Can you show your customers that your product is worth their money? Nowadays, customers have access to information right on their emails, and it is getting harder and harder to persuade them. Most customers research in and out on a product or service before deciding to even engage with a brand.
Stop talking about how great your product is on a landing page and start showing it for real. Including social proof on the landing page in a convincing way can motivate prospects to take a step forward.
This guide will explain how to use social proof to make your landing page more appealing to potential customers. We will start by defining some basic terms to make sure everyone is on the same page.
What is a landing page?
A landing page is a page on your website that is designed for a specific marketing or advertising campaign. The purpose of a landing page is to convert visitors into leads or sales.
Hubspot has found that businesses with 31 to 40 landing pages tend to generate seven times more leads than those with only 5 or fewer landing pages.
Unlike other pages on your website, a landing page does not have links to other pages. Here is how it works:
- The person arrives at the landing page after clicking on a link in an email, an advertisement from Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, Twitter, Bing, or another website.
- The person filling out the form on the landing page becomes a lead.
- Once you have provided information, it is then stored in a lead database.
- You choose the marketing approach that will best convince potential customers to buy your product or service based on what you know about them.
The landing page is effective because it guides customers through a buying process. If you know that traffic will be coming to your website, using landing pages can increase the chances of converting that traffic into leads. Landing pages can improve your online marketing significantly.
If others are doing it, it must be good. This is the idea behind social proof. When people see that others are doing something, they feel a positive influence and are more likely to do it themselves. This is why things that are already popular tend to become even more popular.
If everyone is saying that the Beatles are really good, then you can be sure that they are actually really good. This is the end of the debate. Similarly, if you see good reviews for a Chinese restaurant on Yelp, or if you see someone with high fashion wearing a Marc Jacobs dress, then you can be sure that those things are actually really good. This is the way most people think-whether it is true or not is an entirely different question.
Social proof is the process of building trust with potential customers by using real data, in a similar way to word-of-mouth. You can use testimonials, photos, and other content from customers on your landing page to attract new visitors.
People are more likely to convert into a lead if they see that other people are speaking positively about the offer.
The science of psychology can explain why adding social proof to a landing page can be effective. We will explore this more in the next section.
Why is social proof important to your landing page?
How does social proof influence customers exactly? The psychology of social proof can be understood through four categories:
- Similarity: Prospects gather and use feedback from sources and people to make their decisions. People are pack animals so we are influenced by the opinions, choices, and actions of others.
- Uncertainty: People look to social proof for guidance when they encounter unfamiliar situations.
- Number: The more people are satisfied with a product or a service beforehand, the more trust new customers put into a brand.
- Expertise: Opinions and verification from more knowledgeable and/or experienced people are valued by prospects.
In number, a recent TrustPilot survey found out that 66% of customers said the presence of social proof shot up their likelihood to purchase a product. The strategy of incorporating social proof into your landing page is extremely important to:
- Build trust
- Increase credibility
- Validate and guide the customers’ buying decision
Assuming that you want to improve your landing page, here are 10 ways to do so by using social proof (with examples):
10 powerful ways to show social proof on your landing page (with examples).
1. Testimonials
A testimonial is a customer statement that praises the virtues of your product or service. Social proof is when potential customers see that other people are using and enjoying your product or service, and testimonials are the most common form of social proof in marketing.
A testimonial is different from a review because it is something that businesses collect for the purpose of marketing or advertising.
For example, Trainual uses a customer testimonial to sell the benefits of their software, directly from their landing page:
And Buffer uses a group of testimonials to spotlight their many happy customers:
Not all testimonials are equally effective on landing pages.
CXL found that testimonials with photos are more likely to be remembered than those without.
This makes sense because photos can make something seem more credible and credibility is important.
If you include even small details, it can have a big impact. For example, we A/B tested testimonials for one of our medical spa clients and found that adding the procedure name to the testimonial (to make it feel more realistic) increased conversions by 18.7%.
To make your testimonials feel more genuine and believable (and to get the most out of them), use the following:
- Real names: Give your testimonials an identity with first and last names
- Job titles: Add relevance with job titles or labels (like procedure type)
- Photos: Put a face to the name
- Star ratings: We’ll cover star ratings in just a minute, but testimonials with star ratings perform better than those without
- Authentic responses: More often than not you can tell when a testimonial has been engineered. Let your customers do the talking; use their own words (however imperfect)
2. Reviews
A review is written by a customer on a third-party website, while a testimonial is written by a customer on your own website.
If you’re looking to improve your landing pages, one way to do so is to use third-party reviews. This can help give your pages more credibility and make them more trustworthy in the eyes of potential customers.
Some reviews may be more important than others depending on the platform or industry.
For example, a 5-star review from a credible software review aggregator (G2) is more relevant to a SaaS (Software As A Service) landing page than a 5-star review from Google.
A review from RealSelf is more relevant than a review from Yelp for plastic surgeons since RealSelf is a credible cosmetic surgery review aggregator.
The same principles that apply to testimonials also apply to reviews. It’s okay to include less than perfect reviews.
68% of customers trust reviews more when they include a healthy mix of both positive and negative reviews, and customers who seek negative reviews convert 2% higher than anyone else.
3. Star ratings
Star ratings assign a quantitative value to your reviews, and they come in two types:
- Aggregate: the average star rating of all your reviews on a single platform
- Individual: the star rating assigned to a specific review
Juro, for example, features both Google and Capterra’s aggregate star ratings on their landing page.
And Haven (a crypto app) features aggregate star ratings from Apple’s App Store and Google Play:
86% of customers said they are influenced by star ratings in their purchasing decisions.
- 70% of consumers use rating filters when searching for a business
- 4.2-4.5 out of 5 stars had the most influence on product purchases
- 38% of customers require around a 4-star review minimum to consider a business
It is difficult to say definitively which is better, aggregate star ratings or individual star ratings. Both options offer benefits and drawbacks that should be considered carefully before making a decision.
Converting higher is what individual reviews with star ratings are all about.
4. Case studies
A case study is an in-depth examination of a real-life customer case.
Fifty-six percent of enterprise-level purchasers and twenty-three percent of small business owners reported that case studies influenced a technology purchase in the past six months.
Case studies are very effective in building trust with potential customers.
Case studies are an effective tool, but they can take some time to develop. Once you have them, they can be very useful in converting leads.
5. Client logos
Other common landing page social proof examples include customer testimonials and customer logos.
For example, SEMRush features prominent client logos above the fold on their SEO tool landing page:
How important are client logos?
An A/B test conducted by comScore showed that adding a client logo to a landing page increased conversions by 69%.
CXL states that client logos are an effective way of showing social proof on a landing page because they are easy to remember and don’t require a lot of mental effort to process. In other words, client logos help communicate trust and credibility in a straightforward way.
6. Awards
Awards show potential customers that other credible sources (not just customers) believe you’re so good at what you do that you deserve recognition. They’re perfect social proof badges for your landing pages.
For example, ActiveCampaign features a litany of industry awards and badges on their marketing automation landing page:
And BirdEye features the same type of G2 awards, along with a link to a dedicated page for awards:
7. Publicity (media mentions)
Including logos from clients or awards you’ve won, as well as media mentions or press logos, can help create trust and social proof.
If reputable media companies are writing about you, then you must be doing something worth exploring.
8. Wisdom of crowd
The wisdom of crowds refers to the idea that a large group of people is more likely to be right than any one individual. This principle can be used to create social proof for your brand by making it seem like everyone is using it. This can be done by using FOMO (fear of missing out) to lure potential customers to your brand.
Three common types of wisdom of crowd social proof include:
- Social media followers (if you have thousands) or share buttons with share counts
- Total or lifetime customer count
- Product badges (“Most popular” or “Almost out”)
For example, Shopify has over 1.7 million customers, so they rightly display it on their landing pages:
Before sharing your customer count, make sure it is comparable to the competition.
9. Wisdom of friends
The wisdom of friends is a way of building trust and credibility using endorsements from friends. It is effective.
The reason people do this is because they want to be around people that they know and trust. This is because it is comforting and makes them feel safe.
According to Nielson:
- When referred by a friend, people are 4x more likely to purchase (i.e. they’re already sold)
- 85% of online buyers trust recommendations from friends
An example of how wisdom of friends social proof can be used effectively is when landing pages feature testimonials from recognizable figures in your industry. This is a great way to show potential customers that your product or service is reputable and trustworthy.
For example, Pipe is a tool that helps startups turn recurring revenue into upfront capital. On their landing page, they feature testimonials from some of the startup world’s most recognized figures:
If you’re worried that visitors might be pulled away from your site if you include social media widgets, you can always embed them in your landing page. That way, visitors can see which of their friends like or follow your social accounts without ever having to leave your page.
10. Customer data
What information can you collect from your users or customers that indicates your product or service is effective?
For example, Kajabi features the total number of students served (41M+) and total revenue earned by customers ($2B+):
Canva lists the total number of designs made and the percentage of Fortune 500 companies that use the site, as well as the customer count and languages served.
Now launch your landing page!
When using social proof on your landing page, are you telling stories that your visitors can relate to? Are you utilizing best practices that will convince your prospects to convert? If you combine these two elements, you are likely to see results that will surprise you.
It is now your turn to use social proof tactics on your landing page to convert visitors into buyers. Always remember to stay positive and good luck on your business journey!
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