Update: Since we published this post, a new method of requesting reviews and UGC from customers has become an effective addition to email — SMS marketing! Click here to read how to request reviews from customers via SMS.
10% higher response rate
The most popular (and effective) way to collect user-generated content is by sending an email to customers after they make a purchase.
In any form of email marketing, subject lines matter — a lot! And when it comes to requests for customer photos and reviews, making tiny changes to subject lines can have a huge impact on response rate.
Our analysis of over 3.5 million emails found, on average:
- Including your store name increases response rate by 10%
- Phrasing your request as a question increases the number of responses by 86%
What works best tends to vary by store size and industry. For example, in the fashion industry, including an exclamation point decreases response rate by 27%.
But no two stores are exactly alike, which is why you need to regularly A/B test your subject lines to find the winning combination for your store.