Do you recall your first move into your home? and how you had plans for every corner of your room, whether it’s a familiar scent from the soap you use or a specific hue from the furniture you chose? Before you know it, you’re smiling as you go inside your house.

An introvert might create a perfect reading corner for themselves, while an extrovert would strive to gather chairs through or maximise a social space. Our homes reflect volumes about who we are. Depending on our hobbies and way of life, family, and friends, the layout of furnishings and type of home décor change, providing a unique flavour to our home; hence, picking home décor is as significant as any other decision.

Home décor is important because it can affect everything from our self-perception to our confidence and productivity.

User-generated content as a growth strategy for home decor brands - Sheet1
Home Decor_©anuraya.com

Going Online   

Many businesses are hesitant to sell items online because their customers may not visualise how the home décor would look in their own homes. Customers have concerns such as, Is it too much for the space? Will the material look precisely as I imagine it? How will it blend in with the rest of my furniture?

User-generated content, fortunately, exists to assuage these pre-purchase anxieties.

eCommerce firms worldwide see the value of extending their social media engagement by incorporating user content into their marketing efforts. While many industries benefit from this strategy, online home décor brands have much to gain. User-generated content exists to ease these apprehensions about purchasing before they arise.

The Flowbox platform has been used by high-end home décor businesses to collect User Generated photos from social media.to enhance their online sales by offering buyers another option to visualise how their things appear in their homes. Their UGC galleries and carousels are seamlessly incorporated into their homepage and product pages to provide their consumers with every option to purchase the brand’s earned content.

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Pepper fry Website_© pepperfry.com

How are User-generated content used?

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©foyr.com

The joy that comes from a satisfied consumer arranging their own house with your items can’t be matched by your brand’s styling advice, valuable as it may be. The styling decisions are made by individuals who are genuine about their styling issues and have found comfort in your online furnishing company, not in a showroom or a product display. Nothing is more motivating for your potential clients!

By incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your online purchasing experience, you may use past customers’ photos and videos to encourage new buyers. Using your clients’ style suggestions gives your brand a valuable window into their thinking. Your future design choices, or even how you present your work to them in the future, may be influenced by this.

Gaining credibility through visual reviews is a significant advantage of UGC. A reviews service is trustworthy to show the authenticity of your items.

But you should showcase your products to people with your evaluations from all angles, and that includes providing visual representations of what your customers think of your goods.

Combining visual and written evaluations is a fantastic method to use social media and makes your buyers find your items trustworthy and appealing.

Give your customers greater justification for believing in your brand by allowing others to do so.

Different Strategy For Home Décor 

©amala.earth

Email campaigns: Ask your customers to share their reviews, testimonials, or images and videos of them using your items by emailing them. Utilising the appropriate message cues in your post-purchase flow create a continual cadence of user-generated content.

Reviews: Encourage customers to post reviews on your website or independent review sites by allowing reviews on your website. This might offer insightful feedback and serve as social proof for prospective clients.

Use branded hashtags: You may also request that your consumers post images of your brand’s merchandise using a hashtag on social media.

Contests and giveaway campaigns: E-commerce businesses may increase their user-generated content (UGC) by awarding prizes to consumers who submit pictures or videos of themselves enjoying the brand’s items as part of a contest or giveaway. Brands may make the giveaway or contest simple to join by simply requiring a quick snapshot or video, and they can also make sure the rewards are appealing to and pertinent to the target demographic to increase participation.

Work with influencers: they are well-known for having sizable, loyal followings and incredible photo feeds. Viewers of these photos are more likely to join the conversation by posting their images.

Use applications that generate UGC. Utilising UGC has a curation problem. Where and when organic and real material appears is entirely out of your control. UGC tools may help you out by automating the curation process in many cases.

E-commerce firms may customise the creation, gathering, and presentation of reviews, ratings, and social media UGC by using platforms which include built-in UGC capabilities.

References:

Brook, C. (2023) How online furniture brands use customer content to increase conversions, Flowbox. [online]Available at: https://getflowbox.com/blog/online-furniture-brands/ (Accessed: 21 May 2023). 

Chowdhury, S. (2020) 15 made-in-India décor brands to Accessorise Your Home, Condé Nast Traveller India.[online] Available at: https://www.cntraveller.in/story/15-made-in-india-home-decor-brands/ (Accessed: 21 May 2023). 

Khurana, A. (2022) 8 Decor Brands to invest in this festive season for a quick home makeover, Architectural Digest India. [online]Available at: https://www.architecturaldigest.in/story/decor-brands-to-invest-in-this-festive-season-for-a-quick-home-makeover/ (Accessed: 21 May 2023). 

Moda (2023) User-generated content: Benefits, strategies & examples, Moda.[online] Available at: https://www.getmoda.io/blog/ugc-user-generated-content (Accessed: 21 May 2023). 

Author

Amrutha is an architect and designer based in Bangalore. She is a voracious reader and believes that architecture is similar to a narrative that slowly unfolds in time and space. As an avid traveller she finds thrill in serendipitous encounters.