The social proof examples that won in real tests are simple: a star rating above the product title, reviews on the checkout page, a review widget under the buy button, customer logos beside a sign-up form and a "number bought" line near the price.
Some of the strongest results in our archive came from proof placed where the visitor decides, such as a Trustpilot widget under Add to Basket (+58.29% purchases) and a testimonial above a brochure form (+50% submissions).
How we picked: every example below is a test from the LiftArchive database, with the number copied from the test page and credited to whoever ran it.
We have not run these tests ourselves. Where a result is a before/after comparison, a vendor's own story or not statistically significant, we say so.
Position matters as much as the proof itself.
For the theory behind why it works, see our social proof guide, and for every related test, the social proof element hub.
All 20 social proof examples at a glance
| # | Example (brand or page) | What they did | Result | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shopify product page (Dave Diederen) | Star rating or review count above the title | +8.45% revenue per visitor | ecommerce |
| 2 | Checkout page (Dave Diederen) | Added a few reviews to checkout | +23.13% revenue per visitor | ecommerce |
| 3 | Express Watches | Larger Trustpilot widget under the buy button | +58.29% purchases | ecommerce |
| 4 | Listicle landing page (Dave Diederen) | Swapped the Trustpilot logo for plain stars plus a customer count | +7.8% conversion rate | ecommerce |
| 5 | Titan Casket | Stars and review counts on product cards | +73.5% order value | ecommerce |
| 6 | Mobile product page (Oliver Kenyon) | Review carousel under the button, picked from survey objections | +$63,735 per month | ecommerce |
| 7 | Dashlane | Collected reviews so Google showed seller stars on ads | +93% clickthrough for Dashlane | SaaS |
| 8 | Market-leading brand that looked like a dropshipper (Ruben) | Bar with local shipping, patent date and "34,000+ customers" | +55% conversions | ecommerce |
| 9 | NYX Professional Makeup | Units bought today vs times viewed | Purchases message: +43% CTR | ecommerce |
| 10 | Branch Furniture | Hid a thin review widget, showed weekly buyers | +4.3% conversion rate | ecommerce |
| 11 | Attrangi | "24 people are viewing this item" on listing cards | +19.3% conversion rate | ecommerce |
| 12 | Product page for paid traffic (Dave Diederen) | Proof line under the button changed with the ad clicked | +9.74% revenue per visitor | ecommerce |
| 13 | Teamleader | Added customer logos to the free trial form | 36% to 40.3% (+12%) | SaaS |
| 14 | WorkZone | Same logos, in grayscale | +34% form submissions | SaaS |
| 15 | 8-figure luxury pajama brand | Vogue, People and Oprah Daily logos plus a rotating quote | +$109,829/month | ecommerce |
| 16 | Mida | Embedded testimonial blocks next to the form | +56.94% sign-up completion | SaaS |
| 17 | Hotel Institute Montreux | Moved a testimonial from a separate page to above the form | +50% submissions | lead gen |
| 18 | Buildium | Testimonials with unit counts plus a size-focused headline | +22% sign-ups | SaaS |
| 19 | Product page (Dave Diederen) | Three customer videos moved under the add-to-cart area | +12.2% revenue per visitor | ecommerce |
| 20 | Food and diet app (Vahe Baghdasaryan) | Short paywall with a 5-star review and a results stat | +72% install-to-trial | app |
20 social proof examples with real results
Grouped by type: reviews and ratings (1-7), customer and purchase counts (8-12), logos and press (13-15), testimonials (16-18), user-generated video (19) and an app paywall (20).
For more on each type, see our hubs on reviews, testimonials, trust logos and UGC and video.
1. A star rating line above the product title
What they did: Put a social proof line (star rating, review count or customer count) directly above the product title, so it is the first thing a shopper reads.
Why it works: Shoppers check the rating before they read anything else.
Putting it first answers "do other people like this?" before the price shows up.
Result: Revenue per visitor rose 8.45% ($1.85 to $2.00) and conversion rate rose 8.14% in the best of two versions.
Average order value did not change. Run by Dave Diederen.
Copy this: Move your rating summary above the product title and keep it to one line.
2. Customer reviews on the checkout page
What they did: Added a few customer reviews to the checkout page, which normally carries no proof at all.
Why it works: Checkout is where last doubts surface.
Reviews that speak to shipping speed, sizing or durability answer those doubts at the point of payment.
Result: Revenue per visitor rose 23.13% ($1.03 to $1.27) and conversion rate rose 17.96%.
The ranges were wide and crossed zero, so the true lift may be smaller. Run by Dave Diederen.
Copy this: Pick two or three reviews that answer your top pre-purchase worry and place them beside the order summary.
3. A Trustpilot widget under Add to Basket
What they did: Express Watches, a UK Seiko dealer, replaced a small green Trustpilot badge with a larger widget showing real reviews, placed right under the Add to Basket button.
Why it works: A small badge says "we have reviews."
A widget with readable reviews next to the button shows them, at the moment the shopper decides.
Result: Purchases rose 58.29% at 99% significance over more than two months. Run by High Position.
Copy this: If you use a third-party review platform, show actual review text near the buy button, not just the logo.
4. Plain stars and "Rated 4.8/5.0 by 50,000+ customers"
What they did: Removed a Trustpilot logo and rating from a listicle landing page and replaced it with plain stars and the line "Rated 4.8/5.0 by 50,000+ customers".
Why it works: The line combines a rating and a customer count in words anyone can read in a second.
A version that only hid the logo was close to flat, so the message did the work.
Result: Conversion rate rose 7.8% (3.48% to 3.75%) and revenue per visitor rose 12.01%.
Confidence ranges crossed zero. Run by Dave Diederen.
Copy this: Write your rating and customer count as a sentence instead of relying on a platform logo.
5. Star ratings on collection page product cards
What they did: Titan Casket collected reviews but did not show them on collection pages.
The test added a star rating and review count to each product card.
Why it works: For a high-stakes, rarely repeated purchase, a rating on the card helps shoppers shortlist with confidence before they open a product.
Result: Average order value rose 73.5% and conversion rate rose 23.2%, mostly on mobile.
The test fell short of 95% significance. Run by Blend Commerce.
Copy this: Show stars on product cards only if nearly every product has reviews (see Gym King below).
6. An objection-handling review block below the mobile CTA
What they did: Added a review carousel directly below the add-to-cart button on mobile.
Each review was chosen because it answered an objection that came up in post-purchase surveys.
Why it works: Generic praise is easy to skip.
A review that says "I worried about X, and it was fine" answers the exact doubt that stops a sale.
Result: Revenue per session rose $0.43, forecast at about $63,735 a month.
The dollar figures are projections. Run by Oliver Kenyon.
Copy this: Read your post-purchase survey answers, list the top three worries, and find a review that answers each one.
7. Review stars on paid search ads
What they did: Dashlane emailed active customers for reviews.
Once it had enough for Google to show seller ratings, its paid search ads carried star ratings.
Why it works: In a row of near-identical ads, stars are the only visual difference.
They signal that other people already chose this one.
Result: Ad clickthrough rose 93%. This was a before/after comparison, not a split test, and the data dates from around 2015. Run by Dashlane.
Copy this: If your ads have no ratings, run a review request campaign to your happiest customers first.
8. A trust bar with a customer count under the navigation
@RubendgrfWhat they did: User research showed visitors thought a market-leading brand was a dropshipper.
Ruben added a bar under the menu stating 1-3 day local shipping, a patent since 2014 and 34,000+ customers.
Why it works: The customer count was one of three proof points that answered a specific doubt research had found.
Proof works best when it fixes a known misreading.
Result: Conversion rate rose 55% to 1.67%. Per the test page, this compares periods in store analytics rather than a split test. Run by Ruben.
Copy this: Ask five new visitors what they think your business is.
If they guess wrong, put the proof that corrects them under your menu.
9. "Bought today" under the buy button
What they did: NYX tested two lines under the buy button on its French desktop site: how many units were bought that day, and how many times the item was viewed.
Why it works: Buying is a stronger signal than looking.
A purchase count tells the shopper that other people paid, not just browsed.
Result: The purchases line lifted buy-button clicks 43% and doubled the transaction rate.
The views line lifted clicks 32%. Run by NYX Professional Makeup.
Copy this: If you show an activity count, show purchases, not views.
10. Recent buyers instead of an empty review widget
What they did: New products at Branch Furniture showed a review widget with few or no reviews.
The test hid it and showed how many people bought the product in the past week.
Why it works: An empty review box is negative proof.
A recent-buyer count gives new products a credible signal until reviews arrive.
Result: Conversion rate rose 4.3% on new product pages. Run by Visually.
Copy this: Hide review widgets on products with under a handful of reviews and show a real purchase count instead.
11. Live viewer counts on mobile listings
What they did: Jewelry brand Attrangi added light real-time social proof, such as "24 people are viewing this item", to products on its mobile listing page.
Why it works: On a long grid, a small activity cue helps shoppers pick which items to open.
It works only if the counts are real.
Result: Conversion rate rose 19.3% and revenue rose 28.73%.
The case study does not say whether counts were exact live figures. Run by ConvertPolo.
Copy this: Only show viewer counts that come from real data.
Fake counters are easy to spot and hurt trust.
12. A social proof line matched to the ad angle
What they did: Instead of a generic "Trusted by 200K+ customers", the line under the add-to-cart button changed with the ad: speed proof for speed-angle ads, quality proof for ingredient-angle ads, the customer count for social-angle ads.
Why it works: The visitor arrives with one question from the ad.
Proof that answers that question beats proof about something else.
Result: Revenue per visitor rose 9.74% and conversion rate rose 12.70%.
Average order value fell 2.63%. Run by Dave Diederen.
Copy this: Group your ads by angle and write one proof line per angle.
13. Customer logos on a trial sign-up page
What they did: Teamleader, a CRM for small businesses, added customer logos to its Dutch free trial sign-up page.
Why it works: Logos from recognizable businesses tell a buyer "companies like yours already use this" at the moment they hand over an email address.
Result: Sign-up conversion went from 36% to 40.3% (+12%).
Sample size and confidence were not shared. Run by Teamleader.
Copy this: Put five or six recognizable customer logos next to your sign-up form, not only on the homepage.
14. Black-and-white logos on a demo page
What they did: WorkZone, a project management tool, changed the customer logos beside its demo request form from full color to black and white. Nothing else changed.
Why it works: Bright logos compete with the form for attention.
Grayscale keeps the proof but lets the form stay the main thing on the page.
Result: Demo request submissions rose 34% at 99% significance over 22 days, on new visitors only. Run by WorkZone.
Copy this: If your logo strip is colorful, test a grayscale version.
15. Press logos right below the homepage hero
ConvertiblesWhat they did: Convertibles tested press logos with a rotating press quote against a USP bar, each in two spots on the mobile homepage.
Why it works: For a premium product, a recognizable outlet vouching for it helps justify the price.
Press beat the USP bar in both spots, and the higher spot did better.
Result: Estimated +$109,829 a month for press logos below the hero. Run by Convertibles.
Copy this: If you have real press from outlets your buyers know, put it right under the hero.
If not, skip it (see what lost below).
16. Testimonials on a sign-up page
MidaWhat they did: Mida, an A/B testing tool, added testimonial blocks from existing customers next to its sign-up form.
Why it works: The sign-up form is where a visitor commits.
Peer quotes at that moment reduce the "is this worth my time?" doubt.
Result: Sign-up completion went from 37% to almost 60%, a 56.94% lift, but on only about 200 sign-ups. Run by Mida.
Copy this: Place two or three short customer quotes beside your sign-up form.
17. A student testimonial above a brochure form
What they did: The school's testimonials lived on a separate page.
The test placed one student testimonial right above the brochure request form.
Why it works: Testimonials on their own page are read by few people.
Next to the form they reach every visitor who is close to acting.
Result: Brochure submissions rose 50%, and paid search cost per lead fell 54%. Run by The Reference.
Copy this: Take your best testimonial off the testimonials page and put it above your lead form.
18. Testimonials that state each customer's size
What they did: Buildium, property management software, rewrote its homepage headline around company size and added each customer's unit count to their testimonial.
Why it works: A buyer managing 50 units wants proof from someone their size.
Stating size makes each testimonial easy to match.
Result: Free trial conversions rose 22% for the best version.
Headline and testimonials changed together, so no single element gets the credit. Run by Buildium.
Copy this: Add a qualifier to each testimonial (company size, use case or role) so readers can find their match.
19. UGC videos moved above the fold
What they did: Three customer videos sat at the bottom of the page below FAQs.
The test moved them directly under the add-to-cart button, with a short proof line above them.
Why it works: Videos buried at the bottom are seen by few shoppers.
Near the button, they show the product in use while the shopper is deciding.
Result: Revenue per visitor rose 12.2% and conversion rate rose 12.28%, with a 98.8% chance to beat control. Run by Dave Diederen.
Copy this: If you already have customer videos, move them up before making new ones.
20. A 5-star App Store review on an app paywall
What they did: A diet app replaced a long paywall with a short one that included a 5-star App Store review, the stat "86% of users improved their diet" and a trial toggle.
Why it works: On a paywall, the user decides in seconds.
One real review and one outcome stat give proof without making the screen longer.
Result: Install-to-trial rose 72%. Several changes shipped together, and Apple now rejects free-trial toggles on iOS. Run by Vahe Baghdasaryan.
Copy this: Add one short store review and one outcome stat to your paywall, and test it on its own.
Patterns across the winners
Proof next to the decision beats proof on its own page
Several of the biggest lifts came from moving proof to where the visitor acts: under the buy button (Express Watches, #3), above a lead form (Hotel Institute Montreux, #17) and beside a sign-up form (Mida, #16).
In some cases the proof already existed and only its position changed.
Specific proof beats generic proof
Reviews picked to answer known objections (#6), proof lines matched to the ad (#12) and testimonials tagged with company size (#18) all won.
Purchases beat views, and counts beat empty widgets
NYX's "bought today" line beat its "viewed" line (#9), and Branch did better hiding a near-empty review box and showing recent buyers (#10).
If you show a number, make it a real number that signals commitment.
For SaaS and lead gen, logos and testimonials do the heavy lifting
Ecommerce sites lean on reviews and counts. Business buyers respond to who else uses the product: logos (#13-14) and testimonials from peers (#16-18).
See more in our sign-up page examples and testimonial examples.
Examples that lost (what not to copy)
These tests lost, came out flat or won by removing proof.
- Customer profile icons next to the star rating: revenue per visitor fell 3.84%. Dave Diederen says this change has lost for them repeatedly.
- Testimonials crammed into the buy box: placing three short testimonials beside the title and price cut conversion rate by 9.2% in a Clean Commit test.
- Star ratings on cards with patchy reviews: at Gym King, only 60-70% of products had reviews, so many cards showed an empty rating. Revenue per visitor fell 10% and the test was stopped after six days.
- "As Seen In" banners mid-page: Dave Diederen found that hiding the press logo banner raised revenue per visitor 5.63% on a product page. Press logos helped right under a homepage hero (#15) but got in the way lower on a product page.
- Written reviews above the fold: hiding written reviews from the top of the product page lifted revenue per visitor 23.05%, with stars near the title kept. The base conversion rate was very low (0.32%), so treat it as a signal.
- Social media widgets: a Facebook likes widget at FietsPunt made no measurable change, and a Twitter follow badge at Bag Servant lost on every goal tracked.
@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen
Clean CommitWatch out for
- Fake counters. "23 people are viewing this" that never changes, or popups showing invented buyers, can break trust and may break consumer protection rules. Only show real data.
- Widget weight. Review apps, UGC carousels and live-count popups each add scripts. Stacking several can slow the page more than the proof helps. Check page speed after each install.
- Thin proof. Three reviews or an empty rating can do more harm than no rating. Wait until you have enough, or show a different signal.
How to test social proof on your own site
- Start with what you already have. Most winners above moved existing proof rather than creating new proof.
- Find the doubt first. Use post-purchase surveys or session recordings to learn what stops people, then choose proof that answers it.
- Change one thing. Test position or format on its own so you know what worked. Bundled redesigns (#18, #20) can't tell you which part mattered.
- Measure revenue, not clicks. The Clean Commit test above raised clicks and cut sales. Use revenue per visitor or completed sign-ups as the main metric.
- Run it long enough. Run at least one to two full weeks and plan your sample size first. Our A/B testing guide covers how.
If you'd rather have someone run this for you, Oliver Kenyon ran #6 above and several of the homepage and product page tests in our archive, including a homepage hero with a 4.9/5 rating line and press logos (+$78,454/month). See Oliver Kenyon's tests.
Real results: more social proof tests
More winners from the archive. For other kinds of tests, see our examples library.
@oliverkenyon
Blend Commerce
Visually