Consumers are more reliant than ever on the opinions and actions of others before making purchasing decisions. This is where social proof becomes a powerful marketing tool.
Social proof, whether in the form of customer reviews, testimonials or live notifications of recent purchases, creates trust and influences consumer behaviour.
In fact, a recent study revealed that 92% of UK consumers are more likely to trust recommendations from other customers over traditional advertising. For WordPress users, this creates a perfect opportunity to boost marketing efforts through social proof plugins.
How Social-Proof Plugins Work
Social proof plugins work by automatically displaying real-time information and user-generated content that demonstrates customer activity, feedback or engagement on a website.
These plugins can show recent purchases, signups, product reviews, testimonials or social media mentions. The goal is to build trust and influence potential customers.
By showcasing these actions, the plugins create a sense of credibility and urgency, encouraging visitors to follow suit. Most plugins can be integrated with e-commerce platforms, mailing lists or review systems, allowing businesses to customise how and where the social proof is displayed.
Top 5 Social-Proof Plugins for WordPress
Let’s get into some of the best social-proof plugins you should consider using on your WordPress site.
1. TrustPulse
TrustPulse was designed to display live notifications of user activity, such as purchases, signups or interactions. The idea is to create a sense of urgency and FOMO, encouraging website visitors to take action.
Along with advanced targeting options, you can customise the look and placement of notifications to match your site’s branding. There is also a fraud protection feature that ensures the authenticity of displayed notifications.
Overall, this is one of the most affordable social-proof plugins available today.
2. WPFomify
WPfomify allows WordPress website owners to create and display fully customisable notifications for recent purchases, signups, reviews, or any other user interactions.
It integrates with popular platforms like WooCommerce, LearnDash, Easy Digital Downloads, Mailchimp and more thanks to custom APIs. This makes it easy for businesses to pull in real-time data and display notifications from a variety of sources.
You can also tailor your notifications to display based on a visitor’s location or certain time settings.
3. Thrive Ovation
The Thrive Ovation plugin, which is a part of the Thrive Suite, is all about using testimonials to your advantage.
The plugin helps gather testimonials by automatically collecting feedback from customers via forms or converting blog comments and social media posts into testimonials. This reduces the time and effort needed to gather social proof.
There’s also a centralised dashboard where you can easily manage all of your notifications, ensuring you only display what you want to.
4. Proof
Proof is great because it supports various notification formats, including live visitor counts, recent activity and customer reviews.
It also offers A/B testing as well as advanced targeting and personalisation features, enabling you to show notifications tailored to individual visitors based on their behaviour, location or specific pages they’ve visited.
Proof integrates easily with a wide range of platforms, including WordPress, Shopify and other popular marketing tools.
5. NotificationX
By displaying recent activity from real users, such as product purchases or positive feedback, NotificationX builds trust and boosts credibility.
Not only is the plugin easy to set up, but it also provides built-in analytics that track the performance of notifications.The plugin offers a wide variety of notification types, from recent comments to product sales and blog post engagement.
Its compatibility with page builders like Elementor and Gutenberg is an added bonus.
How to Choose the Right Social-Proof Plugin for Your WordPress Site – A Checklist
Not all social-proof plugins will be the right fit for your business, so it’s important to work through this checklist before you decide on one.
- Marketing goals. Determine if your goal is to boost sales, increase signups or enhance engagement through testimonials or reviews.
- Ease of use and setup. Some plugins require technical expertise, while others are designed for users with minimal coding skills. Choose one that matches your level of expertise.
- Customisation. The ability to customise the look and feel of notifications is important for maintaining brand consistency. Look for a plugin that allows you to adjust fonts, colours and display styles.
- Integrations. Check whether the plugin integrates with your e-commerce platform (e.g., WooCommerce, Shopify), email marketing tools (e.g., Mailchimp), or CRM systems.
- Targeting and personalisation. Decide whether you want to be able to show notifications to specific audiences based on behaviour, location or past interactions.
- Analytics. Choose a plugin that offers analytics and performance tracking. This will help you understand how effective the notifications are in driving conversions, so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
- Pricing. While some plugins offer free versions with basic features, others have premium plans with more advanced functionality. Consider your budget and decide if the extra features of a paid plan are worth the investment based on your business goals.
- Support. Good customer support, especially if you’re not a technical expert, ensures any issues or questions you have will be resolved promptly, keeping your site running smoothly.
Essential Best Practices for Using Social-Proof Plugins
Once installed, you can start reaping the benefits of your new plugin, but be sure to keep these best practices in mind:
Place Notifications Strategically
Position social-proof notifications on key pages such as product pages, checkout pages or landing pages where visitors are most likely to take action. It also helps to keep important notifications in visible areas above the fold.
Use Real-Time Notifications
Real-time notifications, like recent purchases or signups, create urgency and can encourage visitors to act quickly. A good example is to show how many people are currently browsing a product or page to boost credibility and engagement.
Keep Feedback Authentic
Make sure that the reviews and testimonials you display are authentic and will resonate with your customers. Showcase testimonials or actions from verified customers to enhance the credibility of your social proof.
Avoid Overwhelming Users
Avoid bombarding visitors with constant notifications. Instead, strike a balance between providing social proof and maintaining a pleasant user experience.
Instead of intrusive pop-ups, use smooth, subtle animations to draw attention without distracting or irritating visitors.
Tailor Social Proof to Your Audience Where Possible
Use advanced targeting features to display relevant notifications based on user behaviour, location or interests. You can also display social proof relevant to a page’s content. For example, show purchase notifications on product pages or sign-up notifications on membership-related pages.
A/B Test Notification Styles
Test different notification styles, colours and placements to see which versions perform best. A/B testing can reveal the most effective formats for driving conversions on your site.
You can also try different timings for your notifications (e.g., displaying them after a visitor has been on the page for a few seconds) to determine what works best for your audience.
Mobile Optimisation
Since a large percentage of users will be accessing your site from a mobile device, it’s important to ensure that any social proof notifications don’t interrupt the mobile browsing experience.
Monitor Performance and Optimise
Use your plugin’s analytics features to monitor the impact of your social proof notifications. Measure metrics like conversion rates, bounce rates and engagement to determine what is working.
You can then adjust notification types, styles, or timing based on the data to maximise performance and conversions.
GDPR Compliance
Lastly, don’t forget to take GDPR compliance into consideration when using any of these social-proof plugins, especially if you’re targeting EU customers.
In Closing
Social proof may be a simple marketing tactic, but it has great potential to increase engagement and sales and build more trust among potential customers.
If you’re not ready to commit to a paid plugin just yet, find an option with a free trial to decide whether it’s right for your business.
