100 UGC Stats You Need To Know

We’ve all been told how important user-generated content is for brands. User-generated content is one of the most effective ways to engage with consumers and boost the bottom line. Consumers are naturally influenced by brands they can relate to, and user-generated content is a great way to build trust, credibility, and ultimately drive sales. 

Here are 100 stats about UGC:

1. Personal contacts are the most important source of recommendations for 84% of consumers surveyed.
2. 88% of consumers trust online reviews written by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from their personal contacts.
3. 74% of consumers rely on social media to inform their purchasing decisions.
   1. It is important to note that when companies want to publish consumer photos, they need to OWN the content they put on their account. They need to turn the earned UGC into owned UGC, per Instagram’s guidelines.
4. 59% of millennials claim that they use UGC to inform their purchase decisions about major electronics. That’s followed by cars (54%), major appliances (53%), mobile phones (46%), hotels (45%), and travel plans (40%).
5. 65% of social media users from ages 18–24 evaluate information that was shared on social networks when making a purchasing decision.
6. Millennials (ages 25 and above) are the biggest content contributors — contributing over 70% of all UGC.
7. 84% of millennials report that UGC on company websites has an influence on what they buy.
8. 68% of millennials say that user-generated content is generally a good indicator of the quality of a brand or service.
9. Millennials trust UGC 50% more than original content generated by the brands.
10. 86% of Millennials say that UGC is a positive indicator of a brand quality.
11. 71% of Millennials engage user-generated content daily.
12. Millennials find UGC to be 35% more memorable than content that came from mainstream sources.
13. 64% of millennials say companies should offer more ways to share their opinions online.
14. User-generated content is 20% more influential to millennials in their choice of purchases than any other media.
15. 74% of Millennials said that UGC inspired a purchase decision when booking travel over professional photos.
16. 83% of Millennials said that UGC inspired a purchase decision when buying electronics over professional photos.
17. 85% of Millennials said that UGC inspired a purchase decision when booking travel over professional photos.
18. Millennials spend 18 hours per day with media, and 30% of that time is spent looking at user-generated media.
19. UGC is 35% more memorable than other media, and 50% more trusted.
20. UGC-based ads get 4x higher click-through rates and a 50% drop in cost-per-click than average.
21. UGC results in 29% higher web conversions than campaigns or websites without it.
22. Consumers on average spend 5.4 hours per day with user-generated content.
23. User-generated videos on YouTube get 10x more views than content created and uploaded by the actual brand.
24. 41% of consumers only need to see between 1 and 4 UGC reviews in order to be influenced to purchase.
25. 25% of search results for the world’s 20 largest brands are links to user-created content.
26. Millennials spend nearly 30 percent of their total media time with content that’s created and shared by their peers, a number that rivals the amount of time they spend with traditional media formats — including TV, print, and radio — combined.
27. Just 1% of Millennials say a compelling advertisement would make them trust a brand more.
28. 75% of respondents claimed that UGC makes content more authentic.
29. Consumers are craving deeper connections with their brands.
30. UGC generated 6.9X higher engagement than brand-generated content.
31. 64% of millennials feel that companies should offer more ways for them to share their opinions.
32. Millennials turn to social channels to find products to buy. That is 22% for millennials compared to 7% for Baby Boomers.
33. 90% of consumers surveyed said that they trust recommendations from people they know, while 70% said that they trusted consumer posted online. Both of which are higher than anything the brand produces.
34. Text ads on mobile phones are very lowly trusted, at only 24%.
35. 24% of consumers surveyed said that user-generated Content is extremely influential in purchasing decisions.
36. 29% of consumers surveyed said that user-generated content is very influential in purchasing decisions.
37. 80% of consumers surveyed said that User-generated content has some influence on purchasing decisions.
38. 30% of consumers surveyed “strongly-agreed” that user-generated content increases their purchasing confidence, with only 5% saying that they UGC does not increase confidence.
39. 71% total of consumers surveyed either “strongly agreed” or “somewhat agreed” that UGC improves customer feedback.
40. 65% of consumers agreed with the statement “UGC is more interesting than content created by the brand.”
41. 67% of consumers agreed with the statement, “UGC creates a more authentic shopping experience.”
42. 61% of consumers agreed with the statement, “UGC encourages me to engage with a brand.”
43. 48% of consumers surveyed agreed with the statement, “UGC helps me to identify trending products.”
44. Consumers ages 18-24 agree with the statement “UGC creates more authentic shopping experiences” more than any other age group.
45. Consumers ages 18-24 agree with the statement “UGC encourages me to engage with a brand” more than any other age group.
46. Consumers ages 18-24 agree with the statement “UGC improves customer feedback” more than any other age group.
47. Consumers ages 18-24 agree with the statement “UGC is more interesting than content created by the brand” more than any other age group.
48. Consumers ages 18-24 agree with the statement “UGC increases my purchasing confidence” more than any other age group.
49. Shoppers were asked: “imagine you are shopping online and you see two similar items that you are interested in buying.
    1. Option 1: costs more, has UGC
    2. Option 2: costs less, has no UGC”
       1. 81% of shoppers surveyed said that they would pay more for a product that has UGC.
50. Shoppers were asked: “imagine you are shopping online and you see two similar items that you are interested in buying.
    1. Option 1: ships slow, has UGC
    2. Option 2: ships fast, has no UGC”
       1. 81% of shoppers surveyed said that they would pay more for a product that has UGC.
51. 32% of consumers said that they have not submitted UGC to brands because there is no incentive to contribute, which was higher than any other reason. Check out BYLINED!
52. 28% of consumers surveyed said that they have not submitted UGC to brands because it is too time-consuming.
53. UGC is 35% more memorable than other media
54. UGC is 50% more trusted than other media
55. UGC-based ads get 4x higher click-through rates and a 50% drop in cost-per-click than average.
56. More than 50% of consumers want a brand to tell them what type of content to create and share, but only 16% of brands actually do.
57. Consumers between the ages of 25-54 create and share 70% of all UGC
58. UGC results in 29% higher web conversions than campaigns or websites without it.
59. On-site consumer reviews can increase conversions by 74%.
60. User-generated content is 20% more influential than any other type of media when it comes to influencing Millennial purchases.
61. You’ll want the UGC (you receive from BYLINED) prominently on your site to aid in purchasing decisions for your customers.
62. 87% of brands use UGC in order to share “authentic content” and 72% believe (correctly) that it helps them engage their audience.
63. 86% of businesses are utilizing UGC as part of their marketing strategy, as of December 2015.
64. Sites with featured UGC saw a 20% increase in return visitors and up to a 90% increase on the time spent on the site.
65. Employee-shared content gets 8x more engagement than content shared by brands.
66. Brand messages are reshared up to 24x more when distributed by your employees instead of your brand.
67. One study found that only 9% of the top 250 B2C brands placed UGC on their product pages.
68. The consumer demand for UGC in the live gaming industry grows 122% year over year.
69. 57% of brands not using UGC were avoiding it because of potential copyright issues (see how to avoid this here).
70. Only 27% of brands (including marketing agencies) have a system in place to find, manage, and utilize user-generated content.
71. In a case study run by Chobani, UGC shared across websites, billboards, and social media resulted in a 225.9% increase in revenue between 2009 and 2010.
72. Employees may have up to 10X more followers than a brand’s corporate account, and they may get more organic social engagement
73. Brand engagement increases an average of 28% when users are exposed to a combination of user-created product videos and professional content.
74. 86% of Millennials believe that UGC is a good indicator of a brand or product’s quality.
75. 41% of consumers only need to see between 1 and 4 UGC reviews in order to be influenced to purchase.
76. 53% of decision-makers have eliminated a brand or vendor from consideration because of something they “did or did not” find out from an employee online.
77. User-generated content is easy to run, inexpensive, and simple to manage. Find out more, here.
78. Many brand owners tend to underestimate the value of user-generated content.
79. User-generated content has been around in the form of internet forums and bulletin boards since the 1970s.
80. Consumers trust traditionally earned media more than traditionally owned media.
81. Snapchat has 100M daily users, 65% of whom upload photos.
82. Almost a quarter of respondents say that they have bought a product after seeing it featured in UGC.
83. As surveyed by Nielsen, consumer trust in branded websites has gone up 9% from 2007 to 2013.
84. As surveyed by Nielsen, consumer trust in consumer opinions posted online has gone up 7% from 2007 to 2013.
85. As surveyed by Nielsen, consumer trust in recommendations from people they know has gone up 6%, from 78% in 2007 to 84% in 2013.
86. 71% of consumers reported that user-generated content reviews make them more comfortable buying a product.
87. 70% of all consumers will look at user-generated content reviews or ratings before making a purchasing decision.
88. 25% of search results for the world’s 20 largest brands are linked to user-generated content.
89. Millennials trust user-generated content 50% more than information from a mainstream media source.
90. On average, businesses see a 26% increase in Twitter engagement and a 6% increase in Facebook engagement after sharing user-generated content.
91. By 2013, about 114.5 million people had contributed user-generated content to a brand.
92. 87% of consumers still trust reviews and recommendations from family and friends who receive a free brand experience.
93. 71% still trust bloggers, vloggers, or social media stars who have gotten the same treatment.
94. Customer reviews are trusted 12x more than marketing coming directly from the organization.
95. Two-thirds of consumers say they trust the opinions of other customers posted online.
96. 85% of consumers find visual UGC more influential than brand photos or videos.
97. Across all ages, 55% of consumers trust UGC over other forms of marketing.
98. 51% of millennials say that user-generated content from strangers is more likely to influence their purchase decisions than recommendations from friends, family, and colleagues.
99. 70% of consumers place peer recommendations above professionally written copy.
100. There is a company that puts all of these stats into action! Find out more, here!