Businesses worldwide are uncertain amid the pandemic. Pop up stores and other physical enterprises are on the decline, and online brands aren’t looking so hot either. Companies across virtual platforms are fighting over who gets the most users, the most sales, and the most conversions. With so many brands on the Internet today, it can be hard to stand out. And one of those ways is by using a social proof pop up on your website or social media platform.
The trend with infographics and flashy designs in digital marketing is the stuff of the past. Nowadays, digital marketing is making a shift towards the use of social proof. In a nutshell, social proof is the concept that states that the actions of the majority influence our behavior. Social proof is everywhere–you can see it when you’re out looking for a place to eat or to shop, and it’s easy to integrate it into your e-commerce business strategy with one thing: social proof notifications. Social proof notifications can range from social proof pop ups to reviews, testimonials, and even to mailing lists that you can post over your webpage.
Before we get into how to maximize these social proof pop ups, let’s take a brief look at how they work.
How They Work
A social proof pop up is one of the best ways to attract more customers. It’s a type of social proof notification that leads customers to a particular product or service. It does this by letting visitors read reviews from previous customers who have already bought that item. In this way, it helps assure customers that they’re buying a genuine product or service from a reputable business. It can also lead them to leave more good comments, more reviews, which will repeat the cycle and produce an even bigger consumer base. Brands worldwide recognize this trend and now incorporate them into their websites and social media pages.
But social proof pop ups aren’t limited to product reviews and ratings alone. A social proof pop up’s function can range from product reviews to email list subscriptions, weekly newsletter subscriptions, and more. All these pop ups have one goal in common: to convert leads. While other social proof pop ups may promote content, some can also drive blog subscriptions which help grow a brand’s number of consumers.
Types of Social Proof Pop Up Frequency
A social proof pop up can also vary in how it shows up around the website. Here are the most common:
At Entrance
Anyone who has browsed the Internet knows this. Pop ups that light up immediately after you get to a website. This frequency is the least preferred out of the 5 types, as it causes inconvenience for the user before they have a chance to browse the website.
Timed
This frequency schedules pop ups to appear only after a particular time spent on your website. Digital marketing professionals agree that this frequency is more effective as it allows customers to familiarize themselves with brands before taking any other action.
Scroll-Activated
This pop up is also timed in the sense that when a user reaches a specific point while browsing a page, a pop up is going to show up. This frequency is similar to the timed pop up and gives visitors ample time to get to know your website.
Reader’s Choice
This frequency does things a little differently than the others. It presents an opportunity for readers to choose between indirectly signing up for a subscription or to keep browsing the website. It does this by suggesting questions related to the blog or article, and clicking on them will lead you to sign up for subscription.
At Exit
This frequency works in contrast to the At Entrance frequency. It can be seen as a last effort to reel in a customer before they leave your site and never return. This frequency can work both ways: either a potential visitor exits the site completely, or will be more curious about other offers in the site and sign up.
Let’s face it: people only want the best. Bad comments or reviews are not an indicator of a reliable product, let alone a reliable business. Good reviews help guide potential customers to quality products or services and businesses. But the thing is, there are tons of different choices out there. Choosing the right one might be tricky, as one might have to go through a sea of options.
Social proof pop ups can ease the burden on this problem by showing customers what to choose. These can end those endless scrolling times while looking for the perfect deal. The pop ups can show them to customers in an instant, so they will be more at ease when making a purchase. The live interaction also helps hook the interest of customers in real-time, and is more likely to trigger their curiosity rather than day-old blog posted on a website.
Simply put, it’s an efficient way to build customer trust without pulling out all the stops.
How to Maximize Your Social Proof Pop Up
Now that we’ve established the concept of a social proof pop up and how it works, it’s time to discuss the efficient way of putting them up on your business website. Although customers don’t like seeing pop ups, this doesn’t mean they’re not effective. A pop up can only be effective as to how good it is programmed, after all. So take note of these tips and tricks:
1. Timing
How and when your social proof pop up comes up is everything. You can have all the best reviews in the world but if these don’t come up at the right place and at the right time, it’s useless. The timing of your social proof pop up must be in-line with its goal and purpose.
For example, if you want visitors to get in on the latest deals on your website, you can use a social proof pop up that appears at exit. This can give them the notion that a deal will only be available for a limited amount of time, which can entice more sales.
2. Be Captivating to the Eye
As the old saying goes, first impressions last. You want to be able to catch the eye of the visitors the moment your social proof pop up comes up. There are millions of pop ups every day, and the average consumer is more likely to ignore these pop ups when they’re tacky, forced, or just plain unpleasant to the eye. It goes without saying that you should design your social proof pop ups accordingly.
You can improve your pop up design by customizing them to the look and feel of your website, using eye-catching photos, or good-looking branding and logo graphics. And sometimes, a simple color scheme or a font change is enough to turn a good pop up into a great one.
3. Use Persuading Ad Copy
Your social proof pop up’s job is to get people to interact with your website. Timing and beautiful graphics aside, it has to motivate your customers to do something. This ad copy is what compels visitors to take the next step. A good ad copy is one that ensures you are sending the right message to visitors who will see your pop up.
Moreover, there are many ways to change up your social proof pop up content. One, you can pattern your copy to instill emotions like urgency or loss to persuade your customers. Two, you can make use of elements of storytelling and other literary devices to make your copy more creative. Three, personalized language or language that is native to your brand will also help convert more leads instead of spam sales language.
4. Display Size
This aspect is often overlooked by most pop ups. A social proof pop up is not too big or too small; it’s size must be at the right aspects. It shouldn’t be too cumbersome for the viewers to see, but it should also be big enough that your customers can appreciate your pop up.
Also, this is where aspect ratio comes into play. It’s no longer the age where people only use computers to connect to the Internet. Now, we have phones, tablets, and screens of different shapes and sizes. You must be able to pattern your social proof pop up with regard to the screens of these devices. What looks good on a desktop might take up the whole screen on a mobile phone.
5. Think About Location
Personalization is becoming a trend among pop ups nowadays. Customers don’t want to see ads that aren’t relevant to them as they navigate through the web. Ads that hit closer to home or to user interests are ones that have the most click-through rate. Thus, you should also pattern your social proof pop ups with regard to where your visitors come from. Customizing your pop ups to suit consumer wants and needs will help fuel conversions and increase sales.
Make Your Brand Pop With SocialPOP!
There are many ways to design your social proof pop up. But remember that an excellent social proof pop up is short, simple, and interactive. Otherwise, you won’t catch the user’s eye or you won’t convert those leads into sales. When it comes to these social proof notifications, you can rest easy with SocialPOP. SocialPOP makes sure that your pop ups get to the right people at the right time. You can integrate SocialPOP’s pop ups and other social proof notifications to over 1500 applications in a few clicks. Get started with SocialPOP today!
