Most brands in Brazil buy user generated content as if it were one product. They order five videos, run them all in the same campaign, and then wonder why some perform and some do not. The problem is rarely the creator. A video built to stop a stranger from scrolling has a different job than a video meant to close a sale, and the brands that get the best return from UGC are the ones that brief each stage of the funnel separately.
The three jobs UGC has to do
Think of the funnel as three questions a buyer asks in order. Who are you and why should I care? Is this right for me? Can I trust you enough to pay? Each question needs a different video, a different hook, and a different success metric.
Confusing them is the most common and most expensive mistake. A detailed product demonstration shown to a cold audience gets skipped, because nobody wants technical detail from a brand they have never heard of. A pure entertainment clip shown to someone with the product already in the cart wastes the click.
Top of funnel: earn attention
At the top you are talking to people who have never heard of you. The video's only job is to stop the scroll and make the category interesting.
- Formats that work: strong hook plus a relatable problem, trending audio in the creator's own style, point of view scenes, humour, surprising visual openings, quick before and after.
- What to brief: the problem, not the product. Ask for three different hooks on the same idea, and keep the brand mention light and late.
- What to measure: three second view rate, hook retention, cost per thousand impressions, and the volume of cheap qualified traffic.
In Brazil this is where Reels and TikTok do the heavy lifting, and where a creator's ability to sound like a real person, not a spokesperson, matters more than production quality.
Middle of funnel: answer the doubt
Here the viewer knows you exist and is deciding whether it fits their life. This is the stage most brands skip, and it is where a lot of lost sales hide.
Useful formats are the honest demonstration, the how it works explainer, the comparison against the way people solve the problem today, the objection handler that names the doubt out loud, and the routine video that shows the product in a real week. Brief the creator with your top three customer objections in the customer's own words, and ask them to answer one per video. Measure watch time, click through rate, add to cart and saves.
Bottom of funnel: make it safe to buy
At the bottom the buyer is close and looking for a reason to trust you. This is testimonial territory, and in Brazil the depoimento is the strongest asset you can own.
The formats that convert here are the customer testimonial with a concrete result, the unboxing that proves the delivery is real and the packaging is good, the sceptic who tried it anyway, the price and value explanation, and the answer to the practical questions about shipping, sizing, returns and payment. Local proof matters: a real address, a real delivery time, Pix as a payment option, and a face that looks like the buyer. Measure conversion rate, cost per acquisition and return on ad spend.
After the sale, which most brands ignore
UGC keeps paying after checkout. Tutorials reduce support tickets and returns, second use ideas increase consumption, and a short video sent through WhatsApp after delivery turns a buyer into a repeat customer. For subscription and refill products, this is the cheapest retention lever available.
How to split a real budget
A workable starting split for a Brazilian ecommerce brand is roughly half the budget at the top, a third in the middle, and the rest at the bottom, then rebalanced after two weeks of data. In volume, that usually means three to five creators, two or three variations each, and a fresh batch every month before creative fatigue sets in.
Two operational rules save money. Never run a single video per stage, because you cannot learn anything from one asset. And buy the paid media rights up front for the videos you intend to scale, since relicensing a winner later always costs more than licensing it at the start.
Briefing so each stage gets what it needs
Give the creator the stage, not just the product. Say plainly: this one is to stop a cold audience, this one answers the objection about price, this one is proof for someone about to buy. Include the hook direction, the length, the required disclosure, and the exact rights you are buying. Creators deliver much sharper work when they know which job the video has to do.
For the complete framework on briefing, rights, pricing and scaling creator content in Brazil, read our UGC guide for brands.
