An optimized B2B customers page drives prospects through your funnel.
In a perfect world, every page of your marketing site should be optimized for the buying process.
It should be a welcoming and informative trail that leads prospects through a confidence inspiring and informative sales pitch. And be designed to convince the prospect that this is the product or service for them.
One of the best ways that you can do that is through social proof on a customers page.
A B2B customers page on your website is exclusively dedicated to spotlighting your existing customers and their successful journeys.
A good customers page will inspire your prospect and embolden them. We can accomplish this through a plethora of success stories.
Ideally, we want them to take action themselves in order to see similar results.
But it is possible to make some major mistakes with your customer's page.
Failure to properly optimize the page for conversions could lead to a lackluster waste of internet real estate. Then it's likely your prospects will peruse and leave without converting.
Let's first look at how social proof can help you.
The Power of Social Proof
The largest benefit of a strong customers page is an infusion of social proof around your product or service.
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon in which people imitate the actions of others because they are trying to reflect what they perceive to be correct behavior.
Social proof on a B2B level occurs when one business owner sees the positive effects that a specific action has on another business.
A perfect example of social proof would be positive results garnered from purchasing a specific product or service.
That's why it is so imperative that B2B companies include a B2B customers page on their website.
A customers page is your social proof hub.
If laid out properly, it could be one of the most powerful components of your marketing sales pitch.
When trying to convince a business owner that making a purchase from your company will have a positive impact on their bottom line and overall effectiveness, it helps to have social proof in order to reaffirm their trust and belief in the services that you are offering.
"We view behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it,"
Robert Cialdini, Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion.
The Halo Effect of Social Proof
Social proof creates another phenomenon known as the Halo Effect.
The Halo Effect causes us to make judgments that are based on the overall impression we have about someone.
If we see a testifying customer on a company's customers page, we base the weight of their testimony on the trust that we have in their authenticity and expertise.
A perfect example of the Halo Effect in action would be a company using the testimony of an expert in their field discussing the effectiveness of a service.
Or a prospect viewing a review left by someone in a similar field or circumstance.
There are actually six different types of social proof.
When dealing with a B2B customers page, we are mostly focused on two. The first known as "user proof" and second as "wisdom of the crowd."
User social proof occurs when users recommend your product specifically based on their own experiences and results. This allows your prospects to see themselves in your existing customers and envision what that success would mean for them.
For B2B customers, that would be something like increased profits or the ability to more efficiently serve their customers.
Wisdom of the crowd is a form of social proof wherein prospects are inspired because of a large group of people endorsing a brand.
In B2B terms, this means your company has made a splash in the prospect's industry. Many of their competitors are using you and that makes you more appealing to them.
Customer testimonials are one of the most common and effective examples of social proof.
In fact, Nielsen reports that 70% of people trust recommendations on products from strangers. More than 92% of consumers trust recommendations from people that they consider to be their peers.
Video Testimonials on a B2B Customers Page
If you're creating a customers page, you're going to want to include video testimonials.
Video testimonials are far and away the most effective way to showcase social proof on the page. Plus it instills a sense of trust in your brand.
That's because video is an extremely effective medium overall.
When users watch a video, they will retain more information from it than they would from a text-based format.
That's because it is easy to zone out or gloss over text.
When your mind is elsewhere while reading, you're not processing or retaining the words.
Watching a video allows you to engage with the information both by hearing it and seeing it.
When putting your video testimonial together, it's going to involve a lot more thought and planning. More than just sitting your customer in front of a camera and asking them to talk.
You'll want to make sure that the video testimonial shows off concrete results. Including specifics on how your product or service improved the business's bottom line.
If profits were positively impacted, give a dollar amount or percentage. B2B prospects want to see hard numbers.
What goes into a testimonial video?
All video testimonials should be recorded professionally. You want it to inspire prospects to do business with you.
It's also a good idea to make sure that you're cutting away from the customer at times. B-roll footage and images are wonderful for this.
For example, if you're discussing the specifics of their return on investment, showcase those figures in a graph.
You should also give background information on the customer and their business at the beginning of the video.
This helps the prospect form an emotional connection with the customer, making it easier to establish trust. Don't take up too much time with this step. It should be no more than a few seconds.
You also want to include some music playing softly in the background. This helps set the scene and overall tone of your video and fill in any silence.
When filming your customer, make sure you're not forcing them to stick to a specific script.
Let them talk naturally and tell their story.
You can edit it down later to what you need. But it's always a good idea to have excess footage as opposed limited.
Prospects will trust the customer more if they can see them. This fact is backed up by data.
More than 72% of consumers say that positive testimonials make them trust a business more. While customers who interact with testimonials are 58% more likely to convert.
Written Copy on a B2B Customers Page
While visual testimonials are the most effective example of social proof that you could include on your B2B customers page, there should be more than just a series of videos.
You're going to need written copy to go along with each video. Use written copy to highlight some of the key bits of data that customers will find within.
It's always a good idea to write a little bit about who the prospect is and what industry they're in.
You could even give a few bullet points from their testimonial in an effort to inform the prospect and help them zero in on what they're looking for.
This tactic is particularly useful if you're listing a large number of testimonials on your page. By breaking down what each video talks about, you're improving the overall user experience by informing your prospects.
It's important to let them pick and choose what's important to their specific search and easily find the most relevant videos.
If you're not labeling your testimonials with written copy, they will have to guess which ones will have the most meaning to their journey. After a few irrelevant discoveries, they're likely to leave the site without converting.
Including written copy on your customers page also helps with Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, on your site.
All of the content on your site should be optimized to appeal to Google's search algorithm, and the customers page is no different.
Make sure that you're including relevant and high value keywords throughout your content, and crosslinking between your pages. Other pages should include links to the customers page. And conversely, the customers page should also be linking to other pages on your site.
Your title tags and meta description for the page should also be optimized with keywords that you've found through copious research.
You want to make your customers page pop up in search engine results. This makes the customers page a potential entry point for new prospects.
Images on a B2B Customers Page
You're going to need some images on the page if you want it to be truly effective.
An obvious step you should take would be including an image of each testifying customer with their video. If they are representing a recognizable brand, then including an image of their logo would be more effective.
If you've done work for IBM, for instance, throwing the famous IBM logo up by their video goes a lot farther than just the face of some executive.
The point of these images is to catch the eye of your prospects. And draw them in to watching your video testimonials.
When they see a recognizable logo or something that is relevant to their industry, they instantly see the value in clicking on the video and absorbing the information contained within.
One popular option is to make the image into a link that opens the video for the customer.
This tactic manages to pull attention while also promoting engagement. It is far more effective than just a large mass of text.
Try to strike a delicate balance between images and written copy. They should work together to create a more complete experience.
Calls to Action on a B2B Customers Page
The end goal for all customers pages should be to inspire conversions.
You want to make the conversion process as simple as possible for your intended audience. This is done through effective and prominent calls to action.
Your calls to action need to be strong on every page of your website, but that is particularly true of your B2B customers page.
After watching one of your testimonial videos, the customer should be overcome with social proof. This is one of the best places to include a call to action to take full advantage of their increased trust and excitement.
One option is to include a call to action at the end of each video.
You could even put a clickable call to action button in every customer testimonial. This would catch them right after they've seen the positive results and growth your company has achieved for others.
This is another area in which written content comes in to play. The verbiage that you choose for your calls to action should drive prospects to convert.
Something like "See These Results for Yourself" at the end of a video in which a customer states that you helped them create a 300% increase in overall profits would be ideal. You're helping the prospect see themselves in the customer's results.
A recent study looked into the effectiveness of call to action placement. CTA buttons were placed above four testimonials in one sample and in between them for another.
The control group that interacted with CTAs placed between the testimonials saw a 64.53% increase in conversions.
Remember, when calling your prospects to action you need the right wording with the proper placement.
Conclusion
As you can see, a B2B customers page is not just the corner of your website where you brag or show off.
If properly optimized, it can be an effective sales tool designed to push conversions and utilize social proof in an effort to increase profits and bring new customers on board.
Take your customers page to the next level!
