When shopping online, people do a lot of product research. They spend a solid amount of time evaluating the product characteristics, features, and benefits. However, they also rely on other shoppers to help them make the right buying decisions.
According to consumer behavior research, 99.5% of consumers read reviews at least sometimes when shopping online. So, to ensure the success of any of your marketing strategies, do your best to show off positive customer feedback. It could be the key to convincing your prospects to convert.
Here are the types of social proof you should include on your website.
1. Traditional Product Page Reviews
If you run an online business, you need to display social proof on your product pages. This is where your web visitors will decide if they want to do business with your brand.
They'll evaluate your solutions and closely study the benefits they promise. They'll consider how your products or services relate to their specific needs. And they'll look at your company's track record of helping its customers solve their pain points.
But it's not enough to just chuck product page reviews on your site.
Firstly, you need to know how people interact with website elements. For instance, research shows that consumers often filter product results based on ratings. Many online buyers completely dismiss solutions that have an average customer rating below four stars.
Similarly, research from the NN Group shows that web visitors spend most of their page-viewing time interacting with elements in the first screenful of a website. So, if you want your product page social proof to be attention-grabbing and informative, you need to ensure it's placed toward the top of the page.
Some of the best examples of product page customer reviews come from the fashion industry. Fashion brands successfully transform traditional examples of social proof into sales-supporting page elements.
For an excellent example, check out product pages on the Adidas website:
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Most of these pages include thousands of customer reviews to show that the products are high-quality.
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Some of the product pages use customer feedback to rate the product based on comfort, quality, sizing, and width.
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They allow shoppers to filter reviews based on ratings or keywords.
All of these are small details. However, they transform product page reviews into informative page elements, and that boosts shoppers' purchase intention.
Image source: adidas.com
2. User-Generated Content
Unfortunately, consumers have very little confidence in advertising. In 2019, Inc. published an article stating that 96% of consumers don't trust ads.
If you look at why this is the case, you'll identify two main reasons:
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Such a deep distrust of marketing messages could stem from the tendency of businesses to make impressive (sometimes even unbelievable) claims.
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Even as recently as five years ago, most brands used exclusively professionally shot visuals to present their products.
However, gaining your audience's confidence in 2024 and beyond requires a more authentic and unfiltered approach to showing off your solutions.
The one social proof format that can help you do this is user-generated content. According to Nosto, UGC is "the key to authenticity and consumer influence." The main reason for this is that UGC comes from real people. It is considerably less filtered and more genuine than brand-made content. Its authenticity is what makes consumers more open to it and more likely to be influenced by it.
One of the best examples of a brand successfully utilizing UGC as social proof comes from the Fellow homepage. Check out the "Brew Along With Us" section. It features a collection of Instagram posts made by the brand's happy customers. Each image speaks to how happy these users are with their coffee setups.
Image source: fellowproducts.com
Alternatively, you could highlight community content on your site — especially if it includes handy tools or resources your clients could use to get more out of your products.
If you check out Lululemon, you'll see that this brand has an active Community page. Here, it invites buyers to join yoga classes, explore run training guides, read guest posts submitted by athletes and fitness influencers, and interact with the company's blog. This community is an excellent way for Lululemon to combine branded content with UGC. It's a surefire way to engage more customers.
Image source: lululemon.com
3. Science-Backed Evidence
People won't invest in a product or service unless they can see at least some evidence about its effectiveness. That's why you need to use the right type of social proof on your website.
Showing science-backed evidence can help you overcome your target audience's purchase objections. In its 2024 Trust Barometer report, Edelman discovered that 74% of buyers trust scientists as much as they do peers They especially rely on scientists' insights when evaluating innovative solutions.
So, if your business offers a product or service that doesn't fit the mold, back up your claims with research data.
For example, check out the Muse website. You'll notice that it features an entire page dedicated to sharing the results of scientific research. This is a new type of device on the market, so providing prospects with this type of proof allows the brand to establish its credibility. It makes potential customers less distrustful of the business' claims.
Image source: choosemuse.com
You could also go for a more "social" approach to scientific social proof. For example, populate your website with feedback collected from experts in your field of operation. You can check out how we did it on the Dorik homepage. We collected feedback from multiple industry experts to help new users gauge the value offered by our innovative AI-backed solution.
4. Third-Party Reviews and Ratings
Product reviews and ratings make for an excellent type of social proof to add to your website, but they're not always trustworthy. In a survey conducted by Bazaarvoice, 75% of respondents stated that they were at least somewhat worried about encountering fake reviews when evaluating products online.
Naturally, people who suspect you're showing fake reviews won't click the "buy" button. To boost brand trust and drive conversions, you need to adjust your social proof.
One excellent solution for overcoming this common issue is to collect your social proof from credible sources. For instance, the Medill Spiegel Research Center discovered that adding "verified" review badges to your social proof could increase purchase intent by 15%. And Trustpilot's research revealed that 87% of consumers find advertising more believable when it includes the Trustpilot logo and stars.
You don't necessarily have to select a single review site to collect social proof from. Any third-party resource will do as long as it holds sway in your industry. Moreover, pay attention to whether your target audience recognizes the source of your social proof. This can play an important part in ensuring its effectiveness.
If you look at the Bay Alarm Medical homepage, you'll notice it features an embedded rating flyout from Google. Google is the optimal choice for this business, and not just because it's well-known by the brand's target audience. It's also because the 4.8-star rating is easy to double-check with a simple search.
Image source: bayalarmmedical.com
However, if you're trying to engage and convert a more knowledgeable audience, you must identify the third-party review sites they trust. For example, in the software as a service industry, some of the most well-regarded resources include G2, TrustRadius, and Capterra. With this in mind, it's no surprise that success-oriented businesses like Monday source social proof from all of these third-party sites, using the variety to amplify the conversion-boosting impact of the displayed ratings.
Image source: monday.com
If sourcing ratings and feedback from third-party review sites doesn't deliver the effect you seek, feel free to play around with media mentions. Especially if a trustworthy publication praised your solutions.
5. USP-Supporting Social Proof
Sometimes, the best social proof to include on your website isn't that which sings your praises. Instead, it's that which reinforces your sales proposition and proves that your business intends to deliver on its promises. This is particularly important when you make bold or impressive claims.
As you plan and design your website, remember that expectation management plays a big role in forming a positive customer experience. In other words, underpromising and overdelivering is a recipe for success. Doing the opposite is a shortcut to making your clients very dissatisfied.
Now, as people become more mindful of the fact that most brands tend to overpromise, you could try to counter this mistrust with data-backed social proof.
For example, check out the Aura homepage. The featured customer testimonials include super specific details about how the product works and how it improved their Amazon sales.
Image source: goaura.com
Or, for an even more explicit example, look at the Going website. This business promises 40-90% savings on flights. The featured reviews at the bottom of the page all mention the amount people paid for their flights. They do a marvelous job of proving that Going delivers on its promises. The evidence clearly shows that it allows customers to book airfare at a fraction of its regular prices.
Image source: going.com
If you plan on employing this format of social proof on your site, note that people won't just give it to you. You'll have to learn how to ask for testimonials from your customers, encouraging them to enhance their feedback with relevant numbers, images, or results.
6. Live Activity and Updates
Lastly, remember that social proof is more than just what people say about your business. Pointing out how your customers interact with your solutions can do a splendid job of encouraging more shoppers to invest in your products.
For example, scientific research shows that consumers regularly flock to busy stores because they are attracted by the crowds. If you can recreate that effect of the crowd on your website, you could encourage more shoppers to buy.
One way to achieve this effect is to employ live sale notifications that show web visitors when someone has purchased an item through your website. However, these popups can be annoying, and they can detract your prospects' attention from your products. So, do your best to experiment with other social proof formats that achieve a similar effect.
For instance, the "Bought by 400+ LinkedIn employees" message below the featured product on the Autonomous homepage highlights that this ecommerce store is a popular destination for digital professionals. The brand also finds a way to mention some of its biggest clients, like Google and LinkedIn. Their popularity further contributes to web visitors' willingness to convert.
Image source: autonomous.ai
Final Thoughts
Whichever of the six types of social proof from this article you decide to add to your website, you're guaranteed to see positive results. However, to ensure your hard work pays off, do your absolute best to adhere to the ground rules of showcasing testimonials on your site.
Make sure to position testimonials in prominent spots throughout your website. Don't use fake reviews — even if it means some products won't have a rating for a while. And always explore ways to take regular product feedback to the next level. You can source from third-party review sites, ask industry experts for their honest opinions, and use real-life data to support your claims.
