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User-generated content (UGC) and influencer material give marketing emails something a brand cannot provide on its own: other people’s perspectives on a product. Reviews, customer photos, and creator demonstrations can show how an item looks or is used, while fitting naturally into welcome, browse-abandonment, cart, launch, and post-purchase emails. These are useful ways to add context and credibility—not a guaranteed increase in opens, clicks, or sales.
What counts as UGC—and how it differs from influencer content
UGC is material created by customers or other members of an audience. Common formats include product reviews, testimonials, customer photos, unboxing videos, and social posts or clips. A brand may invite people to contribute, then—with appropriate permission—reuse selected material in email. Mailchimp describes these formats and the role of audience participation in its guide to content seeding.
Influencer content can look similar: a creator may post a photo, review, or video that a brand later features in an email. The key difference is the relationship behind the content. If a creator was paid, received a free product, or has another material connection to the brand, the email uses an endorsement with additional disclosure and truthfulness responsibilities. A customer’s unpaid review and a sponsored creator’s endorsement should not be treated as interchangeable.
Why include customer and creator content in email?
Show products through other people’s eyes
A customer image can show how a product appears in an everyday setting; a review can explain a particular experience; a creator demonstration can make a feature easier to understand. This adds product context that a polished brand description may not convey. Klaviyo discusses these uses in its examples of UGC in customer marketing. The benefit is a richer view for the reader, not proof that every testimonial is representative or that including one will produce a fixed conversion lift.
Make lifecycle messages more specific
Content tied to the product a subscriber viewed or bought is more relevant than a generic collection of praise. A short review for an item in a cart, for example, connects the customer’s perspective to the decision already in front of the reader. Welcome and post-purchase messages can instead introduce customer voices or invite subscribers to contribute their own.
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Build a usable content pipeline and invite participation
Asking customers for feedback or social content can give a brand material to consider for later emails. It also creates a reason for customers to participate in the brand community. Set expectations about how submissions may be used, obtain permission for the intended reuse, and avoid presenting a contribution in a way that changes its meaning.
Connect advocacy with email communication
Email can support an ambassador or advocacy program by welcoming participants, delivering a shareable offer, or acknowledging people who mention the brand. A vendor-published Klaviyo case study describes Kulani Kinis using social profile information such as follower count to segment subscribers, sending automated welcome emails with voucher codes to ambassadors, tracking mentions, and using email to acknowledge advocates. That example illustrates a workflow; it is not an independent test or evidence of a result other brands should expect. See the Kulani Kinis case study.
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| Email moment | Content to consider | How it can help |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome | A small selection of relevant customer photos, testimonials, or properly disclosed creator content | Introduces customer perspectives alongside the brand’s own story. |
| Browse abandonment | Reviews or customer images related to the product viewed | Keeps the added context connected to the subscriber’s demonstrated interest. |
| Abandoned cart | A concise review or testimonial about the item in the cart | Offers a customer perspective while the subscriber is considering that product. |
| Product launch | Customer reviews or creator demonstrations, with permission and any required disclosure | Shows reactions or use context around the new product. Klaviyo describes a launch email for Aura Bora featuring customer reviews. |
| Post-purchase | A request for feedback, with permissioned customer content considered for later campaigns | Can gather reviews and social material for future use. |
| Ambassador program | A welcome email, shareable offer, and follow-up acknowledgment | Links social participation with ongoing email communication, as in the vendor-published Kulani Kinis example. |
Choose assets for relevance, credibility, and usable rights
Before placing an asset in a campaign, assess it against the product, audience, email moment, and intended claim. Follower count alone is not a reliable substitute for fit: in the Kulani Kinis example, it is one segmentation input, not a universal measure of creator quality.
- Relevance: Does the content concern the product or experience this email is about?
- Origin: Is it an ordinary customer’s experience, or an endorsement from someone with a paid or other material connection?
- Permission: Has the creator or customer agreed to the specific reuse you intend, including email?
- Credibility: Is the statement specific and grounded in the person’s actual experience? Avoid implying that one person’s result is typical without support.
- Disclosure: Does the content need a clear explanation of a material connection?
- Email usability: Is the image or video legible and accessible in the email format, and can readers understand the relevant text without relying on a visual alone?
Handle endorsements, claims, and permissions carefully
For U.S. advertising, the FTC says endorsements should reflect the endorser’s honest opinion and must not make claims the marketer could not legally make. When a relationship between an endorser and marketer could affect how consumers evaluate an endorsement and would not be expected, that connection should be clearly and conspicuously disclosed. Consult the FTC’s Endorsement Guides Q&A.
The FTC’s influencer guidance identifies financial, employment, personal, and family relationships as connections that may require disclosure, including when an influencer receives something of value. Put the disclosure with the endorsement, make it hard to miss, and use language people can understand. Do not assume a platform disclosure tool alone is enough: the FTC’s June 2023 update noted that such a tool might not adequately disclose a connection. See Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers and the FTC’s June 2023 announcement about updated advertising guides.
When moving social content into an email, preserve its context and any necessary disclosure. Get permission for the intended use, and do not edit words or imagery in a way that changes the implied claim. These are prudent safeguards, not a complete summary of every jurisdiction’s rules on privacy, publicity, copyright, or email consent. Requirements may differ outside the United States, so check the rules that apply to your campaign.
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Measure the campaign without assuming a lift
The cited implementation guidance and case example do not establish a directly attributable, general performance increase for UGC or influencer content in email. Treat the approach as a testable creative choice, not a promised outcome. Compare a version with the content against a suitable baseline or controlled variant, keeping the audience, offer, timing, and other major elements as consistent as practical. Choose measures that match the email’s purpose—such as clicks to a product page or completed purchases—and interpret results in light of audience size and campaign differences. A favorable result in one campaign does not by itself establish the same effect in another.
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