Your website’s visual appearance, as well as its performance, are hugely important if you want to convert new customers. And this is not just because consumers demand a pleasant browsing experience. Scientific research suggests that the quality of web design directly influences brand trust and, consequently, purchase intention.
Furthermore, if you look into how consumers make purchasing decisions in the first place, you’ll discover they heavily rely on social proof.
So, if you want to leave a positive first impression on your target audience, encourage them to form a positive perception of your business, earn their confidence, and maximize your chances of turning them into loyal customers, you’ll need to enhance your homepage design with social proof.
What’s great is that focusing on trust-building visual design can be relatively simple. So, without further ado, here’s how to build brand trust from the first click and enhance homepage performance with social proof.
Source: depositphotos.com
Instantly Communicate Brand Credibility
When it comes to homepage design, social proof is best used to communicate brand reliability.
Consider that brand trustworthiness ranked as #3 among the topmost purchase-influencing factors for consumers in 2023 (following value for money and product quality). Knowing this, it’s only natural that you need to encourage your audience to put their faith in your business. The great thing is that accomplishing this goal can be relatively easy.
By showcasing the right social proof elements in the hero section of your homepage — whether those include brand ratings, trust badges, or customer icons — you can show web visitors that they can rely on your organization to solve their pain points and prioritize their best interests.
For example, check out how Mielle does it on its homepage.
Just below the hero section, the brand shows off a list of bestselling products. What stands out about Mielle’s approach is that each product listing includes a star rating, the number of reviews it has received, a trust badge (such as “Award Winner”), and a third-party certificate/badge from a relevant industry authority.
Source: mielleorganics.com
Or, check out Trumpet. Knowing that its target audience regularly checks software reviews on G2, this business mentions that it’s the “#1 trending sales tool & digital sales room” on the platform. Moreover, knowing that software buyers often want to know who’s using a solution, Trumpet also features some of its most successful clients by showing off their logos.
Source: sendtrumpet.com
Support Value Propositions
Making claims that align with your audience’s wants and needs is essential for encouraging conversions. However, most brands make the mistake of thinking consumers will believe any value proposition.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. In fact, most buyers go through a complex buyer’s journey that involves a lot of brand research. Moreover, prospects often require tangible proof that a business is capable of solving their pain points before they’re willing to commit to a purchase.
The great news is that you can easily remove this conversion obstacle by supporting your value propositions with the right social proof formats.
For example, check out how Transitions Elite does it. Knowing that it offers a few unique benefits, it uses social proof to establish its positive track record of delivering on its promises. What stands out about this brand’s strategy is that it uses video testimonials, allowing satisfied customers to give authentic and genuinely impactful feedback about the brand’s services, making it that much more likely for first-time web visitors to form a positive impression of the business.
Source: transitionselite.com
Show Customers You Understand Their Pain Points & Needs
In addition to value, quality, and trustworthiness, there’s one more thing consumers expect from brands: understanding.
If you look at some of the most recent consumer behavior surveys, you’ll find that 73% of buyers want brands to demonstrate they understand their unique needs. Moreover, 79% won’t consider purchasing from a business that doesn’t show it cares about its target audience.
With this in mind, it’s clear that building trust isn’t just about showing a positive track record. It’s just as much about communicating your organization’s dedication to making its’ customers’ lives better.
One of the best ways to do this is to use web design and homepage copy elements to address your prospects’ primary pain points. Then, use social proof elements in proximity to these elements to position your brand as an organization that “gets” its target audience.
Check out how CapitalPad does it. Knowing that it offers two types of services aimed at different audience segments, this business showcases two distinct instances of social proof on its homepage. One speaks directly to investors, using a customer testimonial to highlight all the advantages CapitalPad offers VCs looking to build wealth. The other is directed toward searchers, emphasizing the unique benefits for entrepreneurs who list their SMBs on CapitalPad’s platform.
Source: capitalpad.com
Naturally, you can do this with more elaborate social proof elements as well. If you look at the Somewhere homepage, you’ll notice the brand shows off a testimonials section right below the hero section. This design choice ensures that the brand instantly establishes its credibility. It also allows Somewhere to explain the numerous customer pain points it can remove for its customers. Finally, the fact that each customer review features their profile (with a photo and a short bio) helps first-time web visitors see that the business delivers impressive results even for well-established clients, instantly maximizing their chances of converting.
Source: somewhere.com
Engage Web Visitors
In some cases, the best way to utilize social proof isn’t to directly influence brand trust. Instead, it’s to engage your audience and encourage them to explore and evaluate your solutions and organically direct them toward the lower stages of the sales funnel.
For this to happen, the social proof elements you use on your homepage need to be exceptionally engaging. And the best way to ensure that is to opt for the right formats.
If you’re looking to improve your homepage design with engaging social proof, video is one of the best ways to go. For starters, consumers want to see more video content from brands. Plus, video is great at driving product comprehension. It’s also excellent at encouraging conversions.
With this in mind, it’s no surprise that businesses like Real Estate Skills regularly use video to demonstrate brand credibility. What stands out about this business is that it showcases multiple short-form videos from its students, inviting satisfied customers to point out all the positives they’ve received by signing up for one of the brand’s programs.
Source: realestateskills.com
Or, if you’ve only recently launched and still don’t have access to tons of positive customer feedback to showcase on your homepage, why not do something similar to AI Humanize?
Knowing how difficult it is to source social proof in its specific industry, AI Humanize enhanced its homepage with an interactive applet that allows first-time visitors to try out its solution. This immediately engages prospects and encourages them to interact with the brand. It’s also a great way to provide potential customers with valuable purchase-inspiring visual proof and encourage them to convert.
Source: aihumanize.io
Demonstrate Authenticity
Sometimes, building brand trust isn’t just about proving a positive track record of removing consumer pain points. It’s also about positioning your business as a likable and authentic entity your audience will want to buy from.
Ultimately, consumers don’t want to buy from any brand — especially not large, faceless corporations. Instead, most people want to support small businesses, with some even being willing to spend $150 more every month to ensure that small local shops survive.
With this in mind, your branding strategy is as important as homepage web design when trying to earn consumer trust.
Do your best to develop and stay consistent with your brand’s voice and tone. Be prepared to communicate your business’s values, as most consumers consider these when choosing what brands to support. And, when trying to build brand trust with reviews and ratings, don’t forget to ensure your social proof elements align with your brand’s overall visual identity.
By making consistent and logical design choices for showcasing social proof—like in the example from ARMRA below—you can turn customer feedback into a natural element of your web visitors’ browsing journey, allowing it to stand out without coming off as overly aggressive or forced.
Source: tryarmra.com
Use Established Industry Voices to Earn Consumer Trust
Lastly, as you explore ways to build brand trust with homepage design, you have to consider the state of consumer trust in your industry. Why? Because some types of businesses (like pharmaceutical brands, financial services, and social media companies) automatically witness lower levels of trust than others.
Fortunately, if you can create a connection between your brand and industry voices your target audience already trusts (experts, scientists, influencers, or organizations), you can make it easier to build a positive brand reputation and convert new customers.
For example, Skinfix dedicates a section of its homepage to introducing its advisory board, knowing that positioning itself as dermatologist-approved can be a great way to convince web visitors to convert.
Source: skinfix.com
Or, knowing that many people still have doubts about AI solutions, Fathom highlights its third-party certificates from G2, SOC2, and HIPAA to show first-time web visitors it’s a company dedicated to solving user pain points without sacrificing their privacy.
Source: fathom.video
Final Thoughts
Building trust with web design is a complex process, seeing as it depends on a number of factors.
It’s essential that your web visitors have an aesthetically pleasing, technically impeccable browsing experience. On top of that, encouraging brand trust (and conversions) requires that you know how to present impactful social proof elements throughout your brand’s online presence.
By following the advice outlined in this article, you’ll be on the right track. But, to guarantee the best possible results, always prioritize showcasing social proof that’s relevant and valuable to your target audience. Lastly, don’t hesitate to test site performance. Testing will help you make sure you’re not missing out on potential opportunities to boost your brand’s reputation and convert more customers.
