How to Boost Conversions with Social Proof on Product Detail Pages (PDP)

UGC Retail

According to the Baymard Institute:
“It’s often on the product page where users make up their mind on whether or not they want to purchase the featured product. This makes the product page the centrepiece of your user’s e-commerce experience.”

Optimised product detail pages (PDP) include all the essential elements - product name, price, description, shipping details, CTA, and brand visuals. But how do you go beyond optimising these elements and leverage social proof to create higher-converting product pages?

Including social proof on product pages inspires confidence when customers are most likely to make a purchase decision. We examine exactly why social proof leads to increased conversions and creative ways you can incorporate it into your product pages.

1.   What is Social Proof?
2.   From Social Proof to Conversions
3.   How to leverage Social Proof on product pages

Social Proof - the psychological phenomenon that people adapt their behaviour according to what others are doing, especially in times of uncertainty – explains why we look to others to help us avoid making potentially harmful choices.

Think about the last time you bought a gadget or an item of clothing for instance. Like most people, you probably turned to a friend, internet search or social shares. Equally so, this innate physiological response drives consumers to actively seek social proof, specifically in the form of user-generated content to help them make informed decisions.

People are risk averse. Before hitting the ‘Buy Now’ button, consumers are faced with uncertainty and doubts. They research and seek assurance from others they trust when making informed purchasing decisions.

Social Proof helps provide this assurance from real customers.

By featuring experiences shared by existing customers - such as visual UGC - alongside brand images on product pages, shoppers see a flow of authentic content from real customers and their experiences with the brand’s products. They take inspiration from the diverse use cases and context expressed by like-minded people, helping them determine if the product is right for them and increasing their confidence to purchase.

53% of millennials say that UGC has influenced their purchasing decisions.

Additionally, when shoppers see others positively engaging with a brand, it creates an immediate sense of trust. 76% of consumers are more likely to trust content shared by their peers than content shared by brands.

Add a Visual UGC gallery

Visual UGC shows shoppers how real people are using your products in their everyday lives. It is used by brands across the board – particularly in the apparel, home and lifestyle, health and beauty, and food and beverage sectors.

Visual UGC gallery on product detail page (PDP)

Showcasing a curated feed of images and videos shared by fans and customers on product pages helps deliver a high-quality experience. Relevant user-generated content sourced from across social and directly shared with brands is brought together and placed at the fingertips of shoppers.

This not only adds convenience but also brings content to the fore they may not have otherwise come across. The diversity of the content adds context for shoppers that helps increase purchasing confidence and promote discovery of related products they find inspiring – shoppers find it easier to gather ideas and envision themselves using, wearing, and enjoying your products as part of their lives.

Use Shoppable UGC

By using shoppable hotspots on images within your Visual UGC, you can further enhance the customer experience by providing shoppers with a direct path to purchase related products.

As customers browse Visual UGC, they see key information about related products directly on images where they appear and with a single click, they can add them to their cart or navigate to those product pages.

This not only captures customers when they are most inspired but also helps reduce cart abandonment rates and increase average order values - by reducing the number of steps to go from content to purchase lowers the chances of potential buyers falling off along the way.

Empower your best marketers

Encourage and incentivise your audience with a call-to-action that invites them to upload and share their own experiences with your brand and products.

Such calls-to-actions deliver further engagement and UGC acquisition, and should be integrated across the customer’s journey – in emails, on your website, in-store, etc.

Using a visual UGC platform such as Buzzspark, content directly uploaded or shared by fans and customers across social can be dynamically tagged based on your products, campaigns, or workflow for instance. This not only saves a great deal of time and effort in acquiring UGC, but also helps maintain an organised UGC asset library for maximising the content’s potential.

Let your customers write your product description

Go beyond a well-written product description by taking inspiration from genuine experiences shared by your fans and customers.

Comments and captions include a wealth of information that matter most to customers. Highlighting common features and incorporating specific phrasing into your text can lead to more relatable and informative product descriptions.

Consumers are stellar marketers. Instead of marketing to them, market with them. Successfully leveraging social proof need not be difficult. Read our article on shoppable UGC and how to add it to your ecommerce site.