage potential customers to make the most of your promotions, discounts, and special deals through an authentic voice and experience. 

UGC is powerful in marketing. Over 92% of people trust customer recommendations more than brand messages. Offer videos are a great way to boost your campaign's reach and effectiveness.

When it works best?

• When you want to highlight special offers in your online shop. These can be year-round offers or special occasions like BFCM, holiday season, or Valentine's Day
• Highlight all that customers can benefit from when they purchase your product

Discovery Videos

These types of videos are great when you want to join in on a trend or share an experience. They are usually linked to an angle of I was XY old when I found this, or TikTok made me buy this. These videos leverage the power of social proof and the excitement of discovering a new product. 

When it works best?

• A good hook where you want to take your audience on a shared experience with a creator on discovering something new
• When you want to showcase a trending product

Reasons Why Videos

Why should customers choose you? Videos that show Reasons-Why let UGC creators, your customers, do the talking, highlighting the benefits with unique selling points of your products. These types of videos are persuasive and personal. They offer an insight into your products from the customer's perspective.

When it works best?

• When you want to highlight the benefits of your product 
• When you want to show how people will benefit from your product
• For products that produce some kind of result when used

Educational Videos

Understanding products and how they work is crucial for new customers. That’s why these UGC example videos are very important for your content strategy. 

They introduce, inform, and showcase your products from a different perspective, adding value and positioning your brand as a leading and helpful resource in your industry. They also help educate your customers, making them understand how to use your products. The easier they find it to use, the lower the chances for returns and dissatisfied customers. 

When it works best?

• When your main goal is to inform people about your product.
• When you want to build your presence in the niche and the general knowledge about it
• When you want to show different aspects, benefits, features, options, and facts about your product

Amazing Reaction Videos

These types of videos are very common when you want to create buzz around your product. In other words, you present your product with positive and excited emotions, facial expressions, and voice color.

These videos come with a ton of attention-grabbing phrases, facts, and different callouts. 

When it works best?

• When you want to create hype around your product
• For products with pretty or unusual packaging, special features, or amazing ingredients
• For products that are trendy, fashionable, or attractive

Product Hauls

In Product haul videos customers show and talk about the products they've recently bought, typically from one shopping event. 

These videos often provide overviews and initial reactions to the products, serving as peer-to-peer recommendations. 

They're key for e-commerce brands as they drive product discovery and can sway consumer purchasing choices.

When it works best?

• Show a variety of products so that the viewers see a range of items in one video
• A new collection or seasonal line-up that aligns with current trends
• Show how others integrate multiple products into their lifestyle or routine
• Create a sense of abundance and variety in your product range
• When the featured products appear like they belong together due to their appearance
• For clothing

5 Benefits Of Using UGC Video For eCommerce

1. UGC Video Increases Conversions With Paid Ad Campaigns

For paid ad campaigns, UGC videos should be an essential part of your content strategy due to the impressive statistics they boast. 

Collaborate with multiple UGC creators to get a variety of high-quality photos and videos for your product or service. And all this content enables you to test your winning videos faster.

What do we mean by that?

Instead of creating branded content that people don’t trust that much and wasting time figuring out what will be the next best UGC ad, work with UGC creators who do the work for you.

All you need to do is set up paid ad campaigns with the material you receive and start testing!

Why do I need different types of videos?

Not all content resonates with all your target audience. That’s why brands require different UGC content to mix and match with different audiences.

If you sell skincare products, ad creatives for pregnant women will be quite different from those targeted at college students or busy entrepreneurs. Tailoring videos to different segments ensures better conversions, wider appeal, and engagement.

Why is A/B testing important? 

A/B testing enables you to see what UGC video is the most effective for different segments of your audience. That’s how you can optimize ad spend and improve conversion.

Instead of assuming what works best, you’ll know exactly, and avoid wasting time and money on creatives that don’t work.

2. UGC Video Is Cost-Effective

Creating great marketing content that converts is expensive and time-consuming. Compared to traditional marketing is UGC content effective and low-cost alternative.

3. UGC Video Is Authentic And Builds Trust 

The fact is that consumers trust other consumers much more than they trust brands. Showcasing user-generated video reviews can boost credibility more effectively than traditional advertising.

Picture this: a potential customer lands on your page, and what do they see? Real people, real stories, real results. UGC videos directly showcase customer satisfaction, which can significantly boost conversion rates. 

For example, a UGC video on a product page can increase conversions by up to 80% as potential customers see real-life product applications.

4. UGC Video Increases Engagement

UGC Videos tend to receive higher conversion and engagement rates, such as likes, shares, and comments, compared to brand-generated content.

These types of videos are not just content for the sake of content; they’re a way for your brand to connect with your potential customers on a more personal level. 

5. UGC Video Builds A Community

Sharing UGC videos helps to build a sense of community around a brand. When potential customers see others sharing their positive experiences with your brand, it increases interest and a sense of belonging.

Customer-generated content acknowledges your customers and encourages others to share their experiences.

UGC Platform for a Complete UGC Strategy

Quality content that's authentic is crucial if you’re serious about your business. We have already established two things:

• Videos are leading content for conversions and engagement.
• UGC has a powerful impact on sales, trust, and authenticity

To keep up and stay ahead, you need video content that’s relatable, high-quality, and most importantly, one that will convert from the start. 

Let’s face it; when you’re running a business, you don’t want to second guess your next ad creative, sales funnel, or landing page. You want to know that it will drive sales. 

And relying on your customers for top-notch marketing material doesn’t come across as serious. Can you 100% claim it would work? 

In a dream world, we’d all want that. Free content that converts, and that everyone loves. Unfortunately, marketing isn’t that simple.

So it’s only smart for you to take control of the content. We’re not saying you shouldn’t encourage your customers to create content. On the contrary. That’s always a great move, and we talk about that below.  

We’re saying that their content shouldn’t be the only material for your marketing.

You can’t know if that content has the potential to convert. Or to engage. 

But we do. 

Here's how to get started with UGC campaigns on Influee:

1. Create a campaign for creators

Upload your own script or use our Magic Script generator for free:

• Choose a video type; take your pick from 1000s of best-performing video ads
• Insert your product info
• Sit back and relax while our Magic Script generates a script for your video with one single click in any language:

2. UGC Creators Come to You in 24 Hours

50k+ Creators that match your selected filters will apply for you to choose the best fit based on their portfolios.

Money-Back Guarantee: If you don’t like any of the UGC creators that apply, we’ll refund your subscription in full.

3. Creators Deliver UGC Videos in 7-10 Days

Ship your products and wait for the UGC videos. Review the videos until you're 100% satisfied with them.

How To Get UGC Videos?

Essentially, you can source UGC videos from

UGC Creators

UGC creators create videos in line with your brand, message, and tone. Their videos align with your branding and message. And most importantly, they create videos that convert with winning ad scripts. 

On top of that, they also create many different ad creatives. That way you can perform more tests and discover UGC video types that work like magic for your products.

Brands that are serious about their marketing and success, collaborate with creators for these reasons. They're able to get content at scale, test different videos, find the best creatives that drive sales, and stay on point with branding and marketing strategy.

Existing customers

This is 100% free content that your customers share on social media channels, websites, and review pages.

We’ll talk more about how to source organic UGC below. For now, let’s just say that this is the most commonly recommended way to get UGC videos. 

However, very few brands have the luxury to source content from their users.

Why is that?

Think about it; do you think that the content coming from your customers will:

• Drive sales and conversions
• High-quality material in large quantities, whenever you need it
• Highlight all the most important benefits and features
• In line with your branding - colors, message, and visuals
• Can be used for marketing purposes
• Highly engaging with powerful CTAs and great hooks

If you answered all of the above with a yes, we salute you. 

If not, don’t worry. You’re not alone.

Because you can't rely on such content from your customers, many brands turn to professional content creators instead.

How To Get More UGC Videos For Your Brand Organically 

There are two ways to get UGC content: from UGC creators and from your customers. As already covered above, collaboration with UGC creators is the best way to get quality content that brings actionable results with winning UGC Ads and resonates with your brand.

However, many bigger D2C brands want to connect with their customers further. That's why they encourage them to share their experiences with the brand. Here’s how:

1. Run a hashtag contest

Launch a branded hashtag challenge and let your audience's creative videos.

2. Reach out to your satisfied customers

Encourage satisfied customers to share their experiences on video.

3. Create a UGC video out of your social media mentions

Turn social media shoutouts into UGC videos by asking for permission to repost.

4. Offer an incentive

Motivate video sharing with rewards like discounts or features - through email or social media platforms.

UGC Video: Key Takeaways

Integrating UGC video into your content strategy turbocharges marketing campaigns. Statistics show that videos increase sales and trust. Smart businesses take their marketing seriously and don’t leave their winning creations to chance. You too can fuel conversions, trust, and consequently brand growth by including UGC videos in your strategy.

By collaborating with UGC creators, take control of successful content, perform A/B testing to see what works best with different segments of your customers, and take advantage of different UGC videos to reach out to the more relevant audience. 

FAQ

What is user-generated content?

User-generated content (UGC) is any type of content that's created and shared by people (real customers or UGC creators) rather than brands. Types of user-generated content examples: videos, photos, social media posts (Instagram stories), reviews, and tweets. 

Why is user-generated content so important?

UGC is authentic, relatable, and trustworthy content because it comes straight from the users, and not from branded polished marketing efforts.

Can you use user-generated content for ads?

UGC in ads is like having your best customers vouch for you in front of potential buyers. It's genuine, and it increases trust and conversions. For best results, use different ad creatives you receive from UGC creators, and perform tests to discover the best-performing ad materials.

What is a UGC video platform?

A UGC video platform like Influee is a platform that allows you to upload content briefs, collaborate with UGC creators, access video library examples, and edit video content. Added tools help brands like yours curate and showcase their products and services with different ad creatives:

AI-generated video ads, Magic Script for high-converting UGC scripts, auto-generated subtitles, post-production in one click, native design elements for social media, options to add brand logos, colors, music, CTAs, and more.

What are UGC Ads?

UGC ads are advertisements that feature user generated video content created by UGC creators. These ads combine a brand's message with the authentic voice of the customer.