Why is social proof so important?

Never underestimate the power of social proof!

We are going to do a quick experiment together to highlight the power of social proof. Imagine you are walking in the street, you’re hungry and you’re looking for a place to eat. You really want to eat some Italian food. You are lucky as there are 4 italian restaurants on this street, so you have a choice.

Two of the restaurants have people in them eating, laughing and they look like they are having a great time. Due to this, you have already narrowed it down to these two restaurants. One of the restaurants, has a 5-star food rating on their sign. You choose to eat in this restaurant.

Why did you not pick the other options? It is because you had everything you needed laid out in front of you in order to pick the one you did. You had Social Proof – people were eating in there, if it’s busy it must be good right? They looked like they were having a great time, they must be enjoying the food and the service must be good if they are happy. And the cherry on top of the metaphorical cake is… there is a five star food rating displayed.

Okay, you are sold. Social Proof – a powerful tool.

Yes! As you have seen social proof = more customers.

Social proof can be used in both offline and online marketing – today, we are going to focus on how you can get more social proof for your landing page.

Firstly, in order to get social proof you need to ensure you are offering a smooth running and dependable service with clear expectations and communication.

It goes without saying that the more happy clients you get the more social proof you are going to get. Make sure you are keeping in contact with your clients throughout their journey, stay in contact with them. If you offer a service, ensure you are sending them updates, make them feel special. If you have are selling products then you could offer shipping updates, maybe a way for them to track their order? Perhaps you offer them 10% off their next order.

How can I get social proof?

Use a typeform to create a feedback questionnaire with conditional paths. So after every project completed or order delivered you send a feedback form.

Here are some great questions you should be asking on your feedback form:

How would you rate us out of 10?
What did we do particularly well?
Was there anything you would change?
Would you use our services/buy our product again?

Depending on their responses you can send them to different routes.

If they rate highly/positively, send them to a page that asks them to provide reviews.

Negative or low reviews… then work on your product/service ????????

Seriously though, if they are negative or low scoring, then just don’t send them to the reviews page.

But, how do you lure people in and make them want to review you on multiple platforms?

This is where we can offer you some expert advice. You should be providing them with incentives for reviewing you on these platforms!

Some examples of different incentives are:

– 10% off next order (this could be more of less than 10%, it’s at your discretion)
– Free product “add on” with next order (if you are selling beauty products you could offer a free handheld mirror with their next order)
– $50 voucher off next order
– Enter all your reviewers into a competition to win a grand prize ($100+ gift card or you could offer an all expenses paid holiday etc)

Where and how should I showcase my social proof?

On your landing page! (Of course)

If you haven’t had the chance to read our AIDA blog we suggest you click here to read it, it describes exactly how your landing page should be laid out including explaining how social proof should ALWAYS be above the fold of your landing page.

Do not give the user any reason to leave your page. For example: if they want to research your reviews, this is one of the main reasons that they would leave your page… if you have social proof readily available then they will not need to.

On your website.

On your homepage/landing page above the fold as we have stated above but what many website owners forget is that you should be showcasing all of your reviews on a dedicated reviews page. Make your social proof easily accessible for your customers.

On this page ensure that the reviews are detailed, they have 5 stars and they have real photographs.

Below you see an example from a landing page we created for MuscleGrab. These are GREAT examples of social proof!

On your marketing platforms

Don’t forget to showcase your social proof on social media and your newsletters/emails, this could be through creative testimonial posts or videos.

See some examples below:

Videos are often underestimated. Alternatively in place of a photograph testimonial above the fold on your landing page, you could put a video testimonial, but remember that sometimes videos can slow your loading speed and load speed is very important on landing pages.

Another way you could use social media to get across social proof is by having industry experts or well known influencers take over your social media profiles or endorse your products. Influencers for example have worked very hard to create a highly engaged audience who enjoy following their daily lives – including which brands they use. By promoting your business on their socials, influencers build credibility and trust in your brand – if they use it, then it must be good!

In terms of experts if an expert takes over your Instagram account to post educational content, or Instagram Stories, or even go live, people that know the ‘expert’ might like and engage with your brand more as the ‘expert’ presence on your social media creates a positive influence on them.

Teaming up with said influencers and experts is a win-win situation for both parties. You benefit from exposure and the industry experts/influencers also benefit by getting to reach your audience.

High five, you are now on your way to getting more proof for your landing page. If you want us to design you an expert landing page designed to convert, then contact us today. Click the button below to get started. We look forward to hearing from you.