It's easy for prospective SaaS buyers to feel overwhelmed by the combination of information overload and tech/features that they may not fully understand. Top that off with the fear and potential career implications of making the wrong decision in a high stakes B2B setting, and the SaaS buyer journey gets stuck in an indecision loop.
You can use various cognitive shortcuts to nudge your prospects further down their path towards conversion, and social proof is one of the most potent ones. This is why:
This is one of the fundamental cognitive biases, or mental shortcuts, that influence our decision-making process.
Social proof means that people tend to go with the wisdom of the crowd when they're unsure what decision to make. Social proof bias is why people gravitate towards things that are already popular, such as downloading an app with hundreds of positive reviews and high star ratings.
In many ways, social proof is similar to positive peer pressure – it eases the mind of conflicted searchers by showing them positive feedback.“If several smart people from companies/brands that I've heard of chose this product, they can't all be wrong” – similar thoughts are crossing a prospect's mind when presented with compelling customer reviews and other social proof signals.
Numerous studies have shown how customer reviews positively affect conversion rates and brand awareness. One of the latest research, done by BrightLocal, found that 83% of the people thought the business with the user-generated review on the landing page was trustworthy, and 74% of people said they would contact the business that had reviews on their page.
Make the most out of your customer reviews and showcase them on your website’s landing pages. Here are some options you should test.
Integrate reviews from third-party review sites, such as G2, Trustpilot, Capterra, and others that might be more relevant to your specific industry. Users tend to trust such reviews more than brand-curated ones.
Here is how one of our SaaS clients, JustCall, has integrated all the client feedback from across various platforms on their homepage
Gather testimonials and reviews from past and current customers and include them as a section on your landing pages. Basecamp does a splendid job of it on their homepage.
And so does our SaaS client Output.com
Invite clients to create short video testimonials about your partnership. This is a precious resource you can use not only on your website but also in marketing campaigns.
Video is the content of choice for Facebook, LinkedIn, and of course, YouTube ads, so you can really put video testimonials to work. We did this for our own homepage:[video width="506" height="285" mp4="https://hop.online/content/uploads/client-testimonial-output-gregg-lehrman.mp4"][/video]Salesforce leverages video content for case studies and social proof – their YouTube Channel has a Trailblazer series, dedicated to customer success. Some of these video testimonials make it to the website pages, too.
Create case studies from your work and partnerships. Actual projects are the best source of information on how your SaaS solution can be used and what problems it can solve.
You’re probably already doing that, but don’t miss the next step – link these case studies to your relevant landing pages. This is the most efficient way to demonstrate the use cases and benefits of your various product features.
Invite clients to rate your products and services, and include the information on your product pages. There are multiple product rating tools available for you to choose from and integrate with your website’s landing pages. Amazon’s doing it, and it’s definitely working.
Include social media proof – add social media buttons with an automatic follower counter, or embed social media posts to show users interacting with your brand’s offer. This is how WordPress is using social media:
While this strategy is usually applied for editorial or blog content, your landing pages could also be treated similarly – it all depends on your niche and brand.Of course, there are many other variants you could test out. What’s important is to start generating client reviews and try different options of displaying them on the website.In addition, you could lean into the authority bias and show all the certifying and accrediting organizations logos on your website, media coverage, awards, and other achievements and acknowledgments of your brand.
Digital marketers are always on the lookout for how to influence the decision-making process to accelerate the buyer journey.
Wherever possible, look for opportunities to get some data that shows that many people and businesses are using your SaaS solutions and show that information to your prospective customers.
Social proof alleviates some of the pressure from the decision-making process of your leads, trapped in the consideration loop. It makes it easier for a searcher, already overwhelmed with information about similar solutions and products, to make their decision. It's a shortcut for them to just go with the wisdom of the crowd.
For more suggestions on cognitive biases, and influencing the buyer journey, take a look at how to use category heuristics for head-to-head comparison landing pages.
My job is to match talented, motivated marketers with high-growth companies, arm teams for success, and then get out of the way.
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