Types of UGC content: formats, examples, and when to use each one

UGC content is not a single format: it spans a wide variety of content types, each with its own characteristics, advantages, and use cases. Understanding the differences between them is key to choosing the right format for your campaign goals, the product you're promoting, and the channel where it will be published.

In this guide, we go over the UGC content formats most used by brands, with concrete examples, their advantages, and the ideal moment to use each one. At the end, you'll find a simple framework for deciding which format fits each marketing objective.

Unboxing videos

Unboxing videos show the experience of receiving and opening a product for the first time. They are one of the most popular UGC formats because they build anticipation, showcase the real product packaging, and convey a genuine emotion of discovery. They're especially effective for products with premium packaging, limited editions, subscription boxes, and tech products. On TikTok and Instagram Reels, unboxings rack up millions of views every day.

They work best in vertical, short-form format, between 15 and 45 seconds, where the moment of opening becomes the hook in the first few seconds. A good unboxing isn't just about showing the box: it includes the creator's first reaction, the packaging details, and an honest first impression. They fit above all in the discovery phase, when the goal is to build awareness and spark curiosity rather than close a sale.

Video reviews

Reviews are the UGC format with the greatest impact on purchasing decisions. A creator who tries a product, explains its benefits, and shares their honest opinion generates more trust than any conventional ad. Video reviews work very well as creatives for paid ads: the data shows that ads using the UGC review format achieve up to 30% better conversion rates. They're ideal for cosmetics, supplements, technology, and any product that requires social proof.

To get the most out of them, a review should address both the strengths and some minor limitation: that perceived honesty is precisely what makes them credible. It's the star format of the consideration phase and one of the best performers when repurposed as creative for UGC ad campaigns, where it competes directly with traditional advertising.

Tutorials and how-tos

Tutorial videos show how to use a product step by step. They're the perfect format for products that need explanation or demonstration: makeup, kitchen products, tech tools, personal care products. The value of a tutorial is twofold: it educates the potential buyer on how the product works and demonstrates its real usefulness.

This format tends to have a longer shelf life than others, since users actively search for tutorials on YouTube, TikTok, and Google. By answering specific queries like "how to use" or "how it works," a good tutorial keeps attracting purchase-intent traffic for months or even years after it's published, which makes it an especially cost-effective content investment.

Lifestyle content

Lifestyle content naturally integrates the product into the creator's everyday life. There's no script or explicit demonstration: the product appears as part of the creator's real life. This format is ideal for fashion, home decor, healthy eating, fitness, and lifestyle. It conveys aspiration and belonging, and works exceptionally well as organic content on Instagram and Pinterest.

Its strength lies in subtlety: the less "advertising" it looks, the more effective it is. That's why it's an ideal format for the top of the funnel and for long-term brand building, rather than for pushing an immediate conversion.

Get Ready With Me and "a day in my life"

The "Get Ready With Me" (GRWM) and "a day in my life" formats weave one or more products into a personal, real-time narrative: the creator gets ready, cooks, works out, or goes about their routine while mentioning the products they use. They're hugely popular on TikTok and Instagram because they combine relatability, entertainment, and demonstration in a single video.

They allow you to showcase several products in a believable context without it feeling forced, which makes them very versatile for beauty, fashion, food, and wellness brands. Because they're built around a story rather than a sales script, they hold attention far longer than a direct ad.

Testimonials

Testimonials are direct statements from users sharing their experience with a product or service. They can be in video or text, and their strength lies in credibility: a real person telling how a product solved their problem or improved their life. Testimonials are especially effective on landing pages, sales emails, and e-commerce product pages. Service, health, and education brands use them with great success.

Unlike a lengthy review, a testimonial is usually short and focused on a single benefit or specific result, which makes it easy to place at key points along the buyer's journey, right where the customer needs one last nudge of confidence.

Product photos

UGC photography shows products in real-world contexts, outside the photo studio. They're essential for e-commerce, where catalog photos alone don't build enough trust. A photo of a real customer wearing sneakers, showing off an outfit, or decorating their home with a product conveys authenticity instantly. Fashion and home decor brands get significantly better results when they combine catalog photos with UGC photos on their product pages.

Beyond e-commerce, UGC photos are a highly cost-effective resource for feeding your social media feed, emails, and static ads, since a single batch of images can be reused across multiple channels at a low production cost.

Before and after content

This format shows the transformation a product produces: before and after using a cosmetic, a cleaning product, or an organization tool. It's one of the most persuasive formats because it offers direct visual proof of the result. It works especially well in sectors like beauty, home care, and fitness.

Because of its demonstrative nature, it fits the decision phase, when the customer already knows the product and needs concrete proof that it works. It's worth making sure the transformation is realistic and verifiable so as not to undermine the brand's credibility.

Comparisons and "this vs. that"

Comparisons pit two products against each other, two ways of solving a problem, or the brand's product against a common alternative. They help the viewer make a decision by resolving the classic "which one should I buy" question, which makes them very effective at the final stage of the buyer's journey.

They're an honest, high-information format that positions the brand as the best option without needing an aggressive pitch. They work well both in video and in Instagram carousels, and tend to generate lots of comments and saves, signals the platforms reward with more reach.

Event and experience content

When a brand organizes an event, pop-up, or in-person experience, the UGC content generated by attendees is enormously valuable. It captures the atmosphere, people's real reactions, and creates FOMO (fear of missing out) among those who didn't attend. Food, fashion, and lifestyle brands use it to amplify the reach of their events beyond in-person attendees.

UGC vs. influencer content: they're not the same

Although they're often confused, UGC content and influencer content follow different logics. In an influencer collaboration, you pay mainly for access to their audience: the value lies in their reach and in posting on their channels. With UGC, you pay for the content itself, obtaining the usage rights to publish it on your own channels, ads, and website, regardless of how many followers the person who produced it has.

This difference matters when it comes to choosing a format and a creator. If your goal is quick awareness within a specific community, an influencer may make sense; if you're after authentic, scalable, reusable content for your campaigns, UGC is more efficient. You can dig deeper into the role of the UGC content creator and what sets them apart from an influencer.

How to choose the type of UGC content based on your goal

There's no "best" format in the abstract: the ideal one depends on the funnel stage you want to impact. A simple way to decide is to match each objective with the formats that fulfill it best.

For awareness (top of the funnel), where you're after reach and sparking interest, unboxings, lifestyle content, and GRWM formats are the most suitable thanks to their spontaneous, entertaining nature. For consideration (middle of the funnel), when the user is weighing up whether the product suits them, reviews, tutorials, and comparisons work better, because they provide information and social proof. And for conversion (bottom of the funnel), just before purchase, testimonials, before-and-after content, and product photos on e-commerce pages are the ones that most help close the decision.

Defining the objective before commissioning content avoids the most common mistake: producing beautiful videos that don't move any concrete metric.

How to combine several formats in a UGC strategy

The brands that get the best results rarely stick to a single format. The usual approach is to combine several to cover the entire journey: an unboxing for the discovery phase, a review or tutorial for consideration, and a testimonial or before-and-after for conversion. That way, each piece reinforces the previous ones and accompanies the customer at every step.

An added advantage is reuse: from a single shoot you can pull several cuts for different channels and objectives, optimizing your investment. If you want to dig deeper into how to distribute these formats, the guide on UGC on social media and the one on UGC for businesses explain how to fit each content type into a coherent strategy.

Every UGC content format has its ideal moment and channel. The key is choosing the right type for your goals: awareness, consideration, or conversion. A marketplace like UGC Slalom lets you request exactly the format you need from specialized creators, with the peace of mind that the content will go through a review process before final delivery.