Social proof is the key to unlocking the potential of your digital marketing efforts. From leveraging customer reviews to showcasing user-generated content, social proof can be that missing link of trust buyers are looking for in the vast digital world.  

B2B software vendors are increasingly incorporating reviews in their marketing to promote their products. They’re used to highlight the positive aspects of a product, as well as to address any potential concerns customers may have. When buyers see those concerns are being addressed by the brand, trust starts to grow.

Below, we’ll quickly show you how to transform your digital marketing efforts with user reviews to gain buyer trust, and customer appreciation.

Get executive buy-in

Before working with review sites, you’ll want to get team members as well as coworkers in other departments on board with your plan to invest in reviews. Review programs are most successful when you work cross-functionally. You will find that reviews have a variety of use cases and benefits that will appeal to functions across your organization. Cite third-party research that proves the power of reviews like our 2022 B2B Disconnect, or in the TrustRadius Trust Talks: Why and How DataStax is a Customer-Driven Organization.

Once they’re interested, demonstrate ROI by A/B testing the performance of different review assets. Experiment with adding a custom CTA that points to a demo request form on your TrustRadius listing or adding review snippets to your landing pages. Compare performance in terms of CTR and sign-ups to observe the difference between buyers that come from a review site vs. other sources, and pages with vs. without third-party social proof.

Scale your review program for success

Our research shows that buyers are more willing than ever to write reviews for the products they love. Build your customer list, and reach out to them to get the ball rolling on your review program. Reviews not only provide potential buyers with unbiased feedback on your products, they also help you identify customer advocates with whom you can partner for case studies, digital events, and more.

We have a Review Growth Kit in place for making your review program as successful as possible. Some small-but-powerful things you can do for successful growth, include:

• Adding only five quality reviews increases your profile visibility by 50%.
• Reply to feedback you receive in reviews to make connections with your audience, and then share them with the applicable teams at your business (Product, Customer Success, Support, etc.) and get a jump on future improvements.
• Increase organic traffic to your site by using the TrustRadius Quotes widget (rubrik’s traffic went up 28% by doing this).

Broadcast on organic social media

Social media is all about telling stories, no matter how short. If the content is engaging, people will be moved by what they read. If reviews can tell your story better than you can, why not include them in your social media outreach? 

With social media being the top (89%) tactic marketers are using to connect with their prospects and bring awareness to their product, it’s the perfect place to include customer stories.

Optimize social & display ads

Fine-tuning social and display ads that present the voice of your customers to in-market buyers builds awareness, trust, and interest in your brand. One way to optimize your efforts is by using the TrustRadius + LinkedIn Matched Audience integration, which includes finding target accounts, understanding who else you can add to your target, how to meet buyers where they are, and more. 

Totango, a customer success software company, saw a 35% boost in click-through rates when they optimized ads using LinkedIn Matched Audience. Plus, their CPC dropped to 1/4th of the cost taking this approach. 

Transform landing pages

Reviews can be leveraged across various landing pages to boost conversion rates by amplifying the voices of real customers. They’re a scalable way to get customers on the record, especially when compared to case studies, which take a larger time and cost investment. However, case studies, landing pages, and reviews can work together in telling your story to different personas.

When writing landing pages, incorporating reviews that include targeted quotes speaking to key use cases the page is addressing can be a game-changer. Third-party sources on landing pages are an important trust cue, and reviews are a simple and honest way to incorporate third-party validation into your marketing.

Planful, a financial software company, used 3 Strategies for Winning Over B2B Millennial Buyers. One strategy included adding social proof into their marketing channels to improve SEO and conversions. How did it work out for them? Once interested buyers came to their landing page from strategically placed ads, the buyers found solution pages with product information and embedded customer quotes created from our TrustRadius widgets. The in-depth social proof increased conversion on Planful’s pages by up to 70%.

Enable sales with TrustQuotes and premium content

Salespeople need backup to make a strong case to buyers, and customer references are great confidence boosters. But reference calls are time consuming to set up, and it’s hard to find an advocate to speak to every feature and use case. 

Since review quotes are so easy to pull on the fly, it’s perfect for specific Sales needs.

Want more, free resources?

To truly help you supercharge your marketing and brand performance, we have a solid selection of resources for you:

• Check out how TrustRadius has become the B2B decisioning platform for buyers researching tech solutions, and how that helps your company and buyers connect.
• Learn about intent data and how to use it downstream in our comprehensive eBook, What is Intent Data? The B2B Ultimate Playbook.
• Strengthen your GTM strategy with What’s in & What’s Out: A GTM Playbook for 2023.
• Drive reviews and get in touch with the voice of your customers using the TrustRadius Review Growth Kit.

Learn how TrustRadius can help your business thrive.