If you've ever bought something after seeing a customer's review, photo, unboxing video, or Instagram post, you've already seen customer generated content in action.
The idea isn't complicated. Your customer buys something, uses it, has an experience with it, and shares that experience.
That could be a five-star review. It could be a TikTok showing how they use the product. It could be a photo they post on Instagram. It could even be a quick answer to another customer's question.
And that's exactly why brands care about it. Instead of them being the only voice telling people your product is good, you have actual customers showing them.
What Is Customer Generated Content?
Customer generated content is any content created by a customer about a brand, product, or service rather than by the brand itself.
Sometimes customers create it without being asked. Sometimes you request it after a purchase. Either way, the important part is that the content comes from someone who has actually experienced the product or service.
Common examples include:
- Product reviews and ratings
- Customer photos and videos
- Video testimonials
- Unboxing videos
- Social media posts featuring a product
- Customer stories and case studies
- Before-and-after photos
- Product Q&As
- Comments and feedback
- Posts shared using a branded hashtag
The term is closely related to user-generated content (UGC), and the two are often used interchangeably. That's fine in casual conversation. But if you're building a marketing strategy, the distinction is rather important.
Customer generated content specifically points to actual customers and their experiences. UGC is broader and can include users, customers, fans, community members, and, depending on how you define it, paid creators. See our Canvas UGC vs. traditional UGC comparison for more on where paid creator content fits in.
Think about it this way: a customer saying, "I bought this and here's how I use it" gives you one kind of proof.
A creator hired to make a product video gives you another.
Both can be useful. They're just not the same thing.
How Is Customer Generated Content Different From UGC?
Here's where things get a little messy: there isn't one universally accepted definition that separates CGC from UGC.
A lot of marketing platforms use the terms interchangeably. Others treat customer generated content as a narrower type of UGC.
For practical purposes, this distinction works:
| Customer Generated Content | User Generated Content | |
|---|---|---|
| Who creates it? | Actual customers | Users, customers, fans or community members |
| Relationship with brand | Usually purchased or used the product | May or may not be a customer |
| Typical examples | Reviews, testimonials, customer photos | Social posts, comments, videos, reviews |
| Can it be paid? | Yes, depending on the program | Yes, depending on the definition |
| Main value | First-hand customer experience | Authenticity and social proof |
For example, someone who buys your skincare product and posts their results creates customer generated content.
A creator hired to demonstrate the same skincare product creates paid UGC.
The second video can still look completely natural. It can still be convincing. But the creator wasn't necessarily a customer who decided to share their experience on their own.
This is also why it is worth distinguishing customer content from creator-produced UGC when planning campaigns.
So the simple version is:
CGC = the customer's experience.
UGC = the broader category.
Customer Generated Content Examples
Customer generated content doesn't have to be a beautifully edited 60-second video.
In fact, some of the most useful examples are incredibly simple.
1. Customer reviews
Written reviews are probably the most obvious example.
A customer explaining how they used a product, what they liked, and what they didn't like gives a potential buyer information that your product description simply can't.
2. Customer photos
A customer posting a photo of your product in their home, wardrobe, kitchen, or daily routine gives people a look at what the product actually looks like in the real world.
That's useful because professional product photography only tells part of the story.
A customer photo can show scale, context, styling, and how the product fits into someone's actual life.
3. Video testimonials
A customer explaining why they bought your product, what problem it solved, or what changed after using it can make a strong testimonial.
And it doesn't need to look like a commercial.
Actually, that's often the point.
A customer talking naturally to their phone can feel far more believable than a perfectly scripted brand video.
4. Unboxing and first-impression videos
Customers love documenting the moment a product arrives.
An unboxing can show packaging, presentation, product quality, and that first reaction when the customer actually gets their hands on it.
For certain products, that first impression is part of the experience you're selling.
5. Social media posts
A customer might tag your brand in an Instagram post, Reel, TikTok, YouTube video, or another social post.
If you have permission to reuse it, that post can become another marketing asset.
6. Customer stories and case studies
For SaaS, services, and higher-consideration purchases, customer stories can be even more useful.
Instead of saying, "Our product works," you can let the customer explain the problem they had, why they chose you, and what happened afterward.
These are also examples of customer-created content: marketing material that originates with people who have actually experienced the brand rather than the brand's internal marketing team.
What Are the Benefits of Customer Generated Content?
Here's the biggest reason customer content works: the brand isn't the only one making the claim. Your marketing can say your product is useful, effective, comfortable, affordable, or worth buying. But when an actual customer shows how they use it, that claim carries more weight. And shoppers notice.
Customer content can help:
- Build trust: Real customer experiences can feel more credible than brand claims.
- Reduce purchase uncertainty: Reviews and demonstrations answer questions potential buyers may have.
- Support conversions: Customer content gives shoppers social proof when they're close to making a decision.
- Create more marketing assets: One customer post can potentially be reused across multiple channels with permission.
- Understand customers: Reviews, complaints, questions, and recurring themes can tell you what customers actually care about.
- Make marketing feel less promotional: Customer stories bring another voice into your marketing instead of making everything sound like a sales pitch.
The numbers back this up.
Bazaarvoice reports that 55% of shoppers say they're unlikely to buy a product without UGC such as reviews, Q&As, and customer photos. It also reports that 77% are more likely to buy a product they discover through UGC.
The commercial impact can be significant too. Bazaarvoice has reported a 136% lift in conversion rates when shoppers interact with UGC on best-in-class sites.
That doesn't mean every brand is going to see a 136% jump. Don't read the statistics that way.
The useful takeaway is that customer content can influence measurable parts of the buying journey when you put it where shoppers actually need reassurance.
How Do Brands Collect Customer Generated Content?
You don't need a complicated campaign to start collecting customer content. Start with the places where your customers are already interacting with you.
Ask after purchase
Send a review request a few days or weeks after delivery, depending on the product. But don't just send: "How was your purchase?" That's easy to ignore. Give people something specific to answer: "What did you like most about the product?" Or: "Can you show us how you use it?" The more specific the prompt, the easier it is for someone to know what you actually want from them.
Create social prompts
Encourage customers to share their experience using a branded hashtag or by tagging your account. But again, give them a reason to post.
A fashion brand could ask customers to show how they styled a product rather than simply saying, "Post a picture and tag us."
That's a very interesting brief to act on.
Use incentives carefully
Discounts, loyalty points, giveaways, or other incentives can encourage participation.
Just be careful about what you're incentivizing.
You want customers to share genuine experiences, not manufacture five-star reviews because there's a coupon attached.
Make submissions easy
If submitting content feels like filling out a tax form, people aren't going to do it.
A simple upload form, review request, email reply, or social prompt can remove a lot of unnecessary friction.
Work with existing advocates
You probably already have customers talking about you. Look at your reviews, mentions, tags, comments, and community conversations.
Someone who keeps talking about your brand is already doing half the work. You just need to give them a reason to keep going and, where necessary, ask for permission to use what they've created.
How to Use Customer Generated Content for Marketing
Collecting customer content is only half the job. The next question is: where do you actually put it?
This is where customer content marketing becomes useful. Instead of treating customer posts as random social media assets, you can use them throughout your marketing.
| Marketing channel | Useful customer content | What it can do |
|---|---|---|
| Product pages | Reviews, photos, videos, Q&As | Reduce purchase hesitation |
| Social media | Photos, Reels, testimonials | Build social proof |
| Paid ads | Customer videos, testimonials | Add authenticity and creativity |
| Reviews, stories, customer photos | Support product recommendations | |
| Landing pages | Testimonials, case studies | Reinforce key claims |
| Blog content | Customer stories and examples | Add first-hand experience |
| Packaging | Customer quotes or stories | Strengthen brand connection |
| Sales materials | Case studies and testimonials | Support purchase decisions |
The important bit is context. A customer video explaining how a product solved a specific problem might work well in a paid ad.
Put that same video on the product page when someone is deciding whether to buy, and it could do an entirely different job.
So don't collect 500 pieces of customer content just to dump them into a social media folder.
Match the content to the moment.
Someone discovering your brand needs something different from someone sitting on your checkout page wondering whether the product is actually worth it.
How to Create a Customer Generated Content Strategy
A customer generated content strategy doesn't need to become a 40-page marketing document.
Start with five things.
1. Decide what you want the content to achieve
Start with the problem.
Do you want to:
- Increase product-page conversions?
- Build trust with new customers?
- Generate more social content?
- Create advertising assets?
- Gather customer feedback?
- Increase brand awareness?
Pick the goal first. Otherwise, you'll end up collecting content simply because you can.
2. Choose the right content format
Don't ask every customer for a 60-second video if a written review would do the job.
For example:
- Ecommerce: photos, reviews, unboxings and short videos
- SaaS: testimonials, case studies and screen recordings
- Beauty: routines, before-and-after photos and product demonstrations
- Food and beverage: recipes, serving ideas and customer photos
The format should follow the job you're trying to get done.
3. Choose where you'll collect it
Pick one or two channels to start.
That could be post-purchase emails, social media, your website, a review platform, or a dedicated submission form.
You don't need to launch everywhere on day one.
The goal is to build something repeatable rather than run one giant campaign and never do it again.
4. Get permission before you reuse content
This is one matter. A customer posting something publicly does not automatically mean you have unlimited rights to use it in your ads, website, or other commercial materials.
Ask for permission and keep a record of the approval.
This becomes particularly important when a piece of customer content moves from an organic social post into paid advertising.
5. Measure what actually works
Don't stop measuring at "we collected 300 posts." That tells you how much content you collected. It doesn't tell you whether the content did anything.
Depending on your campaign, track:
- Conversion rate
- Click-through rate
- Engagement
- Revenue influenced
- Time on page
- Content submissions
- Cost per acquired customer
- Return on ad spend
Then look for patterns.
Which formats work? Which messages get attention? Which pieces actually help people buy?
That's the information you can use to improve the next campaign.
For brands that also need professionally produced creator content, customer-generated content can work alongside paid UGC rather than replacing it. AveoReach's creator marketplace can help brands find creators when they need a predictable supply of product videos, testimonials, or other campaign assets.
Think of it as two complementary sources:
Customers provide real experiences. Creators help you produce content to a specific brief. You don't have to pick one.
