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The Benefits of User-Generated Content and Influencers in Email Marketing

By Freedom251 Team · · 4 min read

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User-generated content (UGC) and influencer material can make marketing emails more concrete by showing customer opinions, product use, and advocacy. Their value is relevance and context—not a guaranteed lift in opens, clicks, or sales. The key distinction is that sponsored or otherwise connected endorsements need clear disclosure and truthful claims, while any customer content needs permission for the way you plan to reuse it.

What counts as UGC—and how it differs from influencer content

UGC is material created by customers or other members of an audience: reviews, testimonials, product photos, unboxing videos, and social posts or clips. Mailchimp describes these formats and encourages brands to invite people to contribute (Mailchimp’s guide to content seeding).

Influencer content may look similar in an email, but its relationship to the brand matters. A creator who was paid, received a product or other benefit, or has another material connection is making an endorsement with additional disclosure responsibilities. A customer review does not become an independent endorsement simply because it appears in an email; preserve its meaning and be clear about any relationship that could affect how readers assess it.

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Why use customer and creator content in email?

Show customer perspective

A review or testimonial puts another person’s experience beside the brand’s own description. It can help a subscriber understand how existing customers describe a product, without asking the brand to speak for them.

Add product context

Customer photos and creator demonstrations can show how an item looks or is used in context. This can make an email more specific than a product image and a list of features alone. Klaviyo describes using customer material in lifecycle campaigns, including reviews in a product-launch email (Klaviyo’s UGC examples).

Make lifecycle messages more relevant

Content can be selected to match a subscriber’s product interest or stage in the customer journey. A review for the item someone browsed is more directly relevant than a general testimonial; a post-purchase message can ask for feedback that may become useful material later.

Support participation and advocacy

Inviting customers to share feedback or product content can create material for future campaigns and give advocates a way to participate. Influencer programs can also connect social activity with email follow-up, but one brand’s workflow is an example—not a result every business should expect.

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Where UGC and influencer content can fit in an email flow

Email moment Possible content Why it fits
Welcome A small selection of relevant customer photos, testimonials, or creator content Adds customer voices alongside the brand introduction.
Browse abandonment Reviews or customer images tied to the viewed product Keeps the material connected to the subscriber’s demonstrated interest.
Abandoned cart A concise review or testimonial for the item in the cart Offers customer perspective while the subscriber is considering that product.
Product launch Permissioned customer reviews or creator demonstrations, with disclosure where required Shows reactions or use context around the new offer. Klaviyo describes a launch-email example featuring customer reviews.
Post-purchase A request for feedback; later, permissioned reviews or customer material Can collect customer perspectives for future messages.
Ambassador or advocacy program A welcome message, shareable offer, and follow-up acknowledgment Connects social participation with email communication.

Choose material for the subscriber and message rather than filling every email with social proof. A useful candidate should be relevant to the product and moment, specific enough to be credible, permissioned for the intended use, and legible in the email format.

What the Kulani Kinis example illustrates

Klaviyo’s vendor-published case study describes Kulani Kinis using social profile information, including follower count, as one input for segmenting subscribers. The brand sends automated welcome emails with voucher codes to ambassadors, tracks mentions, and uses email to acknowledge advocates (Klaviyo’s Kulani Kinis case study). This illustrates a possible connection between social participation and email automation; it is not an independent test or evidence of a quantified performance lift. Follower count is one segmentation input in this example, not a universal measure of creator quality.

Permissions, truthful claims, and disclosure

Before reusing a customer’s post, photo, or review, confirm that you have permission for the specific use. Keep the original context, and do not edit words or images in a way that changes the implied claim. These are prudent safeguards; the cited guidance is not a complete account of every jurisdiction’s copyright, privacy, publicity, or email-consent requirements.

For U.S. endorsements, the FTC says endorsements must reflect the endorser’s honest opinion and cannot make claims the marketer could not legally make. A connection between the endorser and marketer should be clearly and conspicuously disclosed when it could affect how consumers evaluate the endorsement (FTC’s Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking).

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FTC influencer guidance identifies financial, employment, personal, or family relationships—including receiving something of value—as connections that may need disclosure. Disclosures should be hard to miss, understandable, and placed with the endorsement. Do not assume a social platform’s disclosure tool alone is sufficient; the FTC’s 2023 update noted it might not be adequate (FTC’s Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers; FTC announcement on its June 2023 guide update). If sponsored content moves from a social post into an email, keep any needed disclosure with the endorsement so it remains clear in the new format. Requirements can vary outside the United States.

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How to assess whether the content is working

The sources cited here do not establish a directly attributable numerical lift in email opens, clicks, conversions, or revenue from UGC or influencer content. Treat the benefit as a reason to test a relevant message, not as a promised outcome.

  1. Choose one email moment and objective. For example, test a product-specific review in a cart message rather than changing the entire flow at once.
  2. Use an appropriate comparison. Compare a version with the content against a suitable baseline or controlled variant, keeping other changes limited where practical.
  3. Track outcomes that match the objective. Review campaign engagement and downstream actions relevant to the message; do not assume an open or click change proves incremental revenue.
  4. Check the asset as well as the result. Confirm relevance, permission, disclosure, and mobile legibility before interpreting performance.

Whether the content is worth keeping depends on the campaign’s own results and on whether the asset is trustworthy, usable, and appropriate for that subscriber.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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