How to do this Growth Hack and what can it do for you?
Using social proof as part of your CTA adds legitimacy/authority, and people are more likely to take an example from the crowd.
Find a strong, applicable quote about your product from a customer or influencer and include it in a CTA button.
Expected results of this Growth Hack
- Type of marketing tactic : High volume depending on traffic
- Expected results : Increase in activation metrics (effectiveness of your list building, application installation, lead collection, etc.)
Why use this Growth Hack?
When it comes to CTAs, it's tempting to scour the web looking for the best trick that will get your customers clicking.
The problem is that there's no guarantee that someone else's call-to-action technique will work on your customers.
The only way to know if your call to action is effective is to perform A/B tests.
It's interesting to note that nearly 30% of all A/B tests are CTA button tests, according to a study conducted by CXL Institute.
Free tools like Google Optimize allow you to A/B test your buttons, which helps you see exactly how your customers are responding to different styles, colors, and value proposals.
Definition of social proof: “the tendency to see an action as more appropriate when others do it.”
In fact, social proof is even more powerful when we don't seem sure what to do.
5 Types of Social Proof
Today, there are 5 social proofs that dominate the Web.
1. Social proof of the expert
A credible expert - such as a prominent blogger, business leader, business expert, or simply an authoritative voice in an industry - has influence.
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For example, if a popular food blogger recommends an ingredient to a brand, the brand is likely to benefit from increased sales and it is almost certain that they will present this recommendation on their website.
2. Celebrity social proof
Celebrity support is an essential part of advertising and can be used very effectively online.
In a growth hack, I present to you a way to ask stars to promote your products: Hire a cheap influencer.
3. User social proof
Digital marketers have a vested interest in sharing user success stories.
In addition to traditional case studies, a large number of businesses invite users to create videos about how they use products and services.
4. Wisdom of crowds
This simple formula testifies to the popularity of a product.
The most famous example is probably that of the “X billion people served” that can be found on all brands or the number of reviews given by customers on a particular item (example below for The 4-Hour Week by Tim Ferriss)
On a smaller scale, the “most popular posts”, the “most popular songs” or the “most popular products” tend to create confidence and improve sales.
5. Wisdom of friends
It is the most effective application of social proof in terms of impact because you trust your close circles with your eyes closed.
How do you do this Growth Hack?
On Google Optimize, perform the following steps:
In this experiment, we are going to test the color change of a button:
- Go to your Optimize account (main menu > Accounts).
- Click on the name of your container to go to the Experiences page.
- Click on Create an experience.
- Enter an experience name (up to 255 characters).
- Enter the URL for the publisher page (the web page you want to test).
- Click A/B Test.
- Click on Create.
If you want the whole method not you can read the full article below.
READ MORE: How to A/B Testing with Google Optimize (Step by Step)
Examples of effective strategies: Link this social proof to your CTAs
1. Testimonies
The power of testimonies lies in their objectivity.
That is to say, it is a person outside the brand who speaks, so in theory, credibility is higher.
If your business collects testimonials, show them on your website, on pages that you know will be visited often.
Take advantage of including testimonials on the pages of your website where you offer the download of ebooks and access to webinars reserved for subscribers.
Bonus points: for even greater credibility, include attribution and real photos, if possible. Double the bonus points for video testimonials.
2. Ratings and reviews
Customer reviews can be extremely powerful. When was the last time you made a major purchase on Amazon or another online marketplace without looking at the reviews?
While ratings and reviews often go hand in hand with testimonials, it's the rating systems I'm advocating here—usually a 5-star system—that provide a source of social proof.
Product and service evaluations become particularly powerful when the opinions of larger populations are taken into account.
Sephora, an online beauty retailer, collects and displays product ratings, like the one above, where 661 customers have expressed themselves.
3. Influencer approval
“What people buy is enormously influenced by what others around them buy,” writes Ema Linaker in “Social Proof: Delivering on the Potential of Influencer Marketing” on Medium.
Ema continues:
“Simply put, social proof is the natural human tendency to imitate the behaviors of the people around us, especially those we respect - and these are the people who have the strongest influence on our own behavior.”
Influencer support appears on the covers, covers, and front pages of almost every book.
4. Badges
This form of social proof has various names: badges, labels, certifications, etc.
Call them what you want, but you'll recognize the popular approach to establishing credibility, which is generally as simple as displaying meaningful icons.
In the footer of the Bodybuilding.com site, the company displays various badges attesting to media recognition, BBB accreditation, an excellence award, and website security. These are just a few of the types of badges you can display to boost your credibility with potential new customers.
5. Media logos
The media showcase is a classic example of social proof.
Trainers, artists, writers, etc. often show the news media that presented, reviewed, or mentioned their products.
An example below of the training portal of Thami Kabbaj, the author of AGIR which relays all the media where he has appeared since the beginning of his career.
Likewise, I present the logos of many popular online brands that have published my articles.
6. Number of subscribers
Again, people feel comfortable joining the crowd.
I recommend using social proof when submitting a subscription through any form of opt-in, including your email list.
Your call to action may mention that joining is free and easy. And you can strengthen your persuasiveness by talking about the benefits of the subscription.
If you have a fairly large subscriber list, don't miss the chance to tell people about it.
7. Social media links
All sorts of widgets or website plugins will allow you to play the numbers game with your social media connections.
Here's an example of HubSpot using this simple strategy.
Numerous widgets allow you to know even more, for example about the likes, followers, etc. of your media.
8. Social actions
The decision to activate or not the counters in your social sharing plugin can sometimes be difficult to make.
A series of 0s and 1s is likely to suggest that the blog post or page is not worth sharing. However, I've found that even single-digit numbers tend to make a difference and encourage sharing activity.
Of course, established bloggers won't hesitate to turn on the counters and take advantage of the social proof that comes with big sharing numbers. This example of a sharing bar is from ShareThis.
9. Customers
Sharing customer logos gives credibility to the business and allows the host to show that they have many important, relevant, and interesting customers.
Many different styles are used to present customers for social proof purposes, including grids, lists, sliders, and more.
This group of companies is only the first slide on the financial page of Salesforce.com.
An interesting touch: when you click on a company, the interactive slider shows the testimony of one of the company's managers.
