What Can UGC Do for Your Paid Advertising Campaign?
You’ve probably seen more and more user-generated content (UGC) in advertising. It can grab attention faster than the written word alone, it can look and feel more organic than a polished brand video, and it can make a brand feel more relatable and human.
But does it actually perform?
At Parable, we’ve tested UGC across paid campaigns for Christian publishers, education organizations, and other faith-based brands. While the results vary from campaign to campaign, UGC has consistently driven strong results in different ways.
Here’s what we’ve seen.
UGC Can Drive Strong Link Click-Through Rates
One of the first things we look at when evaluating ad performance is whether people are clicking. Across several UGC campaigns, we’ve seen strong link click-through rates (CTR).
For one Christian publisher, UGC promoting a daily Bible delivered an average link CTR of 3.84% on Meta and 2.85% on TikTok.
We saw similar results with another Christian publisher on TikTok. A UGC campaign for a study Bible generated a 2.57% link CTR. Another campaign for a note-taking Bible delivered a 3.31% link CTR.
Of course, a high link CTR isn’t the only way to measure a successful ad.
UGC Can Complement Your Other Creative
When you’re running multiple types of creative, the ad with the most clicks isn’t necessarily the one with the most efficient results.
For an online Christian university, we ran both UGC and static ads in the same campaign. Both formats delivered strong results, but the UGC creative had the lowest cost per page engagement.
The statics drove more volume, while the UGC drove engagement at a lower cost.
That’s one reason it can be useful to have different types of creative running at the same time. You may find that one format reaches more people while another gets more people to take a particular action.
Sometimes, UGC Becomes the Top Performer
In some campaigns, UGC doesn’t just hold its own against other creative. It becomes one of the strongest ads in the campaign.
For an online Christian academy, we ran UGC alongside static ads and other video content.
One of the UGC ads stood out from the rest of the campaign, generating:
The most impressions
The most leads
The second-most clicks to “Apply Now”
The lowest cost per lead
Having different types of creative in a campaign gives you the opportunity to see what resonates most with your audience. In this case, UGC came out on top, allowing us to lean further into that style and messaging to drive stronger results.
UGC Can Drive Leads at a Lower Cost
For campaigns focused on lead generation, one of the most important questions is often: How much did it cost to get each lead?
For a family ministry, we ran two UGC ads alongside two static ads. One of the UGC ads accounted for a significant portion of results, delivering:
77% of all link clicks
71% of all leads
A cost per lead of $4.88
The two statics, in comparison, delivered costs per lead more than double and quadruple UGC.
In this case, the UGC ad wasn't just getting more people to click. It was also producing substantially more leads at a lower cost.
Should You Add UGC to Your Next Campaign?
There isn’t one formula for a successful UGC campaign. The creator, concept, message, platform, and audience all matter.
The benefit of adding UGC to your creative mix is that it gives you another approach to test. We’ve seen UGC generate strong link CTRs, deliver lower-cost engagement, become a top-performing ad, and drive leads at a lower cost than other creative in the same campaign.
If you’re looking for new ways to reach your audience and improve your paid advertising results, UGC may be worth testing in your next campaign.
Ready to see what UGC could do for your campaigns? Contact us to learn how we can create and test UGC ads designed to connect with your audience.
