Social proof isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a brilliant marketing tool that helps build trust, attract amazing clients, and boost your business’s success.

Encompassing testimonials, feedback, reviews, comments, and other forms of juicy validation from satisfied customers, social proof acts as your secret weapon in building credibility and showing (rather than telling) your audience what awesome sauce they can expect when working with you.

So let’s have a look at the what’s, why’s, and how’s so you can start gathering and using social proof more creatively today!

The basics

It’s all about psychology. And it’s pretty simple. There’s something that happens in our minds which triggers a sense of trust when we see other people loving something and/or getting results. So, when your potential clients come across positive feedback, testimonials, or reviews from happy customers, they tend to feel a wave of trust and confidence in you.

Powerful stuff.

Of course this will help establish authority and credibility. Two things that are hugely important in business.

When your ideal clients are shown that others have had positive experiences with your products or services, it’ll instil a sense of confidence in your brand, making them more likely to choose you over your competitors.

How do I get this social proof?

Before we begin here, we’re assuming you’re already running a business and that you have previous and existing clients from whom you can get reviews etc (or that you already have some testimonials and suchlike).

But, if you’re just starting out in business and have no reviews or testimonials, you’re in the enviable position of being able to start as you mean to go on!

So – how do you get your happy clients to give you reviews? We’ve got a variety of ways below…

Admittedly it can be hard sometimes, people aren’t always particularly forthcoming – but it could just be in the approach.

💡 First up – where is your client at their happiest? Is it via email, WhatsApp, a quick call, Zoom, LinkedIn etc? Figure out where they spend a lot of time and from where you get the quickest responses and reach out to them in that way to ask for feedback.

💡 Send out a survey. No one likes a long-winded questionnaire, so keep it brief and to the point. Perhaps offer incentives or rewards for their participation to increase the response rate.

💡 Get the most out of online review platforms such as Google Reviews, TrustPilot, or your social media business pages where people can share their experiences publicly. Make sure your business profiles are optimised, making it as easy as possible for clients to leave reviews and ratings. Be direct and send these links out to your clients as and when you’ve done a great job.

💡 Create case studies and success stories that highlight the positive outcomes achieved by your clients. Showcasing real-world examples and tangible results will serve as compelling social proof, especially for those potential clients who can relate to the same challenges or goals. You can check out ours here!

💡 Gather screenshots of positive comments shared by clients on your social media, in your DMs or by WhatsApp etc. These snippets are a brilliant way of capturing the energy of what those you work with really have to say!

Get creative and don’t be afraid to ask!

Where do I use all this lovely stuff?

Everywhere!

Once you’ve captured what your clients have to say, you can use their comments wherever you like. Of course, make sure you have their permission if you’re going to include their name, it’s only right.

✔️ Create graphics for your social media – make the reviews visually appealing and scroll-stopping. Use your branding and logo and make sure everyone knows it’s you who they’re talking about.

✔️ Use them on your website. You could have a testimonial or case study page, a carousel, or simple have the quotes interspersed with your copy across the site.

✔️ Share them in your quotes and proposals to prospective clients.

✔️ Include one in your trigger email when a client books a discovery call.

✔️ Use a great one-liner in your email signatures.

✔️ Read them as voice overs for your videos or reels. People are engaging with video more and more, so what a great way to use your feedback – as a soundtrack rather than music.

✔️ Use them in your 60 second pitch. Weave a sentence or two into your networking pitch to show that your clients love you and what you do to get them results!

✔️ Identify the most commonly used words and phrases in your testimonials and reviews. Then use this language in your marketing. We all know the importance of speaking your client’s language and meeting them where they’re at – this is an amazing opportunity to get insight into how they like to word things. Use it to your advantage.

No doubt you’ll think of even more creative ways to use this social proof once you have it.

Make it a part of your customer experience strategy

Once you’ve sussed out your ways of gathering this feedback, include it as a step in your overall strategy.

👉🏼 Set up an automated process that’s triggered when your client downloads your lead magnet, for example, or adds a task to your calendar to reach out when the time’s right.

👉🏼 Regularly gather and update your social proof and make sure it remains fresh and relevant.

👉🏼 Continue to actively seek feedback and testimonials from clients – and once it becomes part of your process, you’ll see just what a difference it can make.

If you need help with your social proof, we can gather it for you, create some fabulous graphics, and even interview your clients and write your case studies.

Get in touch and let’s get your reviews working for you.

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