Product detail pages (PDPs) are the pages potential customers visit when seeking more information about a specific product on your website. Personalizing and improving the consumer experience via social proof on these pages is crucial to boosting your conversion rates.

Social proof is an effective strategy for increasing trust and ecommerce conversions. When potential buyers see proof of your product’s benefits to other customers like them, they are more inclined to feel comfortable purchasing it. After all, 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as personal recommendations.

However, you must apply social proof correctly. You should consider your target audience and design a strong user-generated content (UGC) strategy to get more social proof from your customers. 

In this article, we will learn how some brands have increased sales by adding social proof to their PDPs. 

1. Windsor

Nothing can encourage a prospective buyer to purchase a product more than positive feedback from past customers. UGC results in 29% higher web conversions than campaigns or websites without it. Windsor features UGC sourced from Instagram, Pinterest, and more to showcase its apparel on diverse individuals and contextualize individual products on the PDP.

Supplementing traditional reviews on the product page with visual UGC provides an extra level of social proof that turns a shopper into a buyer. Windsor’s various on-site carousels of customer content feature satisfied customers, from teenagers and middle-schoolers to adults.

Pixlee TurnTo’s customizable displays allow the Windsor team to deliver curated, brand-oriented, and high-quality UGC in different formats on-site.

Product page UGC boosts the shopping experience, decreases bounce rate, and builds long-term trust and brand loyalty. They can also influence the checkout process completion rate. Windsor has seen a 3X boost in conversion rates when using social proof on its website.

2. Seattle Coffee Gear

Espresso equipment and coffee brand Seattle Coffee Gear is another brand that uses social proof on its PDP to improve its conversion optimization process. The brand utilizes custom reviews and visual UGC on product pages to provide a well-rounded site experience full of social proof.

Seattle Coffee Gear brings customer experiences into the equation beyond visual UGC by featuring Checkout Comments™, answers to why customers bought a specific product, and Community Q&A, a frequently asked questions section on the PDP featuring customer answers.

These elements of text-based feedback alongside visual UGC provide social proof and answer any potential questions on the same page that your customer will ultimately add to cart. By sharing customer content on the PDP, you’re facilitating a smooth discovery and checkout experience for potential buyers. 

Seattle Coffee Gear increased the brand’s overall customer content volume by 375%, paving the way for a more authentic shopping experience and a lift in conversion rate.

3. Wool and the Gang

Sports equipment retailer Sun & Ski Sports leverages both visual UGC and on-site reviews with Pixlee TurnTo. To provide maximum social proof and monitor what customers are saying about products, Sun & Ski Sports takes advantage of review syndication to ultimately display more reviews on-site. In the same wavelength, the retailer also features visual UGC on product pages.

Community-driven content, both visual and textual, helps you establish yourself as an industry expert. That will help you enhance brand awareness, create credibility and trust, and offer value for customers and community members.

A clear and concise review display like Sun & Ski Sports’ sets your brand up for success. Customers should be able to filter, search, and sort reviews according to their needs.

Knowing how to engage with customers, manage reviews, and improve overall review coverage impacts your conversion rate Review syndication can play a big role in that, as both brands and retailers can showcase more, trusted reviews sourced from other websites selling their products. 

4. DMC

Even an over two-hundred-year-old needlework material company with a stellar brand reputation needs to use social proof to increase the average conversion rate. DMC collects user-generated content from social media to drive community engagement and increase conversion rates.

User-generated and influencer marketing content are used to bring the items on DMC's PDP to life. Below the product info, DMC often displays UGC featuring the artist's social media handle and caption. With Pixlee TurnTo, DMC also invites visitors to contribute their own art and allows site visitors to shop from specific pieces of content (indicated via a shopping cart badge on the photo or video).

The brand uses original content to drive engagement as well. It uses influencers to showcase inspiring projects, encourage customers to create user-generated content, and raise user expectations. By making all of this community-powered content shoppable, DMC creates a clear and simple path to purchase for site visitors who may start out just perusing their website.

In today’s online landscape, shoppers are increasingly influenced by media they consume on social media — specifically on TikTok. DMC’s “Shop the TikTok” gallery powered by Pixlee TurnTo features TikTok videos posted by both the brand and its community members that are also made shoppable.

Using shoppable UGC sitewide, the DMC increased its average order value by 119%!

5. Raymour & Flanigan

Furniture company Raymour & Flanigan knows the value of Ratings & Reviews on the PDP, especially reviews that come from a true, verified buyer. With Pixlee TurnTo, Raymour & Flanigan automatically matches real customer records to reviewers, meaning reviewers don’t have to engage in a multi-step process to prove they actually bought a product.

Ultimately driving a 100% increase in verified reviews, the company was able to provide better review coverage on best-sellers as well as newer products that may have lacked that element of social proof.

By matching purchase records to reviews, Raymour & Flanigan lets site visitors know when a customer bought an item vs when they left a review. This provides more context to shoppers who may want to know how a product holds up over time.

Social Proof and Conversion Go Hand-In-Hand

Conversion rate optimization is an ongoing process. With many consumers preferring online shopping, conversion optimization on your product page is crucial. On your PDP, social proof via reviews, other text-based customer feedback, and Social UGC can be a game-changer. Use these social proof techniques, and you’ll increase your average conversion rate and secure more potential sales. 

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Ian Loew is a web entrepreneur and inbound marketing expert, and the Owner & Head of Business Development of Lform Design. After four years of helping Fortune 500 companies with MGT Design, Ian embarked on his freelance career before establishing Lform Design in 2005. He leads a team of creative professionals to deliver inspired online experiences via modern, responsive websites that reflect his clients' core values. When not at the helm, Ian can be found mountain biking with friends or spending time with his family.