11 Steps to Add Social Proof to Landing Page

Can you prove to your customers that the product you are offering is worth their money? Nowadays, customers have access to information right on their fingertips, 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.

So you need to stop talking about how great your product is on a landing page and start showing it for real. And that is exactly what including social proof on the landing page can do in a superb convincing way. As prospects see that people are enjoying buying from your business, they are motivated to take a step forward.

In this guide, we are going to dive deep into how to add social proof to a landing page and spark the audience’s interest in what you have to offer. But before we get started, let’s go through some basic definitions to make sure we are on the same page.

Table of contents:

• What is a landing page?
• What is social proof?
• Why is social proof important to your landing page?
• 11 powerful ways to show social proof on your landing page (with examples)
  • 1. Testimonials
  • 2. Embed Social Media
  • 3. Number of Customers/Downloads
  • 4. Case studies
  • 5. Trust badges
  • 6. Data
  • 7. Research
  • 8. Expert Social Proof
  • 9. Celebrity Social Proof
  • 10. Third-party reviews
  • 11. Contact info
• Bonus: Tips to optimize the landing page’s conversion rate
  • #1. Perfectly suited with your funnel for a good experience
  • #2. A/B testing is the key
  • #3. Easy navigation with concise messaging
  • #4. Optimized for both desktop and mobile
  • #5. Focused on the primary goal: conversion
• Now launch your landing page!

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a stand-alone site on your website, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign. It is designed with a single goal in mind: converting visitors into leads. It is this focus that makes landing pages the outstanding option to increase conversions rates and lower the cost of acquiring a lead or sale.

In fact, Hubspot found out that businesses with 31 to 40 landing pages can generate seven times more leads than other businesses with only less than 5 landing pages.

Different from other pages on your website, a landing page has no navigation to other pages. It will exist just to provide a form so visitors can provide information and turn into leads. Here is how it works:

1. A person “lands” on the landing page after they click on a link in an email, or ads from Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, Twitter, Bing, or other places on the web.

2. The person fills out a form on the landing page and turns into a lead.

3. The information provided is then stored in your leads database.

4. Based on what you know about them, you choose the marketing approach to convince them to buy your product or service.

That is the beauty of the landing page - its linear direction that guides the customers toward a purchasing process. When you know that a stream of targeted traffic will be heading to your website, landing pages is the key factor in increasing the chance of converting that traffic into leads. Use landing pages effectively, and you will see the effectiveness of your online marketing improve dramatically.

Learn more: 12 Best practices for optimizing a Landing Page

What is social proof?

Social proof is the positive influence that is generated when a person finds out that others are all doing something. It is the reason for people to feel gravitated towards things that are already popular.

If everyone says the Beatles are “god damn good”, then you know they are “really good” (and that is the end of the debate). Or when you pick a Chinese restaurant with rave reviews on Yelp, or buy the latest Marc Jacobs dress because a high-fashion person wears it.

Social proof is the online version of good old word-of-mouth - in which brand can build trust with prospects through real data. When someone visits your landing page, you have the opportunity to attract them with customers’ testimonials, embedded Instagram photos, and more.

If prospects can see that people are speaking positively about the offer, they are more likely to think positively about it. And then they have the momentum to fill out the form and convert into a lead.

There is a whole science of psychology behind adding social proof to a landing page; and we will get to that 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

With that in mind, let’s take a look at eleven powerful ways to show social proof on your landing page (with examples).

11 powerful ways to show social proof on your landing page (with examples).

1. Testimonials

One of the more common uses of social proof on landing pages is including short quotes from happy customers. They can do wonders for your conversion rate and you can add them to your homepages too. In fact, 78% of shoppers are more likely to purchase after seeing positive testimonials on a site.

Place these quotes below your form or under the image on the landing page and try to show them as realistic and credible as possible. You can boost the authenticity by including name, photo, company, and product purchased along with the quotes.

2. Embed Social Media

A great source of social proof is social media posts. Look through all your channels to find Instagram photos, Facebook posts, tweets, and so on that can positively reflect your brand. For instance, think of an Instagram hashtag that people can use to get featured on our page.

Once you’ve gathered all the social media posts you want to include, just embed them on the landing page. You can use tools like Flowbox to embed Instagram posts on your site, quickly and easily. The cool thing is that visitors can interact with these embedded posts too. All the famous forms of contents like tweets, Instagram photos, Facebook posts, Pinterest pins, Youtube videos, SlideShare presentations, and infographics can all be embedded.

Social sharing buttons showing the number of shares are another great form of social proof to add. If a person sees that a landing page is shared a lot on social channels, it gains more credibility.

Learn more: How to Get Verified on Instagram?

3. Number of Customers/Downloads

Showing how many people purchased or have downloaded an offer is another effective form of social proof. On your landing page, you can include a ticker that shows the number of downloads or an number that keeps updating as it grows.

However, numbers that are too low to zero may do more damage than good, so wait when you have a decent social proof volume before displaying it on your landing page. Or, you can show people buying or adding your product to carts in real-time. This can create a great urgency for landing page’s visitors to check out what is drawing so many orders.

AVADA’s Social Proof (Proofo) is an app made by us that any store can use to display sale or add to cart notifications anywhere on your site. You can check it out in the link.

4. Case studies

If testimonials are still not enough for your product or service, then you can link those short quotes to case studies. Through this, prospects can learn more about real-life examples and stories that prove that your business is effective. Show off what you can do for your customers.

In the picture above, Codecademy made a whole landing page to tell the stories of previous learners. They tell how someone’s lives have been changing through coding and studying with the platform. And you can see the “Try Pro For Free” or “Sign up” buttons very clearly.

5. Trust badges

Trust badges are symbols that help reassure site visitors that the company they are visiting is safe to handle sensitive information. These can come in the form of badges, certifications, seals, or just a privacy policy.

Depending on the industry, different trust badges can have different results. So try to test and see if adding trust badges as social proof on your landing page helps increase conversion rate. The newest study from Baymard Institute shows that the three most trusted badges for online shoppers are Norton, Google Trusted Store, and BBB Accredited Business.

As for a privacy policy, it not only can protect customers but also your store from possible legal cases. You don’t have to consult with a lawyer to get one, because there are many online tools that can help. Check out the article on 10+ terms and conditions generators you can trust in 2020 to learn more.

6. Data

Numbers and stats have a magical strength that can build credibility in a visitor’s mind quickly. While you can show only the number of users, showing how you grow that customer base over the year is even more impressive. Try to use the exact numbers instead of round numbers to be even more believable.

>Basecamp’s customers landing page shows off their number of accounts skyrocketing through the years in the above picture. You can learn this by showing the numbers of users, subscribers, purchase counts, downloads over time. This can help the landing page’s visitors understand the scope of your business.

7. Research

While we are on the data subject, why not show your company as an expert and providing stats backed by research? Give your visitors the social proof to see how beneficial your offer is. Do this by showing hard numbers and let the number speak for itself.

For example: Include research and statistics that show how much time vs money your customers would save if they used your products or service.

In the picture above, Nauto - a data platform for self-driving cars shows how their eBook can reduce insurance claims by a specific percentage. Below, there are also statistics about car accidents so visitors can feel the urge to learn more. The “Get the eBook now” button is right between these two sections, highlighted in green.

8. Expert Social Proof

You can use industry experts and authority endorsements as a social proof on the landing page. With industry leaders trusting the benefits of your offer, your visitors certainly can too. It is like buying a doctor recommended health products. The more knowledgeable people should know better, right?

eCommerce stores use experts as social proof all the time, but sometimes present the endorsement unrealistically and overdo it by exaggerating. Try to be as authentic as possible and make sure the figure representing you is relatable to your audience.

On HeyDay’s expert landing page, the company showcases a long list of skin therapists that are behind their products. With this much expertise and endorsement, the skincare company is more trusted by customers and prospects.

9. Celebrity Social Proof

Using influencer endorsements and celebrities as a social proof on your landing page is another great option, if you have the budget. To the celebrity’s fans, they have an emotional attachment and feel the need to follow their footsteps, even in the products they use.

However, the same as experts social proof, choose your celebrity and their statements wisely. You should not shoot too high and choose someone that is too rich or famous for having a good effect on your credibility. Your endorser should lead lives that are relatable to your products and audiences.

For example, Nike is exceptionally good at using celebrity social proof time after time. In the picture, they congratulated the tennis all-star Serena Williams on her 23rd major title win. This links with the collaboration products between the brand and the celebrity too by the button “Shop the winning look”.

10. Third-party reviews

Reviews from third-party companies are effective for two reasons. First, they are objective. This isn’t your company promoting itself - other brands are putting their good words too. The second reason is the crowd effect, especially if the third-party company is well-known.

When other brands rate you favorably, your brand gets a trickle-down effect to make your prospects easier to convert. Above is an example of a company displaying third-party reviews as a social proof on the landing page.

Highfive - as a video conference equipment company, shows star-rating reviews from famous software platforms such as G2 Crowd and Capterra. Strong reviews from these objective companies are a powerful influencing factor when the CTA (Call To Action) button “Start a trial” is right below.

11. Contact info

You may be surprised to hear this, but adding something as simple as a physical address, phone number, contact info can significantly increase the conversion rate of a landing page. This is because people are naturally drawn to things that are more local and relevant to their locations.

Kissmetrics ran a simple A/B test and found out that including a phone number made 54% of the audience sign-up. While RingDNA’s research showed that including a local area code to the phone number lifted conversions by 40%.

So in your landing page, adding some types of contact info as physical locations, phone numbers, contact info can have a surprising impact on the conversion rate. However, remember to test out which info your customers are willing to type in and not.

Bonus: Tips to optimize the landing page’s conversion rate

Adding social proof is just one of the practices to make a good landing page. Try to take a look at other landing pages that people in your industry are making. See what the big boys are making and take notes for yourself.

However, there are some tips that any landing page can use to optimize its conversion rate. And they are listed right below.

#1. Perfectly suited with your funnel for a good experience

This is all about the message that you are trying to put through. When someone clicks on one of your search ads, promotion email, social post, you’ve already shaped their expectations for what is coming next.

So ensure the copy that motivated their click is demonstrated on your landing page. In this way, you can indicate to potential customers that this is what they’re looking for. Your social proof will be there to prove that you are right.

#2. A/B testing is the key

A/B testing allows you to determine which headlines are the best, if a menu can drive more conversions, and if multiple CTA buttons can do the trick. High converting landing pages aren’t born by chance, they are highly researched to bring the best result.

Test your colors, test your copy, test your buttons. Even social proof needs to be suited with the right audience to work. Understand your visitor’s needs and give them the idea that your product or service is the solution. Whatever your landing page is trying to prove, keep it short, punchy, and to the point.

#3. Easy navigation with concise messaging

eCommerce shoppers have short attention spans. It’s pretty unlikely that they are going to read all of the information on your landing page. Instead, they’ll scan for the information they want to see.

This is where your product’s differentiators, benefits, social proof, and price come to shine. Stick to the value that you offer. Keep things easy to read with headers, section breaks, and bullet points.

#4. Optimized for both desktop and mobile

More of your visitors are on mobile than ever before so you need to make sure that your business’s landing page delivers a great mobile experience. If you have the budget, you can build separate pages for different types of screens, depending on your target audience’s devices.

If not, you need to at least make sure the landing pages you have are responsive. Use a simple layout and work with your developer to keep load times as short as possible.

#5. Focused on the primary goal: conversion

Every element of your landing page should exist only to drive visitors closer to a purchase decision. Lose any unnecessary navigation or exit points to keep prospects staying on the page. Use additional calls to action (like popups, sticky bars, more buttons) to keep your offer on top of the visitor’s mind. Only one offer is enough; remember that.

Now launch your landing page!

Is your brand using social proof on the landing page to tell stories that your visitors connect with? Are you taking advantage of it in the best practices that can persuade your prospects to convert? When it comes to combining these two, there are likely to be results that will surprise you.

Now it is your turn, go and launch a landing page with social proof tactics to convert your visitors into buyers! As always, best of luck to your eCommerce journey!