The 50 User Generated Content Stats You Need to Know

The 50 user-generated content stats that all marketers need to know in order to successfully work with brand influencers, improve brand loyalty, and increase ecommerce sales.
UGC and Brand Influencers
- Influencer marketing is the fastest-growing channel for customer acquisition.
- Businesses make $6.50 for every dollar invested in influencer marketing.
- 93% of marketers are seeing results in improving brand exposure through influencer engagement.
- 75% of marketing pros consider influencer engagement effective in lead generation.
- 76% of marketers consider influencer engagement effective in garnering customer loyalty.
- 82% of consumers said they were highly likely to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer.
- 74% of influencers tend to encourage their following to “buy it now or try it.”
UGC and Brand Loyalty
- 92% of consumers turn to people they know for referrals above any other source
- 88% of consumers trust online reviews written by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from their personal contacts.
- 84% of consumers say they trust peer recommendations above all other sources of advertising.
- Word-of-mouth marketing generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising.
- 74% of consumers rely on social media to inform their purchasing decisions.
- People referred by loyal customers have a 37% higher retention rate.
- 51% of marketers believe they get better customers from influencer marketing as the relationship began with trust in the influencer.
- 77% of influencers claim that they are more likely to buy from their sponsors, becoming brand evangelists that way.
UGC and Millennials
- 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%).
- 65% of social media users from ages 18 - 24 evaluate information that is shared on social networks when making a purchasing decision.
- Millennials (ages 25 and above) are the biggest content drivers—contributing over 70% of all UGC
- 84% of millennials report that UGC on company websites has an influence on what they buy.
- 68% of millennials say that user-generated content is generally a good indicator of the quality of a brand or service.
- Millennials are more likely to buy online (52%) than in stores (48%)
- Millennials trust UGC 50% more than original content generated by the brands.
- 86% of Millennials say that UGC is a positive indicator of brand quality.
- 71% of Millennials engage in user-generated content daily.
- Millennials find UGC to be 35% more memorable than content that came from mainstream sources.
- 64% of millennials say companies should offer more ways to share their opinions online.
- User-generated content is 20% more influential to millennials in their choice of purchases than any other media.
- 74% of Millennials said that UGC inspired a purchase decision when booking travel over professional photos.
- 83% of Millennials said that UGC inspired a purchase decision when buying electronics over professional photos.
- 85% of Millennials said that UGC inspired a purchase decision when booking travel over professional photos.
- Millennials use 2 to 3 devices at least once a day to consume UGC.
- 98% of millennials are more likely to engage with a friend’s post over a brand post.
- In the very near future, millennials will have the greatest combined purchasing power in history.
- 64% of Millennials recommend a product or service on social media at least once a month.
- Millennials spend 18 hours per day with media, and 30% of that time is spent looking at user-generated media.
UGC and Ecommerce
- UGC is 35% more memorable than other media, and 50% more trusted.
- UGC-based ads get 4x higher click-through rates and a 50% drop in cost-per-click than average.
- UGC results in 29% higher web conversions than campaigns or websites without it.
- 64% of customers will not only value online reviews but will actively seek them out before making a purchasing decision.
- The consumer demand for UGC in the live gaming industry grows 122% year over year.
- 67% of marketing professionals identify content promotion as the main benefit obtained from working with influencers.
- 39% of professionals use social media monitoring tools (like Pixlee’s Social CRM) to find influencers.
- 59% of marketers use influencer engagement campaigns for product launches and content creation.
- 23% of marketing professionals consider influencer engagement strategy for SEO purposes.
- Consumers on average spend 5.4 hours per day with user-generated content.
- User-generated videos on YouTube get 10x more views than content created and uploaded by the actual brand.
- 41% of consumers only need to see between 1 and 4 UGC reviews in order to be influenced to purchase.
- 25% of search results for the world’s 20 largest brands are links to user-created content.
- Spend for social media marketing campaigns have continued to grow over 25% year over year since 2009
- 87% of brands use UGC for authentic (and free) content.