How many times have you purchased a book because a friend or family member has recommended it? Or perhaps you saw an advert or newspaper article giving it a 5-star review?
People tend to make purchase decisions based on other people’s behavior and recommendations. If you were presented with two books; one you’ve heard of before with rave reviews versus one you haven’t, you’re probably going to choose the one that other people love. That’s called social proof, and it’s human nature.
It’s hard not to jump on the bandwagon when social proof is everywhere. Social proof can influence a buyer to make a purchase, or to… well… not. Whether we’re talking about buying new shoes, computer software, booking a holiday, or buying a book, social proof can lead us down paths we never imagined we’d go down. For authors, that means more sales.
But if you think social proof is all collecting critic’s reviews and slapping them on your web page, you’d be wrong. There are many ways to add social proof to a book landing page and many of them can be achieved on autopilot. All you need is the right tool for the job. Here, we’ll discuss three of the best.
1. Reviews and Ratings
Reviews can take many forms, including feedback, testimonials, ratings, or rankings. They’re a fantastic way to help potential buyers to quickly assess the quality of what you’re offering. Plus, many people base their purchase decisions on reviews. Fully 92% of online consumers say they will look at a product review before making a purchase.
Your book’s landing page is a great place to show off your reviews and ratings. Talented authors may even be able to nab a “#1 bestseller” testimonial from a critic, celebrity, or newspaper. But reviews from happy customers are just as important.
Reviews can take many forms, including feedback, testimonials, ratings, or rankings. They’re a fantastic way to help potential buyers to quickly assess the quality of what you’re offering. Plus, many people base their purchase decisions on reviews. Fully 92% of online consumers say they will look at a product review before making a purchase.
Your book’s landing page is a great place to show off your reviews and ratings. Talented authors may even be able to nab a “#1 bestseller” testimonial from a critic, celebrity, or newspaper. But reviews from happy customers are just as important.
You can easily add reviews to your book landing page with Repuso.
Integrate Repuso with your social media channels and any other sites you get reviews from (e.g. any where you sell your book) and this app will collate and post what you have straight to your website. You can even set it to allow you to check new reviews before they go live on your site, so you can avoid showcasing the odd disgruntled reader on your landing page.
2. Real-time Tracking
Another effective way to boost conversions on your books landing page is to show real-time activity through tracking software like TrustPulse. This tool allows you to automate social proof and displays pop-up notifications on your landing page that tell visitors how many people have recently made a purchase and where they are in the world.
You can completely customise what the pop-ups look like. For example, you can display notifications when someone hits your purchase page, when they sign up for your newsletter and plenty more.
You can also use TrustPulse as a FOMO tool. FOMO notifications can create a sense of urgency by showing people that you have X number of books left in stock or X number of tickets left for your book signing event. This still provides social proof by suggesting that so many other people are interested in your offer that it has become scarce.
TrustPulse is incredibly easy to use and it only takes a few minutes to set up. Plus, it works with any CMS, whether you’ve created your own website using a website builder, are one of the millions that use WordPress, or commissioned a custom-coded solution.
3. Countdown Timer
Adding a countdown timer to your book landing page adds urgency and increases conversions. If you’ve already managed to get people to visit your book landing page, you’re clearly doing something right. Now you need to turn those looks into buys.
With OptinMonster, you can create social proof notifications as well as indulge in many other conversion-optimisation techniques like pop-ups, forms, countdown timers and much more. It’s the go-to solution for anyone wanting to boost landing page conversions using a single tool, rather than a few different ones that are up to different jobs.
Countdown timers are a particularly effective type of social proof marketing that plays on people’s FOMO (fear of missing out). A timer on your book landing page can be used to drive conversions in a few different ways. Namely:
- Offer a % discount if your customers pre-order your book before its launch
- Offer a coupon when your customers refer a friend to pre-order your book
- Offer priority access at your book launch if your customers sign up for your newsletter or pre-order your book
Conclusion
Marketers understand the importance and effectiveness of social proof, which is why the internet is drowning in social proof tools for you to use on your book landing page.
Since your goal is to sell your book, you need to take every opportunity to boost social proof on your book landing page. So, use the tools above to get more of your site visitors to sign up for your book launch, pre-order or purchase your book.
Author bio: “Georgie is a Content Contributor for Hosting Ninja. She is passionate about sharing her enthusiasm for technology through her content writing work, with a mission to help others learn and understand what makes the digital world so successful.”
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