How can user-generated content (UGC) and company-generated (CGC) content impact customer acquisition and customer retention in the Colombian market?

Abstract

During the pandemic, people around the world had to find new ways to perform every activity they did before, this includes shopping. Something that everyone was used to doing in a physical store, had to quickly become a virtual experience because of the challenges and restrictions that COVID-19 brought. This is when online shopping started booming in some countries as never before seen, specifically in the Latin-American market, creating new buying trends, more competition, advertisements through online channels, the increase of users on social media, and the rise of influencers. That’s when users started creating content to support companies or to express their opinions concerning a product or brand, to give honest reviews, and that lead them to have followers who trusted them; and companies didn’t stay behind, they also started posting more on their social media and websites to express empathy with the situation of the pandemic, to connect more with their customers and to grow their sales with a different way of advertisement. Said this, this research aims to study the impact of user-generated content (UGC) and company-generated content (CGC) on customer acquisition and customer retention, two key concepts for a successful CRM strategy and thus, paramount for companies and businesses. In this way, this research applies a quantitative research methodology, where one survey was done on 131 participants of Colombia both men and women to understand the behavior of the Colombians regarding UGC and CGC towards customer acquisition and customer retention. The results of the research showed that CGC has a greater impact on customer acquisition and customer retention in the Colombian market compared to the UGC. However, it is also seen that it depends on the demographics of the target audience because if the targeted audience is from young generations such as gen Z, they will trust UGC more for customer acquisition. In conclusion, this research helps companies understand how they can attract Colombian customers and how can they make them loyal with the tools of UGC and CGC.