In this day and age, when the market is saturated and there’s a new business every day, it’s crucial to create a positive brand image and identity that will help you separate your business from others in the same niche, get the recognition you need for success, and evoke trustworthiness in your target audience. Since we live in a digital age where social media channels have gone above and beyond when marketing is concerned, it’s no wonder that businesses today do their best to utilize the concept of social proof in order to create the connection and trust with their potential customers.
The importance of social proof
It might come as a surprise to you but almost 70% of customers online will first check out the product/service reviews before they make a decision to trust your business. In that respect, you can’t ignore the power of social proof. In the age of digital media, it’s easier than ever for people to find evidence of the quality of the product/service they’re interested in, and businesses that fail to understand this will be the ones setting themselves back. After all, there’s no other way for an online business to prove their trustworthiness than to provide their target audience with social proof. In that respect, turning to your existing customer base could be crucial for continuously growing your business.
Boost your reputation with the following social proofs
Customer testimonials
Using customer testimonials is one of the most popular types of social proof to build trust on your website. After all, people are more inclined to believe their friends and family if they get a recommendation from them. What’s more, even customer testimonials from complete strangers can boost your conversion rate considerably compared to not having anything to show in this regard.
It’s important to gather your customer testimonials in order to use them on your business site. This isn’t that difficult to do with the right approach. Essentially, you want to make sure that your testimonials contain the problem that the customer had, the adequate help they got to solve that problem thanks to your product/service, and the benefits they experienced overall.
You don’t even have to go through this process manually thanks to the comprehensive social proof tool options available. With this kind of tool to back you up, you’ll get to increase your conversion rate, boost ROI, and mark a notable rise in your site visits. Integration that picks up data is quite easy and can save you a lot of time.
Online features and mentions
Even in the world of online marketing, getting mentioned and featured means a lot. It’s not uncommon for businesses to hire PR specialists to help them widen their reach on the Internet through the positive mentions and features in other online magazines, social media and blog posts, YouTube videos, and so on. Actually, combining traditional with digital marketing, in this case, works exceptionally well, as being featured on TV or newspapers still looks rather good in the eyes of the consumers.
So, if your brand has been mentioned, featured or otherwise reviewed favorably on the Internet or traditional marketing sources, don’t hesitate to utilize that fact to your advantage and turn it into the social proof on your own business website. Doing this is a great way to boost credibility and authority in the industry, and stand strong against the competition.
Notable customer brands’ logos
In case your main target audience consists of other businesses, showcasing the most notable brand logos that have already put trust in your products/services is a great way to build up your social proof and grow the credibility of your business.
However, you won’t be able to showcase every single logo of every brand that has purchased from you. That said, it’s important to focus your attention on your target audience once more, and choose those brands that perfectly represent your ideal customer.
Number of customers (sold products)
If you have a large customer base that’s in the hundreds or even thousands, you should definitely make the most out of this number and showcase it on your business website as social proof. The same goes for a product or service that’s been selling really well. After all, when people go to your website and see the counter that shows this huge number of customers who already trust you or the number of products/services sold, they’re bound to think you must be doing something right (and better than your competitors).
When numbers are concerned, you can spread your wings freely and use the statistics to your advantage. For instance, aside from the number of customers and/or sales made, you can also showcase the number of your blog readers, subscriptions, social media followers, and so o
Great website design, meaningful content, exceptional customer service, and admirable SEO are all essentials for putting your business on the map and improving your rank. However, the way to the consumers’ trust is through social proof.
Featured image from Pixabay.com