SPECIAL SERIES == Social Proof Trick For Increased Conversions! <== | BATHROOM Break #62 COLLAB: The Marketing Millennials + Do This, Not That

Summary

Episode Summary: "Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson | Presented By Marigold"

In this engaging episode of "Do This, NOT That!" presented by Marigold, hosts Jay Schwedelson and Daniel Murray delve into the critical role of social proof in marketing. The conversation offers actionable strategies to enhance testimonials, leverage user-generated content (UGC), and effectively utilize logos to boost conversions. Here's a comprehensive breakdown of their insightful discussion.

Introduction to the Episode

The episode kicks off with a lighthearted collaboration between Jay Schwedelson of the "Do This, Not That" podcast and Daniel Murray from the "Marketing Millennials." They introduce their special series, aptly named "Bathroom Break," designed to deliver quick yet impactful marketing tips within a brief timeframe.

Daniel Murray [00:01]: "Welcome to a new special series called the Bathroom break. That extra 10 minutes you either have to listen to marketing tips or use the bathroom. Or both."

The Importance of Social Proof in Marketing

The hosts transition into the core topic: the significance of social proof in marketing strategies. They emphasize that social proof is not just an optional add-on but a fundamental element for enhancing trust and driving conversions.

Daniel Murray [02:10]: "Social proof is psychology. So like people trust people who are like them. So like if you have people who are similar to you, it'll push them through the line in a purchase choice."

Jay Schwedelson [02:49]: "It is a hundred percent table stakes. It's more important than anything else on your site is some version of social proof."

Enhancing Testimonials for Greater Impact

Jay and Daniel critique the common pitfalls in utilizing testimonials, highlighting that generic endorsements often fail to resonate with potential customers. Instead, they advocate for specific, quantifiable testimonials that demonstrate tangible benefits.

Jay Schwedelson [03:30]: "The secret sauce actually increases conversions is quantifiable social proof. So if it was on the business side, how does that look? Instead of saying, you know, this is a great application, it would say, you know, in just 60 days we cut our onboarding time by 43% using blah blah blah."

By incorporating measurable outcomes, testimonials become more credible and relatable, providing prospective clients with clear reasons to choose a product or service.

Leveraging User-Generated Content (UGC)

Daniel expands on the concept of social proof by introducing the power of user-generated content. He explains how showcasing real customers using the product can create a more authentic and persuasive narrative.

Daniel Murray [04:10]: "If you're looking at the consumer side, it's someone actually using your product. So like if you're in beauty industry, someone trying on your makeup. If you're on, if you're taking a supplement like showing your morning routine with the supplement."

In the B2B context, he suggests featuring testimonials from clients with relevant titles and roles to establish a personal connection and enhance trust.

Utilizing Logos as a Form of Social Proof

The discussion then shifts to the strategic use of logos from reputable companies as social proof. Jay underscores the effectiveness of displaying recognizable logos near conversion points to reassure visitors of the product's credibility.

Jay Schwedelson [05:32]: "If you have logos maybe in a little bit of a grayed outlook near the conversion area, near that submission button on that final CTA is a game changer. It will lift your conversions."

Daniel agrees and adds the importance of tailoring logos to match the target audience, ensuring that the displayed brands resonate with the specific customer segments being targeted.

Daniel Murray [06:00]: "Make sure it like matches your client. Like I see one thing you could do too is it give you a pricing page in different tiers, have like the different customers like of different tiers. So well known SM like small business customers, well known like medium business, well known enterprise customers."

Tailoring Social Proof to Different Customer Tiers

Tailoring social proof to different stages of the customer journey or different customer tiers can significantly enhance relevance and effectiveness. Daniel suggests customizing the displayed logos and testimonials based on the specific needs and preferences of small, medium, and enterprise-level clients.

Daniel Murray [06:30]: "Don't always think about the logos and what that client would care about or that potential client would care about when they landing on your landing page."

This approach ensures that potential customers see relevant and relatable endorsements, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Additional Tips and Insights

Jay shares practical applications from his own experience, illustrating how displaying attendee logos for events can serve as powerful social proof, even when other forms of social validation are limited.

Jay Schwedelson [06:45]: "We use logos of people who are attending our events... we have a bunch of registrants, and they were from really cool companies, and we're like, you know what we put up on the site, you'll be there joining other people that also be there from these companies. And it crushed it."

This example underscores the versatility of social proof beyond traditional testimonials, highlighting its application in various marketing contexts.

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with a brief return to the initial playful theme, yet the core message remains clear: effective use of social proof through quantifiable testimonials, UGC, and strategic logo placement is essential for boosting marketing conversions. Jay and Daniel encourage marketers to implement these strategies thoughtfully to see tangible improvements in their campaigns.

Daniel Murray [08:37]: "Tune into this series. It's once a week, the Bathroom Break. We talk about marketing tips that we just spew out. And it could be anything from email, subject line to any marketing tips in the world."

By integrating these insights, marketers can harness the full potential of social proof to build trust, enhance credibility, and drive significant growth in their marketing efforts.

Transcript

[Daniel Murray]

Welcome to a new special series called the Bathroom break. That extra 10 minutes you either have to listen to marketing tips or use the bathroom. Or both. But I don't recommend both. But that's your choice.

[Jay Schwedelson]

This collab is going to be super fun. We have Daniel Murray from the Marketing Millennials and me, Jay Schwedelson from the do this, not that podcast and subjectline.com each episode in the series, we are going to go over quick tips about different marketing topics. And if you want to be in the bathroom, fine, just don't tell us about it. Thanks for checking it out. We are back for another bathroom break. I'm here with the Daniel Murray from the Market Millennials. And I'm Jay Schwedelson from the do this, not that podcast. And we're going to be talking about how to do testimonials and social proof in a different way. But before we do that, Daniel, I got a question for you. Do you ever kind of lie when you're dealing with people? Do you ever be like, oh, I got a hard stop. I got to go and do something, or are you just always, you know, ab thinking, always honest?

[Daniel Murray]

No, I definitely say I have hard stops if I wanted to get off of a meeting. I think if a meeting ends at a certain time, that is a hard stop to me. Like, so if a meeting ends. Yeah, but so many people, like, try to drag it an extra 5, 10 minutes. I always say, like, just let you know I have a hard stop at three. Just so they set expectation in front. I don't think it's lying because it is a hard stop because I committed to the meeting.

[Jay Schwedelson]

But like, if the, if the meeting is horrible, be like, oh, actually, I have a hard stop like now.

[Daniel Murray]

Oh, yeah, I have emergency in slack. I have emergency and slack. I have to go rarely. But I've done it in terrible meeting.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Yeah, I, I, I do it for. Oh, I bail in the. Oh, my God, I got a roll. I just got this call.

[Daniel Murray]

Oh, yeah, someone's calling me. Hold on. My kid's calling me from school.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Yeah. Oh, anytime I'm in a bad session at event, I just pick my phone, put it in my ear, and I walk out. That's my, that's my move. All right, well, speaking of things that are not bad is when you get a testimonial. But I think in general, marketers and business owners and whatever business consumer, they're doing testimonials, they're doing all of it kind of wrong. So, Daniel, what is your take on the first of all the value and how to do it right.

[Daniel Murray]

Well first of all like we'll go into like the why just for people who are on the fence about it. Like, like social proof is psychology. So like people trust people who are like them. So like if you have people who are similar to you, it'll push them through the line in a purchase choice. And I think like it's kind of like table stakes now for marketers to have it on landing page where there's a form that's can convert people. And I think Jay, if you want to go into your first one and I'll give a couple but I just want to set it up that like it. You need to have this like it's a must if you want to increase conversions on your landing page.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Yeah, no, it is a hundred percent table stakes. It's more important than anything else on your site is some version of social proof. But the thing that people mess up is is that let's say you have testimonials and you only need like one, you don't need like a thousand, you need like one or two. But what you don't want to do is have generic testimonials whether you're a consumer, product or business. So you don't want a testimonial on your site that says this is great or I loved it, it doesn't mean anything. The secret sauce actually increases conversions is quantifiable social proof. So if it was on the business side, how does that look? So instead of saying, you know, this is great application, it would say, you know, in just 60 days we cut our onboarding time by 43% using blah blah blah.

[Daniel Murray]

Right.

[Jay Schwedelson]

On the consumer side it might say, you know, we saved $146 a month by using blah blah blah. When somebody can see themselves in the social proof, that's when they say you know what I'm going to buy. It's that last vote of confidence. So what do you think about all that?

[Daniel Murray]

Yeah, I think I'll add on to that. And if you want to take it like one step further is having iPhone style user generated content or UGC on the page where an actual customer is talking about this outcome they got. I think if you're looking at the consumer side, it's someone actually using your product. So like if you're in beauty industry, someone trying on your the makeup. If you're on, if you're taking a supplement like showing your morning routine with the supplement. But in the B2B side you could show like you can have someone talking and when someone sees like this person with this title talking, it's more of a personal connection and it will help drive that person that extra inch to get you through the purchase.

[Jay Schwedelson]

And that's what it's all about. It's that last validation. They're on the fence. Are they going to buy? They're not going to buy. And another one that some people do but we don't do it enough is using logos. Hopefully everybody has some clients, okay. Consumer products, business products, doesn't matter. And if you're a consumer product and you don't have business logos upon your site, maybe you, maybe you leverage things like featured in and you put some publications that you've been mentioned in but logos of other known entities, right. If it is on the business side you want to use those business logos. But putting these logos maybe in a little bit of a grayed outlook near the conversion area, near that submission button on that final CTA is a game changer. It will lift your conversions. If you do an A B test on your site, you say oh Jay's full of it, whatever. Do an A B test on your site where you have logos and where you don't you want to do anything you can to get people over the hump.

[Daniel Murray]

I would also say that if you're doing like ads to a landing page and it's a certain customer you're targeting, like don't keep the generic logos on every single page. Make sure it like matches your client. Like I see one thing you could do too is it give you a pricing page in different tiers, have like the different customers like of different tiers. So well known SM like small business customers, well known like medium business, well known enterprise customers. People want to like relate to people in their same space. So don't just if you're going to do this in a more spread out way and you're running like ads to landing page, don't always think about the logos and what that client would care about or that potential client would care about when they landing on your landing page. So that's just a step further if you want to like but if you just starting add something there but the next level is adding something specific specific companies for each tier you're on.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Yeah and I would throw in one last one which we do with our events which is we use logos of people who are attending our events which when we first started, got started with our events we didn't have like the craziest speakers or the biggest sponsors like how can we get some social proof? But we had a bunch of registrants, and they were from really cool companies, and we're like, you know what we put up on the site, you'll be there joining other people that also be there from these companies. And it crushed it. It helps so much when we put that up. So just kind of game the system a little bit and think about how you can have social proof beyond just reviews. Not everybody has 5,000 reviews, and you don't need 5,000 reviews if you play it a little different. All right, Daniel, let me go back to the original question about, you know, lying to people, Whatever. So if you're texting with somebody and someone sends you something that they think is funny, but it's not funny, do you do the massage? Reply back like, lol or ahaha? Or if it's not funny, you just won't even. You're like, no, that's not funny.

[Daniel Murray]

If I generally don't think it's funny, I'll, like, say, like, what is this? But I'll give somebody, like, something. Like, I think you can give, like, gauge reaction to someone. If someone goes just haha vs like, like caps haha vs like, million laughing emojis, you could see, like, the level of funny. So Ari's actually really good. It's like, when I noticed I didn't send her something funny, she'll just be like, ha. And then, like, when it's really funny, she'll be, like, dying like money. So I know. I know when something's funny, so I appreciate when people tell me the level of funny when I'm texting.

[Jay Schwedelson]

This is very important. You should come out with a level of funny. I'll tell you what's not funny. Us. So this is awesome. Listen, leave the marketing Millennials a review, follow their show, and if you're really bored, do that for do this, not that, and we'll see you at the next one. Daniel, come on, man. I gotta get back to work. Get out of there. All right, while he's still in there. This is Jay. Check out my podcast, do this, not that for marketers. Each week we share really quick tips on stuff that can improve your marketing and hope you give it a try. Oh, here's Daniel. He's finally out.

[Daniel Murray]

Back from my bathroom break. This is Daniel. Go follow the Market Millennials podcast, but also tune into this series. It's once a week, the Bathroom Break. We talk about marketing tips that we just spew out. And it could be anything from email, subject line to any marketing tips in the world. We'll talk about it. Just give us a shout on LinkedIn and tell us what you want to hear. Peace out.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Later.