People use social proof to shape their opinions and influence their decisions all the time. Choosing a movie based on the rating it gets on Rotten Tomatoes is a good example of social proof. You’re looking to try a new restaurant, but a negative review of their hygiene standards causes you to change your mind. That’s also social proof doing its magic. Given the influence social proof has on our lives, it’s important for businesses to seize every opportunity they can find to use social proof to positively influence their customers.
Social Proof Simplified
The positive influence you have from learning about other people’s experiences and the consequential actions that you take on the basis of that newfound understanding is known as social proof. For instance, you may choose to watch a movie or read a book that ‘everyone’ is talking about. At the same time, you’ll be unlikely to take any action that other people are regretting.
In the same spirit, when new visitors head to your landing page for the first time, they may be unsure if the offering is really worth their money. But by feeding customers with emotional data in the form of social proof, you can positively influence their buying process.
By adding different social proof like customer reviews and Twitter mentions to landing pages, businesses can show their customers the positive things that other people who have tried their service are saying about it. This allows new customers to think positively about the offer, making them more likely to fill in the form and convert into a lead.
Without further ado, let’s look at some ways of adding social proof to your website’s landing pages:
Customer Quotes
Adding short quotes from some of your happy customers on your landing pages is a proven way of getting more leads. Add details to the quotes, like customer name, contact info, and company/job title to make the reviews more credible.
Case Studies
Case studies offer more insight than short quotes. Use the opportunity to show how the offer helped turn someone’s life around. New customers will fill in the form in the hope of experiencing similar benefits.
Embedded Social Media Posts
Choose the social media posts that best reflect your brand. You can display these posts as social proof on your landing page by embedding them on the page. The method of embedding social media posts varies from platform to platform. You usually have to go to the post options or settings, and then click/tap the ‘embed’ option. On YouTube, you can pull up a video’s embed code by tapping/clicking the ‘share’ button and then choosing the ‘embed’ option.
Number of Shares
Social sharing buttons now fetch social proof directly from your social media pages and profiles. You can show the number of shares your offer got on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other popular social media. This adds even more credibility to a landing page. Besides landing pages, you should consider adding social sharing buttons to other content types, including emails, blog posts, web pages and so on.
Number of Downloads/Customers
Showing the number of times an offer has been downloaded is another instance of social proof. Alternatively, you can also display the number of customers your business has served. Make sure that you keep the numbers updated.
Trust Seals
Trust seals are another effective way of adding social proof and giving customers the confidence to convert. However, keep in mind that trust seals may not always be effective. For this reason, you are advised to run A/B tests on your landing pages with and without the trust seals to see if they actually lead to improved conversion rates before incorporating them into your landing pages.
Reach First is a digital marketing agency based in Edmonton, Alberta. We provide lead generation, website development, SEO, SEM, SMO and SMM services to clients from all parts of Canada. We have more than a decade of experience in helping businesses reach their potential market first. Contact Reach First today.