5 Simple UX Design Tips to Optimize User Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) helps to boost your SEO while also building customer trust. Here are some great UX design tips to optimize your UGC on your site.

Marketers have long-since realized that user-generated content (UGC) is key to driving more organic traffic to their sites. It also has the added benefit of allowing customers to do their job for them. Your website’s UX design should be optimized in such a way that makes your user-generated content speak to potential customers and turn them into conversions. 

Why is user-generated content so important? 

According to research by Bright Local, 87% of people trust customer reviews as much as they’d trust their own social circle. User reviews and testimonials help to build the trust that convinces a lead to buy your product. With 57% of Shopify customers purchasing products from overseas eCommerce websites, that trust is becoming more important than ever before. 

User-generated content doesn’t only build trust, though, it also helps to drive up your search engine rankings. Reviews, testimonials, comments - all of these interactions are considered original content as far as Google is concerned. 

The amount of keywords and backlinks that people are likely to leave in their reviews means that this is prime SEO. On top of that, it demonstrates that your brand is engaged in an open dialogue with its customers, which only further increases brand visibility and search engine rankings. 

User-generated content can take on any form of media and it’s by far the most potently trustworthy content that your brand will have at its disposal. If you’re not already taking advantage of UGC, then you should consider joining the 87% of brands surveyed who are.

Once you’ve got some great user-generated content to roll with, you’ll need to start to tweak your UX design to optimize your UGC. Here are 5 simple ways to do exactly that. 

UX design tips to optimize user-generated content 

Having a UX design that optimizes your user-generated content can make a big difference in your conversion rate. Of 200,000 eCommerce businesses surveyed, those that utilize their UGC on their main site saw on average a 161% increase in conversion rates. 

Of course, all of your website design is important and you can take advantage of many design tips to increase conversions, but you certainly shouldn’t neglect UGC. Here are some fool-proof UX design tips to utilize user-generated content on your eCommerce website. 

1) Add reviews to your product pages

This is without dough the easiest and arguably most effective ways to tweak your UX design to take advantage of UGC. Don’t have many reviews to speak of? It doesn’t matter. Add what you have. User reviews are considered to be original content by Google, so they do wonders for your SEO. It’s basically like recruiting a small army of mini-content creators who are going to load keywords and long-tail keywords into their work for free. 

What’s more, if you’re using third-party eCommerce sites like Amazon or Groupon, then you can take advantage of this strategy even more effectively. You should also be trying to collect reviews on your Facebook and other social media channels - but make sure you’re avoiding common mistakes when collecting reviews when doing so. 

On top of giving your SEO a boost, having user-reviews on your product pages will help to build more trust with potential customers than any of your in-house marketing material ever could. It’s by far the most effective way to show off how awesome and reliable your products are. 

2) Use landing/homepage testimonials 

Testimonials aren’t quite as effective as user reviews, but they still work wonders. Your landing pages absolutely must have user testimonials, but your homepage will also benefit from the following suit. You can use positive reviews as testimonials, or reach out directly to customers via email to get more in-depth ones. 

Being able to see a positive experience with your product as soon as you land on your homepage will help to bridge that psychological gap that we all experience when diving into the unknown. In short, it’s reassuring and builds trust. Check out some great examples and tips for testimonials here. 

You can easily make stellar landing pages on Shopify by using the PageFly Advanced Page Builder app. You should aim to have a separate landing page for every marketing campaign that you launch. 

3) Use multimedia UGC on your site

Don’t make the mistake of stopping at reviews when it comes to user-generated content. Sure, reviews are great, but there’s a ton of other forms of media that you could also be utilizing. This is where things get creative and you can really let your UX design team shine. 

Enemy Shades shows tagged photos from Instagram, plus the allow you to ask questions for more SEO ammo. 

Instead of just having customer reviews on your product pages, why not also feature photos that customers have tagged you in on Instagram. This is an easy way to showcase your product in action and also build even more trust by showing real people enjoying your products. 

You can easily use your social media channels or newsletter to offer prizes to the best customer unboxing video sent in from customer’s YouTube channel, or the best 90-second video review and then feature it on your product page. This is a great way to get hold of multimedia UGC and it doesn’t cost you a penny. 

Make sure that the design of your pages doesn’t get too cramped and be sure to follow a few simple rules of a page design to further optimize your SEO. 

You can also make use of social media influencers and then link to their testimonials and pitches of your products. Millennials trust UGC 50% more than other traditional forms of media when it comes to making purchasing decisions, so if this is your target market, then you’d be crazy not to start utilizing a variety of media in your UX design. 

4) Entice with CTA buttons 

If you’re going to change your UX design to optimize user-generated content then it does actually help to have some UGC, to begin with. You want to ensure that you’re receiving as many customer reviews as possible, and one way to do this is to entice customers with Call to Action (CTA) buttons. 

In short, if you don’t ask for a review, then you’re unlikely to get one. Your CTA button should be simple - something like: “Tell us why you choose this item”. In general, your CTA buttons should be short, concise, and simple. 

One more thing to note - you should never ask for a review on your product or checkout pages. Only ask once the order is complete. You can also ask later via email, when your customer contacts you for support, or even when they next visit your website. 

5) Integrate social media sharing buttons 

Social media is where people rush to share their experiences - as well as their latest purchase. You should have clearly visible social media sharing buttons on your website to ensure that people can easily share their positive experience with your brand to their social circles. 

You can integrate social media sharing buttons into your homepage and product pages, and you can include them in follow-up emails that you send your customers later on down the line. This is arguably one of the most effective ways to boost your brand’s presence. 

We’re all so tied up with SEO that many of us forget that SMO (social media optimization) is just as - or more - important. Make sure that you’re making it as easy as possible for your customers to produce user-generated content on social media.

Conclusion 

Having an eCommerce website that effectively leverages the power of user-generated content is a sure-fire way to increase your conversion rate. Consumers trust brand marketing less and less as the years go by - they’ve seen too many companies claim one thing and do another. 

Having lots of UGC on your website gives consumers peace of mind and makes it practically impossible for you to make misleading claims about your products. This, in turn, makes people more likely to trust you and buy from you.