In short: To measure UGC performance, start from your goal, pick one business metric (such as cost per purchase or conversion rate), and use hook rate, hold rate and click-through rate only to find out why. Give each test at least a week, change one thing at a time, and compare against your own results, not against universal benchmarks.
Start with the goal
Shortimize’s measurement guide (February 2026) ties metrics to the goal of the campaign. The table below is a simplified version.
| Goal | Early signals | Business metric |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | Views, watch time, shares | Reach quality |
| Consideration | Profile visits, clicks, saves | Assisted conversions |
| Conversion | Click-to-conversion rate | Cost per purchase, return on ad spend |
For a product page or an ad, the business metric is usually conversion rate or cost per purchase. Pick one before you brief, as in the small-business plan.
The metrics in plain words
- Hook rate (thumb-stop rate): the share of viewers who stop and start watching. Shortimize defines it as 2-second views divided by video starts. Vidovo estimates it from 3-second plays divided by impressions. Platforms count differently, so use one definition and stick with it.
- Hold rate: what happens after the stop. Shortimize uses 6-second views; Vidovo looks at average watch time or at how many viewers reach 25%, 50%, 75% and the end.
- Click-through rate (CTR): how many viewers click.
- Cost per acquisition or purchase (CPA): spend divided by conversions.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS): revenue returned for each unit of ad spend.
How to read them together
Vidovo (July 2026) gives a simple way to diagnose a video:
- Low hook rate: the opening needs work. Try another hook. See UGC video ideas and hooks.
- Good hook rate, weak hold rate: the opening works but the rest loses people, often because of pacing.
- Good hook and hold, weak ROAS: the video is engaging but may not match the offer, landing page, call to action or audience.
- All three strong: consider scaling, cutting shorter versions or testing similar creators.
Do not chase hook rate alone
Maurice Rahmey, a former Meta sales strategist who runs Disruptive Digital, argues in a Superfiliate video that the main goal should anchor the evaluation: CPA if you want customers, ROAS if you want efficiency. Click-through rate is secondary, and hook and hold rates are diagnostic only. In the summary, some top-performing advertisers have low hold rates and some weak performers have high ones, so these numbers do not reliably predict results by themselves.
How long to wait
Shortimize splits the timeline into three windows: early signals in the first 2 to 24 hours, stabilization over 3 to 7 days, and the business window of 7 to 30 days or more. Influee’s Black Friday playbook uses a similar rule in practice: give a test at least seven days and change one variable at a time. Do not judge a video on its first few hours.
Measure the pipeline too
Shortimize also lists metrics for the production side of a campaign:
- Cost per usable asset: creator cost divided by approved videos.
- Approval rate: how many submissions you approve.
- On-time rate and revision rate.
- Usage rate: how many approved videos you actually use.
These tell you whether your brief and review process work. A low approval rate usually points to the brief, not the creators. See how to review UGC videos.
A simple tracking sheet
One row per video
Video name · creator · hook used · where it ran (page, ad, email) · start and end date · spend · views · hook rate · hold rate · clicks · purchases · cost per purchase · keep, change or retire.
Write down which definition of hook rate and hold rate you use so the numbers stay comparable week to week.
A hypothetical example
“Brand X” runs three creator videos as a small ad test with the same offer and landing page. Video A gets few people to stop and watch, so its opening is the problem. Video B holds attention but few people click, so the offer or call to action may be unclear. Video C is average on both but has the lowest cost per purchase. Following Rahmey’s approach, Brand X would keep C, rework B’s call to action and retire A, even though B looks better in the engagement numbers. The scenario is invented; real results depend on your product, audience and spend.
Benchmarks and incrementality
None of the guides we read gives reliable universal targets for hook rate, hold rate or CPA, and Vidovo gives no numeric benchmarks at all. Shortimize recommends using benchmarks for ranges, not targets. Build your own baseline from your first campaign instead. When you scale spend by a large factor, Shortimize recommends incrementality tests such as lift studies or geo-holdouts rather than simple attribution; for small creative tweaks, normal attribution is enough.
Where Usicri fits
Usicri handles sourcing, review and payment: you set the payout per video, review every submission and pay only for approved videos, with no platform fee at the moment. Approved, paid videos come with a non-exclusive, worldwide license without time limit that covers advertising (section 5 of the Terms of Service).
Results from ads, pages and email are measured in your own ad platform, store and analytics. See open campaigns and UGC ads for beauty and fashion brands.
Quick checklist
- Pick one business metric per campaign.
- Use hook, hold and click rates only to diagnose.
- Wait at least seven days; change one variable at a time.
- Track approval rate and cost per usable asset.
- Use your own baseline, not a universal benchmark.
For briefing creators for variants, naming files and setting stop rules, see UGC ad creative testing.
On the cost side, see how to calculate the cost per usable UGC video.
For survey figures on how shoppers respond to video, see UGC and social video statistics, with sources.