Your customers are influenced by the thoughts and opinions of their peers. To them, you’re on one side of the fence while they stand with your other customers on the other side of the fence. They will always believe the reviews and opinions of their peers and fellow customers. No amount of smart marketing tactics and good advertising can counteract the influence of this.
However, you can use it to your advantage. There are several marketers out there that use social proof to convince prospects to convert. There are several ways you can go about it. If you implement it carefully, you can reap rich rewards. Here’s how you can use social proof to your advantage.
Allow Reviews on Your Website
Customers are going to look for reviews of your products whether you like it or not. They might step away from your website to look at reviews on other sources like Google+. However, if you display a number of reviews on your website, they might make the purchase decision without looking elsewhere.
It’s a good idea to display star ratings on your products and services. This adds a level of transparency to your business and shows that you’re confident in your product. It also improves the user experience as your customers won’t have to go searching for reviews.
This is a slightly double-edged sword because if your product isn’t of good quality, you’ll end up with a heap of bad reviews within easy reach of your new customers. However, if your product is of a good quality, you might be able to influence buyer decision.
Display Positive Reviews Strategically
If you have some great positive reviews and testimonials, you can display it on your website in strategic positions. You need to be subtle with this. You can’t shove good reviews at your customers. You should place them carefully, in areas that where the reviews would catch attention without sticking-out like a sore thumb.
You can ask your website designer for advice on this. Experienced designers will understand just where to place the reviews so that they can influence the prospects and encourage them to convert.
The USP Bar
The Unique Selling Proposition bar is a great way to catch your customers’ attention. These are usually highlighted with vivid colours. You can write things like ‘88% of customers trust reviews as much as word-of-mouth’ or ‘8 of 10 customers have achieved their goals after going through our training courses.’
The purpose of the USP bar is to immediately attract attention and display pertinent information. You can also announce discounts and sales on the USP bar. It will catch the attention of the customers and lead to more conversions.
Negative Reviews
You might assume that a review page filled with only positive reviews is a great way to convince customers to buy your product. That’s not the case at all. In fact, a pristine and pretty review page without a single negative review is mildly suspicious. People won’t trust your product or your company if they don’t feel that you display honest reviews on your website. A few negative reviews won’t harm you.
