[Marketing In Two Minutes Or Less]: Your Online Front Door – Social Proof – Element #12 of 16

There are 16 elements the front page of your website must have in place. In this weekly edition, I share what element #12 is.

Marketing in 2 Minutes or Less: Your Online Front Door – Social Proof – Element #12 of 16

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Your online front door and the 16 elements you must have in place. Element number 12. Today we’ll cover element number 12. Social proof. You see, it doesn’t matter what you say about your self. That’s just beating your chest saying I’m the best at what I do. What matters is social proof. What other people are saying about you.

Social proof says everybody’s doing it, you should do it too. Let’s look at how you can incorporate social proof into your home page.

Do you pay attention to what other people say about a product or service before purchasing it? I know that I’ll look at the reviews section first because it’s not what a company says about themselves that matters, it’s what other people say about that company that matters. According to a bright local recent survey that was done 88% of us trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.

It therefore goes without saying nothing beats other users stories as a way to help you make up your mind about buying a product or service. Well, how can you do this on your home page? Testimonials, reviews and ratings, and online mentions. These are three ways that you can use social proof to help communicate that others approve of your product or service. I’m gonna share an example of how each of these social proof elements can be incorporated into your online marketing materials.

First, reviews and ratings. Did you know that 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site which has user reviews. And so creating a review section on the site is really gonna help you increase conversions. Let’s look at the clothing company Ugmonc. Let’s say that I’m interested in this shirt. So I click on it. Now, they show the reviews and the ratings that we’re all accustomed to seeing on many sites. But when you click on it, you see the reviews but they go one step beyond and they offer an option to ask the company presales questions. This is brilliant as it really engages the customer by encouraging them to ask questions, but it also shows other prospective purchasers who may be having that same question that one, I’m not the only one with this question. And two, this company listens and responds to it’s customers so they must have really great customer support.

From the company’s perspective, this is really valuable market research because customers are telling you their needs and concerns when they ask a question. That’s a great takeaway right there. Next, let’s look at how you can use testimonials to build trust and overcome skepticism. Freshbooks features a dedicated testimonial section on their home page. And I really like how they’re featuring ones that overcome their audiences key sales objections. This middle one that says, it makes my life so much easier, I wish I had this when I first started my business.

Well, that’s something that every small business owner wants. And this testimonial is from Pat Flynn, a well recognized and respected name in the small business world, which gives it an added boost of celebrity endorsement. Testimonials are a great way to showcase social proof. The third way to use social proof is online brand mentions. For example, culture code includes tweets with their company brand name on the home page. Now I don’t know what tool they’re using to feed these in, but to have that many positive comments on Twitter, and note they’re all as of yesterday, it really does grab attention.

If you’ve got people saying great things about you on social, consider setting up a social feed on your home page to showcase them. These are just some of the ways that you can easily incorporate social proof into your home page. Reviews and ratings, testimonials, and online brand mentions.

Social proof increases your credibility and drives more conversions. Make sure you have this element on your home page.

You can download the list of the 16 elements by going to smallbizmarketingspecialist.com/episode27.

This is “Small Business Stacey, your Small Biz Marketing Specialist. Here to help your business grow to seven figures and more by helping you become a #SmallBizMarketingWiz

About Stacey Riska

Stacey Riska, aka “Small Business Stacey” is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about saving small business and rebuilding Main Street. She helps small and local business owners become a #SmallBizMarketingWiz by teaching them marketing strategies that get MORE: MORE leads, MORE customers/clients, MORE sales, and MORE money. Stacey is the founder of Small Biz Marketing Specialist, THE go-to place for marketing tips, techniques and strategies that get results. Stacey is also the creator of the Daily Deals for Massive Profits Training Program, an online video training program that teaches small and local business owners how to use daily deal sites like Groupon to skyrocket their business growth and get massive profits. In this program she teaches from experience, as it was the key strategy that transformed her coffee and smoothie business from being $500K in debt to a 7-figure profitable business. When not saving the small business world, she enjoys sipping red wine, eating chocolate (who doesn’t!) and spending time with her amazing husband.