Tim: If content is king then social proof is like the drawbridge. If you don’t have social proof, nobody is getting it. But with social proof, you can see a massive increase in the number of people joining your email list, registering for your webinars and buying your stuff. But how do you implement social proof in a way that allows people to see that, hey this is the place I’d like to be and this is a list I’d like to join?
That’s exactly what today’s guest Austin Miller is here to talk about. He made one little change displaying some social proof on his opt-in form and was able to see a really great increase in his results. It’s a really quick episode because there’s not much to discuss here. But I wanted to share this with you anyway because I thought it was really valuable and something to try this week.
I’m Tim Paige, the senior conversion educator here at LeadPages and this is ConversionCast.
All right. So let’s talk a little bit about the specifics of this tactic. I want to hear first off, what the results were that you were able to accomplish?
Austin: Yeah. So basically we used a single changing copy and we were able to achieve a 4.77 increase in lead capture in one week.
Tim: Nice. That’s on kind of your main generic call to action?
Austin: Yeah, exactly. Just basically asking people to join our monthly newsletter.
Tim: Nice. Nice. Okay cool. So tell everybody who you are and what you do.
Austin: Yeah. So my name is Austin. I’m head of digital marketing at Bookly. Bookly is a third-year startup. They provide cloud-based accounting and bookkeeping solutions for small business owners all over the nation. I also am the owner of a website called popramennews.com. Those are the two places where I practice these different tactics and build my newsletters so.
Tim: Nice. Awesome. All right. So let’s get into it. I know it was just a simple copy change but can you walk us through kind of where the form is and what it said before and what it says now?
Austin: Yeah. So beforehand it said, “Subscribe to our killer newsletter featuring this month’s top articles.” And then afterwards, I changed it to, “Join over 30,000 people who’ve subscribed to our killer newsletter featuring this month’s top articles.” Basically, we have a couple of places. We have a sidebar but we also have a popup that appears in the corner, the right-hand corner of the website.
Tim: Nice. So what do you think it was that made such a big difference? Do you think that it was just the fact that you gave them that social proof? And they can feel like they’re not subscribing to a list where they’re going to be the only person it?
Austin: Totally. Totally. Like, they feel validated in their choice. Actually, how I came up with this tactic was I was writing an article called 27 Ways to Make a Content Go Viral. As I was researching different…basically psychology and neuro-marketing, ways that the brain works, I found out that one of the main ways, headlines or those types of things, can get more clicks just by mentioning specific numbers. So I said, “Hey, why not try it in our subscriber pop-up?” So I just went for it and it turns out science is right sometimes so.
Tim: Well, you know, and the thing is that you tested it for yourself. It wasn’t just something you were just going to do and stick with it and say, “Oh, this is going to work because somebody said it.” You actually tried it and you saw that it got results and now you’re sticking with it. That’s awesome. Well that’s really what I wanted to have you share. Thank you for coming on. If somebody wants to see more of what you’re up to. Where can they find you?
Austin: Yeah, they can find me at either my website, popramennews.com. I’m always writing on that. Or they can follow, you know, I’m in charge of all the social at Bookly so you can follow us on Instagram @getbookly or visit our website at bookly.co.
Tim: Nice. Thanks so much, Austin. I really appreciate you coming on.
Austin: Hey, no problem. Thanks Tim.
