Social proof is an important, and freaking fun, part of your marketing strategy. But it’s often overlooked – you may not have even heard about it!

So let’s break it down.

What is social proof?

Social proof is where you show evidence that people like you, your product, or your service. You’re proving that you’re awesome, by showcasing other people saying that you are. It’s not just you saying how amazing you are, real humans are. 

It’s awesome when people show their love for you! And it’s even better when you can share this with your potential customers as it helps reassure them.

There are a number of ways you can show this social proof. Some of them are:

• Case studies 
• Social media mentions 
• Reviews and testimonials
• Customer photos
• Trust icons 
• Data 

Why does social proof work?

As customers, we want to buy things that make us feel good about ourselves. After all, as consumers, we’re buying products or services that will make our lives better. Social proof helps people make a decision about you because they offer trust and can spark ✨emotions✨

Psychologically, knowing other people liked something makes us think we will too. That’s why you see things listed with phrases like over 2 million copies sold, or 20,000 happy customers.
How many times have you checked a companies social media follower numbers to gauge if they’re legit or not?

Social proof provides trust, and trust is one of the most important factors in getting people to convert. Showing your potential customers that you’re trustworthy through customer reviews, testimonials, and customer numbers helps legitimise your business. It also provides authority. Displaying logos from your customer brands or press you’ve received makes you look like a badass, and helps you convert more customers. 

In short, social proof works because it builds trust, credibility, legitimacy, and authority – while telling stories! And we know people buy from stories. 🤘

Social proof examples 

Want to see some real-life examples of social proof badassery? We know you do!

Here are some effective examples to spark some #inspo for your own website. 

Case studies 

Case studies are great for social proof as they are combining personal and business stories with data – and y’all know we love data! 😍 When you showcase  case studies your potential customers can do research into you and how you work. They get to put themselves in your previous customer’s shoes and see if you can offer the right solution for them. 

Bluefruit Software has some great case studies on its website that really showcase the work they do and the clients they partner with.

Reviews and testimonials 

Having customer reviews and testimonials are freaking awesome! 

If you host them on an external site like Trustpilot, Google, or Facebook, people trust them even more.
We have customer reviews on Trustpilot, and display the star rating and link to the reviews on our homepage. This instantly shows visitors on our site that we are objectively awesome and that our customers have taken the time to leave reviews to share that info. 

Customer photos 

Customer photos are an amazing way to provide social proof. However, getting these photos can be tricky! You can ask people to submit photos, run photo competitions, or take professional photos of your products / services being used. Loulabel has a wonderful portfolio of photos of their work on their website. They’re all about luxe and wild flowers which are popular in the wedding industry. Their customers usually have professional photographers for their weddings, so they get some great pics of their flowers! 🥰

Client icons

People love to know who you’re working with – especially when it’s brands you’ll know! It makes you feel like you’re in good company.  hiyield display some of their client logos on their homepage – just above some case studies. Double whammy! Love that!

Press coverage 

It’s hard to get good press these days, so when you have some it’s important to share it! It adds credibility to your brand and makes you feel much more legit.
halo showcase their press and the press they get for the clients on their website – and it looks great!

Data

Data is amazing for social proof! Don’t shy away from using it. Counters on websites are very “in” right now too! You can use them to show your customer numbers, how many code releases you ship a day, even how many cups of coffee are drunk by the team! The Truro Town Deal website uses this really nicely.

Feeling pumped up and inspired to start utilising social proof? You should be! 

We’d love to hear your ideas, feel free to book a bitesize badassery session with us if you want to run them past some marketing nerds. 👇

Bitesize badassery