Customer content (UGC): real photos and videos for small stores
How to get photos and videos from customers, what permissions you need and where to use them: product pages, email and ads, without buying opinions.
Vasile Dingă
.comparison-cards { display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 1.5rem; } .comparison-card { background: #fff; border-radius: 16px; padding: 20px; border: 2px solid #efefef; } .comparison-header { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 12px; } .comparison-row { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; padding: 8px 0; border-top: 1px solid #efefef; font-size: 14px; color: #1f2937; } .comparison-label { font-size: 14px; width: 30%; } .comparison-value { width: 65%; text-align: right; } @media (max-width: 600px) { .comparison-row { flex-direction: column; align-items: flex-start; } .comparison-value { text-align: left; margin-top: 4px; } } A photo taken by a customer in their living room, lit by the window, often convinces better than a perfect studio shot. It shows the product in real life, at real size, in the hands of someone who paid for it. For a small store, customer content (UGC, user generated content) is also the cheapest source of material for ads. The problem is not that it doesn't exist, but that nobody asks for it and, when it does show up, it doesn't come with the right permission. Below I show you how to get it, what consent you need and where to use it. 1. How to ask customers for photos and videos Most happy customers don't think of sending anything. You have to ask, at the right moment and as simply as possible. The post-delivery email: sent 7 to 14 days after the parcel arrived, when the customer has had time to use the product. One button: "Send a photo". Add it to your automated flows, next to the review request. I wrote about flows in automated email and SMS flows . The card in the parcel: a small card with a QR code that goes straight to the upload form. It costs little and reaches everyone who opens the parcel. Reviews with photos: if your store lets customers attach photos to reviews, part of the job is already done. I went into detail in reviews with photos and "Verified customer" . Incoming…