Social proof
Showing that other people already bought in: logos, reviews, ratings, and counts placed where visitors hesitate.
See it
What it is
Social proof is evidence that other people already trusted you, placed where a visitor is deciding. Robert Cialdini named it in 'Influence': when we are unsure, we copy people like us. On a page it shows up as customer logos, star ratings, testimonial cards with a face and a job title, usage counts ('12,400 teams'), case study numbers, and review site badges.
Put it next to the decision, not in a lonely section at the bottom. The strongest placements are directly under the hero CTA, beside the price, and at the last form field. Specificity is the whole game: 'cut our onboarding from 3 weeks to 4 days' from a named person at a recognizable company beats 'Great product, highly recommend!' from 'Sarah M.' by a wide margin.
Gotcha: weak proof is worse than none. A small number ('join 43 users'), stock-photo faces, unfamiliar logos, or a wall of five-star reviews with no critical ones reads as staged and costs you trust. If your numbers are small, switch to depth: one detailed case study with real figures. Fabricated testimonials are also illegal advertising in most markets, so use real quotes with permission.
Ask AI for it
Add a social proof layer to this landing page, laying out only [approved proof assets]. Never invent people, quotes, ratings, counts, companies, or logos: if an asset is missing, leave a labeled placeholder or drop that slot. Directly beneath the hero CTA, place a single quiet row of the supplied customer logos at uniform optical size, plus the supplied star rating with its review count and source. Mid-page, add up to three testimonial cards, each carrying a supplied outcome sentence, name, job title, company, and square avatar. Beside the pricing block, add one supplied one-line quote about value. No carousels, no autoplay, no stock-photo faces, and keep the logos muted so they never outshout the CTA.