Social Proof Popup Examples That Improve Conversion Rate

Social Proof Popups: What Are They?

Popups are on site messages that appear on the screen. You can encounter them on pretty much any website. 

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon that makes people “follow the crowd”. 

6 types of social proof are:

• Expert social proof
• Celebrity social proof
• User social proof
• Wisdom of the crowds
• Friends and family
• Negative social proof

Combining these two we get social proof popups: on site messages that appeal to the social animal inside every website visitor. 

They can be customer review popups, recent sales popups, celebrity endorsement popups, form submissions or whatever you come up with.

The key is to convey that your brand and products are trusted by people.

The great thing about popups is that you can set different activation events for them. 

You can for example set a message to appear when someone is about to leave your site, or give first time visitors unique offers.

Social Proof Notifications Help Website Visitors Convert

Did you know that social proof can improve your conversion rate?

See our client Körkortskolan’s story about how social proof increased their sales by 32%.

And why does social proof work?

The answer is simple. 

1) Social proof popups, especially customer reviews, add credibility.

When people are still contemplating whether to trust your brand or not, they rely on other people.

When your prospective customers see that there are existing happy customers who are willing to buy from you or even promote your brand, they will instantly trust you more.

The ordinary consumer trusts customer testimonials more than paid ads or the words of a company representative.

This is why reviews and testimonials work, also in other forms than pop ups.

And when you think about it, user generated content and popups are much cheaper than paid ads…

2) Social proof popups create FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

When you showcase different social proof popups, your customers feel like they will miss out on experiences if they do not purchase from you.

This makes them more willing to convert to paying customers.

Social Proof Popup Tools

You might wonder how to start using social proof popups.

There are many pop up tools out there that help you create the notifications. Some of them are e.g. Poptin, OptinMonster, Fomo and Stamped.

But how to gather social proof in the first place?

Let me introduce you to Trustmary’s social proof software tools.

You can create social proof with our handy survey tools. You can ask about customer satisfaction with a CSAT or NPS survey.

The survey tools not only get you hard numbers on customer satisfaction, but also let you ask for written feedback and comments that can be turned into testimonials.

They both can be used as social proof.

Trustmary offers different easy-to-use widgets for showcasing social proof. There are many pop up options as well.

Sign up for a free trial to start collecting and showcasing social proof today!

Let’s move on and take a look at the different social proof popup templates.

Popup Templates for Different Uses

See these 7 different social proof popup templates.

They are especially good for an eCommerce website, but why not other businesses as well!

#1: Testimonial Popup

Testimonial popups mean messages in which satisfied customers promote your product or service.

This creates a positive brand image: someone is so happy with the purchase or cooperation that they are willing to have their name and face publicly connected to your business.

With Trustmary, you can collect written and video testimonials from your customers with a simple survey tool.

After you get them, you can easily showcase them on your website with popups or other widgets.

#2: Review Popup

Reviews are a good way to convince visitors to make a purchase decision. 

If you want to use them on your ecommerce site, it might be a good idea to use product based testimonials and category based testimonials on different specific sites.

This way the customer can see a relevant review or testimonial whenever they are viewing a certain product.

See our customer Adworks who use the review popup tool but also a testimonial carousel on their website.

#3: Page Visitors Popup

This popup template lets your page visitors know how many others have visited your website in a given period of time, e.g. last 7 days.

However, there is the question of whether your website has enough visitors so that using this type of social proof is profitable.

If your page only has a few visitors, this might not be the best option for you. It might act as negative social proof.

“If only this many people have visited this page, there must be something wrong. They probably don’t have very good selection or services anyway. I should go somewhere else”, your potential customer might think.

#4: Visitor Activity Popup

“Event feed” template gets you a popup that showcases visitor activity like recent purchases or live visitor count.

It is a type of FOMO social proof.

When your potential customer notices that many people are viewing e.g. the same online store item, it creates a sense of urgency. 

“I must buy this before those other people do!”

This is an especially powerful social proof tool for online stores.

#5: Video Player Popup

Video player popup allows you to feature video testimonials on the side of your website.

It does not disrupt the website experience, but is visible for those who want to take a closer look.

Video is ridiculously effective and popular. 

Since collecting video testimonials is easy (and free!) with Trustmary’s software, you really have no excuse not to try it!

See tips on how to get video testimonials from customers.

Here’s an example of how our client Solu Digital has used our video popup widget.

#6: Social Media Popup

Social media pop ups show how many people follow you on different social media platforms.

It encourages people to also follow you on social media.

The same issue concerns this popup as the website visitors popup: if you don’t have many followers, maybe don’t show the actual numbers. 

Just add a CTA that encourages people to follow you.

#7: Custom Content Popup

If you have any other topic in mind for a popup, the content popup template is for you.

This template lets you create manual entries and formulate a custom message for your web page visitors.

Some ideas for the custom message are:

• Highlight a sold out product and offer the visitors a “back in stock” notification
• Feature high-in-demand products by inviting users to buy them before they are gone
• Showcase some products in a way that mimic personal recommendations
• Tell about recent media coverage
• Tell about your policies such as money back guarantee
• Advertise content and special offers such as a free plan
• Show a celebrity or expert endorsement of your product

Check out these 4 further social proof examples to get even more inspiration!

Where to Place the Pop Ups?

The placement of popups depends on what you want to say with them.

If you are trying to convince your potential customers to buy a specific product, it makes sense to feature popups featuring that product on your online store product or category page.

When you want to convince people to trust your brand, feature reviews and testimonials or a visitor activity popup on the landing page.

If you want the one last chance to convert visitors, display a custom message when they are about to leave your page. This message could include a discount or promote a free plan.

You should also consider if you want the popup on the side of the page, or really accentuate it by making it fit the screen.

Whatever you do, try to combine social proof with CTAs wherever you can. This way the potential customers can act on their urge right away.

Trustmary allows you to set many different rules for the visibility of your popups and modify the customer experience.

Next Steps

Now that you know what social proof popups are and why you should use them, why not get down to business?

All the above templates are found in the Trustmary app.

Start a free 14-day trial and start collecting social proof immediately!

On top of social proof popups, Trustmary gives you

• Lead generation forms
• Testimonial and review widgets
• Feedback forms
• A/B testing
• Remote video testimonial software
• Reporting tools
• Tools for measuring customer satisfaction
• Integrations with other systems
• Automations

Utilizing social proof has never been easier!

Since You Are Here, Why Not Also Read:

• The Definitive Guide for Understanding the Power of Social Proof
• How to Get Testimonials From Customers (With 7 Examples)
• 7 Real Examples You Can Copy of Using Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) in Advertising
• Case example: 32% increase in sales by using video testimonial on check-out page

FAQ