8 Best eCommerce UGC Reviews & Testimonial Promotion Email Strategies (2024)

💬 I've spoken about the power/purpose of social proof to help with different objectives and goals for brands across the funnel CX/journey, and it certainly plays a role with one of the most direct-customer communication channels available - that being email.

The great thing about reviews/testimonials within email is that it can be applied to essentially all types of promotions and automated flows - whether it be dedicated emails or placing small elements (which depends on the context of what you're tying to achieve), it's one of the best methods to showcase trust and credibility for audiences - especially for visitors/subscribers yet to make their first purchase.

Low-cost tactics and elements to test/optimise review and UGC emails for eCommerce brands (with great reference examples)

With the examples from top brands I share, I've included some commentary and reasons why I like them - I also recommend checking out their sites, ads, socials and other marketing they do.

I’m a big believer in social proof to help sell brands, as well as specific product items that you’re trying to push. 

In this case with specific product items, one of the best flows/emails you can setup are review-based focused. 

Just like this awesome example from the brand Paro - they’ve taken three great reviews that touch on various areas of the ‘Kitchari’ product, focused on key USPs such as taste and quick/easy to make.

These are great to include in flows for cross-selling, as well as those audiences who have subscribed or viewed certain pages, but yet to purchase.

“Splash” social proof elements like reviews and UGC whenever you can, including in the likes of winback and cross-sell/upsell flows. 

Key recommendation here is to try tailor the email flows and make the product cards (with reviews) dynamic based on attributes, website and past purchase behaviour - which you can automate in the likes of Klaviyo (as can integrate with Shopify data). 

A good design layout I like is from Buoy (which is a brand that does an amazing job with their email marketing). 

As you can see, they’ve incorporated various items (four in this case), alongside a relevant review of that item.

Additionally, they included the likes of publication logos and “10,000+” customers.

Avoid being ‘boring’ or just doing doing the sample ‘messaging/design playbook’ that other brands are doing. 

Show-off some personality, just like these two awesome examples.

• This is a brilliant email from Surreal which I love (which does awesome marketing by the way). 
• They turn a ‘negative’ review into an opportunity to further explain their ingredients and what it tastes like. 
• Not to mention I just love the humour they did for this - so good! 

• Another awesome example is from Magic Spoon, where they highlight some of their funniest reviews they’ve seen.

Reviews don’t only need to just come from customers - you can also utilise reviews and features from publications.

Whenever you get featured from a reputable site/publication, it can be a good promotion angle opportunity, just like these two examples below.

• This is a great reference example from Judy, which is an email promotion from a publication called “Digg” which they were featured in. 

• The other awesome reference is from Cometeer, which incorporates three publications, and then a special offer of “$25 off for your first order” - which is a great email flow idea for nurturing/converting first-time customers and/or subscribers who are yet to make a purchase. 

Whenever there are positive comments/sentiments shared about your brand, then you should turn it into an opportunity (just like with publication features which I mentioned in the previous checklist point). 

A great idea here is using positive social media comments, and then putting them into a nice custom design. 

Awesome example reference here from Buoy. 

Test some emails for key offer periods (Black Friday, EOFY, Christmas, end of year, etc) to highlight top products you’re wanting to push promotion for. 

These are the sorts of emails I recommend setting up across multiple flows across the customer journey. 

A good example reference I like here is from Misc. Goods Co. 

Whenever it comes to creating any email for promotion, it’s important to make sure key conversion-focused elements are clear and highlighted within the content - ie. CTA buttons, BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later), messaging of the actual offer, USP offer (for example, free shipping), and even USP icons specific to the brand. 

And of course it goes without saying - you’ve gotta keep testing and trying new angles. There are endless combinations and variants worth testing, depending on the goal of the flow, status of customers, new vs existing, customer journey stage, product attributes, website behaviour…. you name it. 

My key recommendation here is that you do small experiments over time, and track results/tests within a Google sheet. 

Over time, you’ll be really honed into what’s working and what’s not.

Other Reviews/UGC testimonial email examples I like

Here are couple of other examples I quite like in terms of UI design, layout, messaging and "creative" best practices.

Example #1

• Just like the above with Judy and Cometeer’s emails, I like that Bite have done something similar - but they also included customer reviews too. 
• Other elements they’ve incorporated which I also really like are the “subscribe now” offer, and the Instagram section with images from their feed.

Example #2

• This is a good social proof email from the brand Impossibrew - it includes a customer review, and also a testimonial from a Dr (which helps with further credibility).
• Good angle for promotion to customers/subscribers yet to purchase.