Personalization vs. UGC: Smart Choice To Trigger Modern Shoppers

Personalization and user-generated content are two essential components of showcasing your brand’s story.

With the growing need for customized and individualized content, marketers use this personalization feature to alter the content per the targeted audience. 93% of businesses with advanced personalization strategies experienced a boost in their revenue. 

On the other hand, UGC being the most authentic content to be displayed for promotions and advertisements is the new hype of the growing online market. 85% of consumers find visual UGC more influential than brand photos or videos.

Online retailers and marketers are stuck in this vicious circle to choose which out of two goes well with the modern shoppers and matches their interests and needs.

Here are some points that reflect the boon of both the marketing strategies, which online marketers should consider.

Content Personalization 

Content personalization is the strategy that centres around the interest of the customers for delivering the targeted content that is relevant to the customer’s motivation and desires.

It provides tailored content that has the potential to influence the purchasing behaviour of shoppers.

It is a thin line of action to convert potential customers into real customers by furnishing and customizing the content that exhibits the brand’s aesthetics.

Advantages Of Personalizing The Content

One of the most significant advantages is that it provides the most relevant content to the customers to engage them individually. It is the more refined content that the customers have access to. It connects with each customer individually based on his interests and needs. 

Another advantage is that it shapes and redesigns the content according to customer data platform and technology, which helps build a strong customer profile with the segmented and sophisticated display.

Let’s take the example of Amazon. It is one of the best e-commerce sites that use personalization, which has resulted in amazing customer experience and engagement.

It personalizes its homepage according to the customers’ desires and past search results, making it easy for them to explore and discover the products they are interested in.

Amazon and even Facebook have also utilized this feature for a long time. It displays a personalized feed like targeted advertisements, relevant updates, news, and posts from your friends.

Disadvantages of Personalized Content

With the growing popularity of e-commerce stores, there have been many issues of data privacy prevailing across the globe. As a result, website visitors hesitate to log in to the online stores, which ask them to provide additional and excess information.

Online marketers should balance limited and extreme information to enhance users’ engagement. 

User-Generated Content

Any content (images, videos) created by the brand’s users showcasing their experience with the brand is called user-generated content.

It is the most authentic, trustworthy, and reliable form of content. As a result, it has overshadowed all the marketing strategies and has emerged as the most successful marketing trend. 

It has rolled over the feeds of almost all the brands to make their social media and online stores a perfect destination to shop for modern shoppers. Why? Because people trust the recommendations of general users as compared to branded promotions and advertisements.

Also Read – User-Generated Video Content Guide

Advantages Of User-Generated Content

User-Generated Content is the most legitimate way of advertising that adds credibility to the brands, making it an undeniable choice for the customers.

By displaying the realistic images of the products that genuine customers have posted, it has proven to influence over 90% of customers’ purchase decisions.

It would be wrong to say that people trust word-of-mouth over any marketing tactic nowadays, and UGC is the internet’s word-of-mouth that makes your great customers’ experiences visible.

Using this UGC, brands can also create shoppable content that can streamline the customers’ purchase path, giving them a smooth shopping experience.

The most famous brands like ReeBok and Calvin Klein are among the best ecommerce UGC examples that utilize UGC to show narrative and honest recommendations on their online platforms to create a more extensive customer base.

Therefore, this marketing trend is the ultimate way to groom your brand by personifying it with genuine word-of-mouth recommendations. In addition, it builds trust for the brands and displays the aesthetics of your brand through customer stories. 

It is also the most cost-effective way of advertising that enhances the users’ engagement with the brands and yields higher rates of revenue and sales.

Disadvantages Of User-Generated Content

UGC marketing can sometimes take a steep turn by heading toward influencer marketing, which results in excessive and overpriced decisions for the brand. 

Another disadvantage of exhibiting UGC is the content privacy of the content creators.

It sometimes gets complex as repurposing the content without legal permission from its creators drags the brands into challenging situations like copyright infringement issues.

To avoid getting involved in such legal actions, many rights management tools can help the brands ask for their permission rightfully and legally.

Also Read – Benefits of User-Generated Content in Marketing

A Smarter Decision To Plump On!

While moving in coordination with this fast-forward world, marketers need to score a success by delivering modern-day customers’ longing urge.

The UGC marketing trend is the way to get over the customer’s desires. Vibrant and customized images of the branded products attract potential customers, but the genuine images of the existing customers trigger them to purchase.

UGC is the marketing vehicle that will lead to the brand’s growth and success by expanding the customer reach and enhancing their engagement and interaction with the brand. 

As it is rightly said by Warren Buffett, “Any business that has delighted customers has a salesforce out there.”