8 Types of Social Proof for B2B Startups and SMEs: The Ultimate Guide

You may have the best product or service but your prospects won’t take your words for it. 

Here’s why.

B2B buyers now have more options than they had decades ago. This means to build awareness and drive sales for your business, your promises are no longer enough.

For example, only 9% of B2B buyers trust vendor content. And according to a survey, 51% of technology buyers reported having more trust in a brand after reading professional peer reviews. 

What does this mean? To improve trust and get more customers you need social proof and end-user validation in your marketing strategy.

Source: Linkedin.com

Companies like Gong build their marketing strategy around social proof and a community of raving fans.

In this article, we share three benefits of social proof in B2B marketing. We also share examples (that you may never know) of social proof you can use in your marketing strategy.

First, let’s get the basics out of the way.

What is Social Proof?

Source:rizereviews.com

Social proof is using the opinion, behavior, and advice of others to guide your action. Especially in uncertain or unfamiliar situations.

For example, when you asked a colleague’s opinion before deciding on a product, that was social proof in action.

And we use social proof for good reasons. 

As humans, we want to reduce risk, ensure we’re not left behind and get value for our money. To achieve this with the least effort we seek the opinion of others in making decisions.

Why do you Need Social Proof in Your Marketing?

Here are three reasons you need social proof now more than ever.

• The market is getting crowded and only brands that stand out will thrive.
• People buy from brands they trust and consumers’ trust in vendor’s content is declining.
• Your prospects demand social proof to make confident and easier purchasing decisions

Exploiting this inbuilt human nature in your marketing has a lot of benefits.

What are the Benefits of Social Proof in B2B Marketing?

Here are three benefits of using social proof in your marketing.

1. Increased brand awareness 

In the review economy, the end-user has a significant influence on the growth of your brand. More people talking about your products translates to more people knowing about your product.

In a B2B buying survey, ads trailed behind professional reviews in increasing awareness of a new product.

Source: linkedin.com

2. Increased trust in your brand

51% of technology buyers’ had increased trust in a brand after reading a professional peer review.

More positive remarks about your brand lead to more trust and confidence in your brand. 

Source: Linkedin.com

3. Increased sales and advocacy

93% of consumers’ purchasing decision is heavily influenced by online reviews. Social proof increases knowledge and trust in your product. This makes your prospects more confident about purchasing your products 

Source: learn.podium.com

Why is social proof such a strong force in decision-making?

How Social Proof Work in Decision Making

Here are five reasons social proof influences decision-making.

• Uncertainty: In uncertain situations, like buying a new product or service, we want to ensure we don’t make mistakes. By following the steps of others we make faster and safer decisions.
• Similarity:  The desire to belong is a fundamental human motivation. So we use products that our colleagues, friends, or family members use or recommend. For example, to decide on a new phone to buy, you considered the type of phone your colleagues used.
• Love for transparency: Because of the crowded market, we’re more skeptical about new and existing products. To make accurate decisions, we desire transparency. Social proof provides unbiased information because it’s coming from the end-users.
• Expertise: We believe experts know better than us. So we follow their advice and recommendation, sometimes blindly. For example,  you’d readily buy a marketing solution endorsed by a marketing expert like Gary Vaynerchuk.
• Number: Humans are crowd-pleasers. We believe the majority always wins. So we take what the majority of people do as the correct course of action. For example, you’d buy an email marketing software with 1 million existing users over an email marketing software with only 10,000 users.

These factors control what we do almost on autopilot. The same goes for your prospects.

Here’s the bottom line.

Your prospects trust what they hear and read about your brand from others more than what you say. And prospects only buy from brands that they trust.

What does this mean?

If you’re not gathering and using social proof in your marketing, you’ll lose to competitors who do.

Here are eight types of social proof you can use to supercharge your lead generation and sales.

8 Types of Social Proof B2B Marketers Can Use?

Here are eight types of social proof you can use.

Case studies 

Best for B2B software and agency service offerings. 

31% of B2B tech buyers said case studies increased their trust in a product. And 1 in 3 B2B buyers said case studies increased their knowledge of a product.

Case studies are detailed explanations of your customers’ experience with your product or services and provide concrete and data-driven evidence of the value you provide. While PDF case studies are still in use, video case studies are becoming the preferred format.

User testimonials

60% of tech B2B buyers search for testimonials during product research. 

Testimonials are short-form recommendations of your service or product from happy customers. 

Video testimonials are the most effective. 84% of consumers say watching a brand’s video has convinced them to buy.

For example, here’s a videos testimonial for Laudable by a customer.

Customer reviews and ratings

51% of technology buyers’ trust in a brand increased after seeing professional peer input and reviews. 

Reviews are notes by your users about their experience with your product or service

According to G2 Crowd, 92% of B2B buyers are more likely to make a purchase after reading a review

For example, here’s a customer review for Zendesk on Capterra.

Source: Capterra.com

Trust icons

Trust icons are logos of high-profile clients that use your product or service. They are strong social proof of quality.

Here’s how Zendesk used trust icons on their home page.

Source: zendesk.com

Awards and badges 

Receiving recognition as the best CRM software is a strong social proof of quality for Pipedrive. This sets them apart from other CRM software.

Source: pipedrive.com

Expert endorsements

As humans, we believe experts know more. Because of this, we’re more likely to use products and services that they endorsed, recommend, and talk about. For example, Gary Vaynerchuk’s endorsement of TikTok sent marketers flooding the platform.

Source: youtube.com/garyv

Influencer endorsement

People want to be like their favorite celebrities. So they would prefer products or services that their favorite celebrities talk about or endorse.  Samuel L Jackson’s endorsement of Capital One is a great example.

Source: ignitevisibility.com

Statistics and data

This involves sharing data on the performance and usage of your product or services. It can be the number of customers you have, or the results your customers get from using your product or services. Stats are strong social proof of quality, satisfaction, and effectiveness. 

Statistics work on the principle of the wisdom of the crowd. We assume if a lot of people are using something, then it is also good for us.

Source: pipedrive.com

Supercharge your lead conversion with video testimonials

To recap, your offering might be the best in the market, but your prospects won’t take your word for it. Only 9% of B2B buyers trust vendor content. Ads and inbound marketing alone won’t cut it for your marketing goals.

User-generated content is the key to cutting through the crowded market, building awareness and trust in your brand.

You may not be able to hire Samuel Jackson or get influencer support from a social media big shot like GaryVee but ensure you use all the social proof that you can gather. Such as case studies, testimonials, stats, trust icons, awards, and customer reviews. Use them in your marketing whenever you can.

By the way, we help small and medium scale businesses create case studies that tell engaging stories, Contact us if you need help with creating engaging case studies that power your marketing.