How are you building trust with customers?

The fight for attention is real, especially online. Every day, consumers are relentlessly bombarded with overwhelming content. Because of this, consumers have adopted filters that weed out promotional noise. 

So, how does a consumer trust a brand in this climate of skepticism and discernment? 

User-generated content (UGC).

Consumer trust peers for validation and honest opinions, making peer-to-peer endorsements more valuable than glossy ads.

1 in 4 younger shoppers trust reviews, but also open to ads and creators.

This is where user-generated Content (UGC) emerges as the new currency of trust. UGC is the authentic, unfiltered proof of a brand’s value, experienced firsthand by real people. Brand trust can be built on this UGC pillar to move beyond self-promotion and bring in collaborative, community-driven conversations.

Why consumers trust each other more than brands

Did you know 62% of shoppers purchase based on UGC alone? That’s how potent social proof and peer recommendations are because consumers perceive them as unbiased and reliable. 

Polished ads often feel distant and designed to sell, but UGC—whether it’s a video review, a real-life photo, or a candid Q&A— offers raw, unfiltered authenticity that builds a level of trust that no brand campaign can ever hope to replicate. In fact, according to Shopper Experience Index Volume 18, 38% identify ratings and reviews as key UGC.  

Now, this is where the story goes deeper. Customers’ real-life experiences create a relatable connection. For 57% of consumers, the average star rating alone sways their decision. Beyond that, the recency and number of reviews also play a significant role, with both factors influencing 48% of shoppers. Building trust with customers today is all about building dynamic, ongoing conversations that give them confidence in their choice.

When a brand champions its customers’ stories, it transforms them from passive buyers into valued contributors, fueling their loyalty and advocacy. Trust signals like the Bazaarvoice Intelligent Trust Mark^TM, which verifies the authenticity of reviews, help build this consumer confidence and reinforce the brand’s commitment to transparency. This further generates a powerful organic marketing force, attracting new customers looking for a great product and a community to be a part of.

Navigating challenges in a trust-driven world

Let’s face it, brands today are under a lot of pressure. With shrinking budgets and lean teams, every marketing dollar has to count. There’s a critical need to demonstrate quick, measurable returns on investment, making it incredibly difficult to justify high-cost, traditional content creation methods with a long lead time and an uncertain ROI.

But, it certainly isn’t impossible, right? 

True. Identifying the content gap that many brands are facing is crucial which is responsible for hindering their performance. 

• Underperforming PDPs

Outdated, insufficient, or unconvincing content on critical product detail pages (PDPs) is a major turnoff for customers. The lack of compelling, trustworthy information, like social proof, fails to connect with shoppers. It leads to a direct drop in conversion rates and a lost opportunity at a crucial point in the customer journey.  

Take a look at a real-life example of how a brand overcame the content gap and proved ROI: Beko Europe. The company implemented a comprehensive UGC strategy called the Customer Excellence Program to create a unified approach across 16 countries. As a result of this program, underperforming PDPs saw a significant increase in conversion rates, demonstrating how a strategic investment in user-generated content provides a clear and measurable return on investment.

• Demand for scale

The constant supply of content across numerous channels, including paid media, email campaigns, and organic social, is a challenge that traditional content creation methods cannot sustain. 

Many brands, even today, rely on fragmented, disconnected solutions that don’t scale or integrate with one another, leading to inefficient processes and a disjointed shopper experience. Collecting, moderating, and distributing customer content across different platforms can be limiting, diverting valuable time and energy from strategic initiatives. 

A major challenge for marketing teams is accurately attributing sales and brand growth to their content efforts. Without accuracy, which defines clear, data-driven insights into content performance, it becomes hard to justify further investment or optimize marketing strategies.

5 ways to transform customer voices into performance assets

What if you didn’t have to just wait for content to trickle into the funnel? A truly strategic approach to UGC is about taking control of the narrative. 

1. Strategic content acquisition

Brands are doing this with smart tactics like post-purchase prompts, incentivized sampling programs, and interactive Q&A sessions. Have a look at Petco’s spotted sampling program, which actively generated UGC and, as a result, drove an impressive 48% revenue increase on the sampled products. This shows you don’t have to be a spectator; you can be a catalyst for content.

2. Seamless integration & syndication

Authentic content is only powerful if your customers can see it. That’s why making UGC readily available across the entire shopper journey is so critical.

• Optimizing Product Pages

Imagine a shopper landing on a product page and seeing a dynamic hub of fresh, authentic reviews and photos instead of a static description. This is how UGC turns a simple PDP into a high-converting trust hub. For instance, Le Col saw a 5x conversion increase by combining customer reviews with real-life images, proving that a picture really is worth a thousand words—and a lot more sales.

• Multi-channel leverage

By weaving UGC into your paid ads, email campaigns, social media, and SEO strategies, you can amplify your reach and impact far beyond your website. Midland Radio did this, and it saw a remarkable $1 million revenue increase by making UGC the engine behind its multi-channel approach.

3. Automation for scale and efficiency

Automation is the secret to seamlessly combining collection, moderation, and syndication processes, ensuring a constant, fresh stream of UGC without the manual drain on your resources. This frees up your team to be strategic, turning UGC from a manual chore into a powerful, scalable engine for growth.

4. Measuring what matters

How do you prove it’s all working? By tracking conversion rates, average order value, website traffic, brand sentiment, and SEO performance. You can confidently prove your investment and continuously optimize your strategy for even better results by tying your UGC efforts directly to these numbers.

5. Beyond the transaction

A robust UGC strategy is much more than just a single transaction. It’s a long-term investment in building brand equity, fostering deep customer loyalty, and ensuring sustainable growth. By creating a collaborative ecosystem that promotes consumer trust, you can transform them into a powerful community of advocates who will champion your brand for years to come.

Ready to build an unshakeable trust?

It’s not a bigger ad budget or a celebrity endorsement — you need authentic content from real people. 

So, how can you do it? It’s time to leverage the Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews platform to collect high-quality content and, in turn, generate qualified sales pipelines by giving consumers the social proof they need to make that purchase.