Social proof, such as customer reviews, is a strong force for influencing customer behaviours. It’s an effective selling tool that eases the minds of worried customers and helps increase conversion rates.
BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2016 found that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation and 74% of consumers trust a business more based on positive reviews. It’s no wonder then that pay per click advertising can greatly benefit from social proof – but what’s the best way to implement it?
As an experienced PPC agency, we have created a how-to guide on including social proof in your PPC campaigns:
Review extensions
With review extensions, you can share customer reviews (in their entirety or paraphrased) from reputable review sources. The review text will display below your ad:
There’s several main requirements you need to follow to get the review approved:
- The review must come from a reputable third-party source (not directly from your website).
- The review cannot be more than a year old.
- The review cannot repeat your business name in the text.
- If partially quoting, ellipses (…) must be used to show what was omitted.
Using this extension in your pay per click advertising doesn’t cost anything extra – only the click on the ad.
Seller ratings
Seller ratings is an extension that allows you to display a star rating next to your ads. This is a great extension to use, as it can really set yourself apart from the competition:
The key requirements for enabling seller ratings:
- Your business must have a minimum of 150 unique reviews.
- The total rating must be total 3.5 stars or more.
- The reviews and rating must come from a reputable third-party source. A full list can be found here.
Like all Google AdWords extensions, you won’t be charged more for the extension – only clicks on the ad.
Consumer ratings
Consumer ratings is an automated ad extension (requiring no PPC management setup) that showcases customer surveys based on your industry:
Google AdWords runs regular surveys through their Google Consumer Surveys platform. They collect customer opinions on individual businesses and then calculate ratings (compared to industry benchmarks). The ratings will then automatically populate next to your ad.
If you feel that your ratings aren’t up to scratch or they’re not valid to your offering, you can always disable this automated extension.
As with the previous extensions, there’s no charge to use it – only clicks on the ad.
Showcasing social proof is a great way to gain trust with potential customers and set yourself apart from the competition. Google AdWords extensions offer a wide range of opportunities to do this. Best of all, they’re completely free to use!
Need some help with PPC management? Give PPC Agency Upperdog a call on 01202 798 820 or email hello@upperdog.co.uk.
