SocialProof 7factors 091615final

The 7 Critical Factors Proven to Increase Conversions and Sales...

And 3 WarningSigns to Avoid at All Costs

Social Proof Doctor • (888)-590-9677 • email: [email protected] • www.socialproofdoctor.com

SocialProof 7factors 091615_Layout 1 9/18/15 12:20 PM Page 1

2 0 1 5 , S O C I A L P R O O F D O C T O R , L L C , A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D .

2

Table of ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

The Costs of Inadequate Proof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The 7 Critical Factors Proven to Increase Conversions and Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3 Warning Signs To Avoid at All Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Testimonials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

IntroductionCONVERSION – the most important word in business. The concept is simple: Without

conversion, you get no clicks, no calls, no sales. With conversion, you enjoy more clicks,

more calls, more sales and more revenue.

RETENTION – arguably the second-most-important word in business. Without client

retention you have no customers. And without customers, you have no business. Smart

business owners understand that retaining customers is as important as

getting new customers into their businesses.

These simple words SEEM so easy to understand, but the key to increasing conversions

and retaining customers remains elusive for many business owners–so much so that the

vast majority of entrepreneurs we survey say that increasing conversion ranks as one of

their top five business priorities.

But the reality is that the key to increasing conversion lies hiding in plain sight. One of the

most powerful– and cost-effective–ways to increase conversions and sales is to gather

and leverage “social proof,” compelling evidence that your products or services provide

value and you serve your customers or clients at the highest level. But sadly, only a very

small percentage of the businesses we survey gather social proof; far fewer use it

effectively. That’s the good news for you, though, because that’s where YOUR opportunity

lies: With so many businesses falling short, you enjoy the opportunity to set your business

apart in the marketplace and increase dramatically your leads, conversions, and sales.

In this white paper, we show you how you can do that, quickly and easily.


T H E 7 F A C T O R S T O I M P R O V E C O N V E R S I O N S A N D S A L E S


3

The Costs of Inadequate ProofWhen we survey businesses, we find that as many as 80% of you need to

increase conversions. Bolstering your social proof provides a key mechanism for

garnering those conversion increases. But you won’t get there with a few meager

testimonials—and it’s shocking how few businesses, even BIG businesses, meet

the standard. For example, we consulted with a $100-million company that does

corporate “turnarounds.” In other words, they take businesses that sit on the

precipice of failure and bring them to profitability. This was clearly the kind of

business that could and should have been gathering substantial social proof—easily.

But their website contained only a handful of meager testimonials. The reason?

Their “system” for gathering social proof consisted of relying upon individuals who

worked directly with clients to solicit the testimonials, with no oversight or support.

As a result, they gathered shockingly few testimonials, leaving this company with

virtually no tangible proof of the dramatic results it produced.

To really differentiate your business in the marketplace and sway prospective

customers, clients, or patients, you need more. The secret to business growth lies

in generating and leveraging an adequate quantity and quality of social proof.

Think about it for a minute: Imagine going to the website of a consultant and finding

that he had 8 testimonials and two case studies, demonstrating the efficacy of his

services. You might be impressed until you found a second consultant who offered

over 100 testimonials, 10 case studies, and statistical data proving that 90% of

her customers were satisfied and 98% would recommend her. And if the second

consultant offered statistical data proving that the average client increased

revenue by 17%, the evidence would become overwhelming.

Which consultant would YOU hire? Chances are you’d choose the one who offered

the most proof—and so will our prospective customers, clients, or patients. Let’s look

at the 7 critical factors that are PROVEN to increase conversions, sales, and revenue,

the key elements of gathering and effectively using multiple types of social proof.




4

The 7 Critical Factors Proven to Increase Conversions and SalesCritical Factor #1: Marketing Excellence and Continuous Process Improvement.

Some businesses enjoy a constant flow of qualified leads that they convert expertly

into conversions, sales, and revenue. Then they retain those customers, clients, or

patients at an astoundingly high rate. What do they do? They rely upon a feedback

system that fuels their marketing, externally, and ensures continuous process

improvement, internally. They do the latter because their systems ensure that, if

quality slips or degrades anywhere in the company, they’ll know immediately so

they can solve the problem before it costs them customers, clients, and/or dollars.

Even where quality doesn’t degrade, they constantly use their systems to identify

the “tweaks” that will ensure they’re always getting better. That same system fuels

their marketing by continuously—and automatically—generating 5 vital forms of

social proof—

1. testimonials,

2. general satisfaction data,

3. specific satisfaction data,

4. case studies, and

5. online reviews.

Then they ensure that they leverage that proof effectively, internally by channeling

it to the units within their organization that can benefit from the feedback; externally,

they capitalize on the proof through effective marketing that can skyrocket conversions,

sales, and revenue. Let’s look at each of these forms of proof more closely.

Critical Factor #2: Testimonials. Testimonials provide the “stories that stick” with

your prospective customers, clients, or patients. These stories persuade best when

they describe: 1) what the problem, issue, or challenge was, before using your

product or service; 2) the experience of purchasing from you, working with you, or

using your product or service; and 3) the results they obtained. Getting these

testimonials can be difficult. Ultimately, businesses typically fail because they don’t

have a system in place for gathering testimonials on an ongoing basis. Without that




5

system, they simply never gather this all-important evidence. And without the proof

they need, they leave thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table

in the form of lost leads, sales, and conversions. The solution? Use cost-effective

survey systems, with a testimonial generator, as we describe below.

Critical Factor #3: General Satisfaction Data. No matter how glowing your case

studies and testimonials are, they may not be enough to convince your prospective

clients. Doubt may continue to nag at your prospects, who think,

• “I’ll bet those testimonials were ‘hand picked’. . . ”

• “How typical are these results?”

• “How many people actually got results?”

• “And what percentage of clients were really satisfied?”

The reality is that many of your competitors won’t have the information to answer

those questions or to overcome those objections.

Statistical satisfaction data provide the most powerful form of social proof you can

use to overcome that hurdle. And, because most businesses lack this compelling

form of proof, these data offer a key way to differentiate your company further in

the marketplace.

General satisfaction data come from measures that tap the global, or overall

satisfaction with your product, service, or business. These measures typically

provide useful information for your marketing, because they’re easily interpreted

and provide a summary indicator. To really ensure continuous process improvement

in your business, though, we recommend that you combine these with the next

critical factor, specific satisfaction data.

Critical Factor #4: Specific Satisfaction Data. Although most businesses focus on

overall satisfaction measures, we encourage you to also include specific satisfaction

measures. For internal use in your organization, these more specific measures

provide critical information to augment the overall satisfaction measures, in 2 ways:

1. If overall satisfaction is high, they can illuminate areas that can still be

enhanced. This proves key to continuous process improvement.




6

2. If overall satisfaction is low, these measures provide vital information to

identify areas of improvement on which you can focus, to increase the

overall satisfaction before it affects your bottom line. This proves key to

customer retention.

These measures aren’t just useful internally; they can also fuel your marketing by

providing even more ammunition to increase conversions, sales, and revenue. By

highlighting the areas in which you provide outstanding products, services, or

customer service, they specify and amplify your general satisfaction data. And here’s

a tip for making them even more powerful: If you target your specific satisfaction

questions at areas in which customers’ objections typically arise, you’ll gain a

powerful weapon for confronting those objections directly.

Critical Factor #5: Case studies. Case studies differ from testimonials in 2 key ways.

First, they provide more complete descriptions of how your product, service, or

customer service produced a transformation or result, and how you “took” someone

from Point A to Point B. Second, whereas testimonials should be in the words of

your customer, client, or patient, case studies provide YOUR description of the

transformation your customer, client, or patient experienced. The journey might be

from illness to health, from bankruptcy to solvency, or from incompetence to

competence—whatever the journey and outcome, documenting it provides

persuasive power for prospective clients, customers, or patients. If you’re selling

products, you still have the opportunity to produce case studies that describe

either the effects of the product or the effects of the customer service.

There are 2 key ways to make your case studies even more powerful:

1. If a customer or client describes how the results they achieved or the

customer service you provided exceeded that of your competitor, you enjoy

an enormous opportunity to differentiate your business in the marketplace.

2. If you have identified core objections of past prospects, you can design

case studies effectively to meet those objections with compelling evidence.

You can build case studies efficiently and effectively by identifying key candidates

for case studies in surveys (e.g., looking for customers or clients who provided

particularly strong testimonials and/or high levels of specific and general




7

satisfaction), then inviting them to become case studies. And you’ll be surprised

at how willing your customers or clients will be to participate; many will feel

honored to receive the invitation.

Critical Factor #6: Online Reviews. Online reviews have become a key driver in

consumer decision-making:

• A recent study by Deloitte reveals that 1 in 4 (25%) of all Americans do

“comparison shopping” on the web.1

• Fully 75%—3 in 4—of surveyed respondents indicated that the information

presented on online rating sites is “generally fair.”2

A 2013 study by BrightLocal revealed that 79% of consumers trust online reviews as

much as personal recommendations.3

Harvard Business Review published results of a sophisticated multivariate (multiple

regression) analysis showing that a 1-star increase in Yelp ratings produced a 5-9%

increase in revenue for restaurants.4

Healthcare consumers are becoming just as savvy as their counterparts in other

sectors: A survey by Price-Waterhouse Cooper’s Health Research Institute showed

that nearly half (48%) of consumers had read healthcare reviews online; of those,

more than 2/3—68%—of respondents said those reviews affected their healthcare

choices.5

Even churches are being reviewed, on such sites as Yelp.com and Churchrater.com.

Yet, despite the clear importance of online reviews for all businesses, research

suggests that business owners underestimate the importance of reviews: Only

about half of business owners surveyed felt online reviews were important and

nearly 1 in 4 (23%) rated them as “unimportant.”6

1 “Deloitte 2012 Survey of U.S. Health Care Consumers: The performance of the health care system and health care reform” Paul Keckley, PhD and Sheryl Coughlin, PhD MHA. 2012

2 “Do Consumers Trust Online Reviews?” Ayaz Nanji. September 5, 2013.

3 “2013 Study: 79% of Consumers Trust Online Reviews As Much As Personal Recommendations” Myles Anderson. June 26, 2013.

4 “Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com”. Harvard Business Review. Michael Luca. September 16, 2011

5 Scoring Healthcare: Navigating Customer Experience Ratings. Healthcare Research Institute, Price Waterhouse Cooper. April 2013.

6 Small Business Online Reviews Survey. Yodle. February 2014.




8

Taken together, then, these data show how critically important it is for businesses

to encourage online reviews—and because so many businesses underestimate the

importance of reviews, those who do implement a system to ethically encourage

positive reviews can quickly move ahead of competitors who don’t take action.

Gathering these five forms of social proof can bring significant increases in revenue

and growth—so much so that focusing on all five forms can potentially double your

revenue. But if the gains are so clear, why aren’t more businesses harnessing and

using social proof effectively? We think the reason lies in the way most businesses

gather social proof.

Critical Factor #7: Gathering Social Proof Cost-Effectively and Systematically.

Businesses that do gather social proof often incur far more direct costs and suffer

from much more hidden costs than they realize.

Let’s take, for example, a typical business that employs a phone sales team and

tasks them with the job of soliciting testimonials. The direct costs—the hourly

wages paid to team—may be the only recognized costs. But consider what the

hidden costs may be.

• First, this kind of activity can “burn out” a sales team. Calls to request

testimonials are unlikely to provide many sales. Because salespeople

must expend effort on tasks that yield few commissions or bonuses, the

hidden cost is higher turnover for the sales team.

• A second hidden cost lies in a well-known problem of live interviews, which

involves a “social desirability” response.

• The goal of proof gathering should be to find both the positive AND

the negative reactions to your product or service, so that you can find

and fix flaws quickly before they become costly. It’s far better to hear

“bad news” in a satisfaction survey than to learn of it through

widespread customer defection and plummeting revenues.

• But if you call customers on the phone, they’re far less likely to provide

the candid responses you need than they would be if you asked them

to complete an online, mobile, or paper survey, in which there is no




9

human interaction to affect response. The reason lies in what social

scientists call “social desirability responses:” Research shows clearly

that people are much more likely to disclose negative information in

an impersonal setting—such as an online survey—than they are in a

phone or in-person interview.

Similarly, if a business uses “testimonial contests,” another commonly used way

to generate testimonials, they incur both staff costs and the cost of prizes—and

this method also carries the hidden cost of potential Federal Trade Commission

violations.

The alternative? Use online and mobile surveys to gather all five forms of proof,

providing a much more cost-effective, efficient solution that can dramatically

increase both the quantity and quality of social proof collected. The key to increasing

your return on investment (ROI) lies in putting surveys in place systematically. For

example, one of our customers, who runs a small ecommerce store, sends out an

invitation to complete an online satisfaction survey 10 days after her products ship.

This system has proved so successful that it produces 10-15 testimonials, each and

every month, on “autopilot.” The result? This tiny business offers far more convincing

proof than the $100-million company we described above, which gathers almost

no proof.

3 Warning Signs To Avoid at All CostsAre you gathering proof effectively in your organization? Do you need to do more

to truly differentiate yourself, to set your company apart from your competitors?

And if you are gathering proof, are you incurring hidden costs that sabotage your

organization and depress your bottom line?

Here are the 3 warning signs that signal you need to take action right away:

Warning Sign #1: You Need More Leads, Sales, or Conversions. If this describes you,

you’re not alone. The data we cited at the beginning of this report show that you’re

among the majority of business owners. What the majority of business owners miss,




10

though, is how quickly, easily, and inexpensively you can solve this problem, by

putting in place a system that covers the 7 critical factors for increasing conversions

and sales.

Warning Sign #2: You Don’t Have At Least 25 Testimonials, General and Specific

Satisfaction Data, Case Studies, and a Constant Flow of Online Reviews. If you

don’t have all of these critical factors, you are clearly leaving money on the table by

diminishing your supply of qualified leads and your ability to convert those leads

efficiently and effectively. If the task of garnering all of these forms of proof sounds

Herculean, think again. You can put an automated system in place today, generating

these forms of proof on autopilot, for less than $200.

Warning Sign #3: You Aren’t Providing Your Sales and Marketing Team or System

With The Ammunition It Needs. We see it everyday. Even businesses that garner

social proof aren’t using it effectively. The truth is that, once you get a system in

place to generate proof automatically, you will have at your fingertips a treasure trove

of ammunition to use in content creation and marketing. We’ve talk to hundreds of

businesses who aren’t creating content because they just don’t know what to create;

once you begin gathering this proof, you can weave it effortlessly into content and

marketing materials that will attract qualified leads and skyrocket conversions.

How You Can Garner the Proof YouNeed to Skyrock Conversions —Quickly, Easily, and InexpensivelyDoes your business need to increase conversions? Do you have one or more of

the warning signs that signal lost opportunity—and maybe even portend that your

business is in trouble? Then apply for a complimentary strategy session [click here]

with one of our conversion specialists to help you answer these critical questions. If

you qualify, our specialist will evaluate your current online reviews, so they can show

you exactly how your reviews are likely to affect your prospective customers’ choices.

And, if you give us the names of your 3 top competitors, we’ll even assess their


http://socialproofdoctor.com/thank-you-for-signing-up/



11

online reviews, relative to yours, so you can see how you “stack up” to your

competition. Then, during the session, they will discuss with you (a) how you’re

currently gathering social proof; (b) how much social proof you currently have;

(c) how you’re using that social proof, internally to ensure continuous process

improvement and externally in your marketing; and (c) what you can do to improve

your system at low cost and effort. After you apply for your strategy session

[click here], your conversion specialist will contact you to schedule your session.

APPLY FOR YOUR STRATEGY SESSION

Apply for your strategy session or contact us at http://socialproofdoctor.com/thank-you-for-signing-up/






12

Testimonials

“With her guidance, we were able to net morethan a 10% response rate from our survey.”

We had the pleasure of working with Jeanne and her team earlier this year. It was

clear to us very early in the engagement that Jeanne is not only a brilliant individual

and one of the leading authorities in her craft, but she is also a great person to work

with. The process that Jeanne led us through was well defined and had a logical

flow, which resulted in no wasted steps or time!

With her guidance, we were able to net more than a 10% response rate from our

survey. This is 2X or better than our average for our more typical customer

satisfaction and other customer facing surveys. The insights we received from

the survey are incredible and will prove critical to our planning as we prepare our

2016 strategic plan. Through this process we learned a lot about our customers,

business, and ourselves and we owe much of it to Jeanne and her team.

– Tony De Luca, Director of Sales and Marketing,

Swagelok Northern California

“All of this social proof is invaluable for our marketing and has helped us achieverecord sales.”

We have been working with Todd Ramse and Dr. Jeanne Hurlbert for many years.

Their guidance and expertise has led to DAKOTACARE’s growth in our online pres-

ence and digital dominance year after year. Through a recent social proof initiative

they brought to us we secured 253 testimonials, with permission to use them and

showed that 92% of our clients would recommend us and 92% were satisfied with

DAKOTACARE. And, just before Open Enrollment, we were able to prove that over

96% of our clients were satisfied with the online enrollment process. All of this

social proof is invaluable for our marketing and has helped us achieve record sales.

Thank you, Social Proof Doctor!

– Greg Jasmer, Chief Marketing Officer, DAKOTACARE™




13

“Jeanne gets how to properly integrate theprocess of asking and getting feedback fromcustomers so that your entire business isbuilt upon customer needs.”

Jeanne Hurlbert is a survey genius! She gets them: not only how to create and write

them, but much more importantly, Jeanne gets how to properly integrate the process

of asking and getting feedback from customers so that your entire business is built

upon customer needs. If you’re wanting to understand your

customers, to better

connect with them, to sell products that people actually want to

buy; in short - to make more money in your business - Jeanne’s

the person to call! Just do it, now!

– Don Crowther, Breakthrough Consulting

“Jeanne’s Really Been a Genius at Showingme How Important Surveys Are.”

Jeanne’s an amazing gal who truly is an exceptional, unique person who really

understands the power of surveys. Surveys are just a different way to talk to people

and ask them a little about what they’re doing and why they want to do it with you.

The more you know, the better you can serve people.

Jeanne’s really been a genius at helping me realize how important that is. She’s

helped me put a structure into place so when I’m on the Internet working with people

I can find out way they really want so I can do a better job of giving them what they

want. That’s the key - but sometimes we think people want to do “this,” and in actual-

ity, they’d rather do it “this way.”




14

Whatever it is you’re dong, whether it’s finances or dating or relationships or just

business on the Internet, and you want to find out how to do it

better, Jeanne’s programs are fantastic. Anything she does, I’m

always dialed into. She’s just a genius at taking what you’re doing

and making it better, so you can do it more effectively and you can

reach the people you want to more effectively. If you get Jeanne’s

stuff, read it, be disciplined at it, it will transform your business,

as it has mine.

– Jorge Cruise, New York Times #1 Bestselling Author

“It’s a beautiful thing when science alignswith your marketing goals...”

Even as a Harvard trained physician with years of scientific training, I didn’t know

how to craft the measures and surveys that would give me the proof I needed to

market my online programs effectively - that is, evidence of the transformation

those programs produce.

Dr. Jeanne Hurlbert designed a rigorous “before and after” survey that gave me

PROOF of my client’s transformations - irrefutable, scientifically-valid evidence.

She also gathered robust testimonials and validation of how satisfied my clients

were, right inside the survey!

If you’re a coach or trainer or have a product that produces

change, use Jeanne’s awesome strategies both to document how

you’re changing lives, and to prove your intended outcomes. It’s a

beautiful thing when science aligns with your marketing goals, and

Jeanne bridges masterfully those two often disparate domains.

– Sara Gottfied, MD, New York Times Bestselling Author




15

“Had I Done a Survey on My Own, I WouldHave Wasted a Ton of Time and Potential Opportunity.”

As a PhD psychologist, I thought I had a good understanding of survey research.

After meeting and talking in depth with Jeanne and Mike, I knew I had a long way to

go in understanding how surveys can help my business. So I bought their product

and here’s what I found:

The material is clear and concise. I opened the email, logged in to the system,

watch the videos, printed off the worksheets, and walked step-by-step through

the process of creating my first survey.

I’m amazed at the different levels of application of this tool. I’m thinking about my

business and my customers in a completely different manner. I know how to get the

exact information I need to expand my business. I can’t imagine where I would be

without this tool!

Had I done a survey on my own (without Jeanne and Mike’s system),

I would have wasted a ton of time and potential opportunity.

I highly recommend this product!

– Steve Fultz, Stuph Clothing

“...surveys are the newest old way of cutting through the clutter on the Internetand getting the information you need to double or triple your sales”

Jeanne Hurlbert is a genius at constructing surveys that ask the right questions to

elicit the information you need to get to know your clients and customers so you can




16

create the right products for their needs. She’s the missing piece in the social

networking puzzle that puts a human face on the truly important aspects of

connecting.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know about surveys until I worked with Hurlbert. There’s

a sophisticated science behind developing questions that tell you what customers

really think.

Hurlbert gives you the tools, then shows you how to use them to construct a survey

that will give you accurate results. Her personal input is invaluable as she’s been on

the forefront of developing surveys for over 20 years. If you don’t

know it yet surveys are the newest old way of cutting through the

clutter on the Internet and getting the information you need to

double or triple your sales.

– Susan Harrow, CEO of www.PRSecrets.com

and author of Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul

“...She went out of her way to provide us with valuable insights...”

We had an urgent project to capture business demographic information from our

customer base. Not only did Jeanne design and execute a survey to capture this

data, she recommended an approach that provided tremendous added value from a

product planning and marketing perspective. After the survey was completed she

went out of her way to provide us with valuable insights into the results.”

– Karen Davis




17

“We highly recommend Jeanne to anyonewho wants to use surveys to dominate their market.”

Jeanne was extremely helpful in refining our survey to be more

concise and effective. We now have the confidence to use the

revised version with powerful joint venture partners. We highly

recommend Jeanne to anyone who wants to use surveys to

dominate their market.

– Gail Doby, Design Success University

“...the data that you helped me capture willinform the decision making process for myentire business...”

While I thought that I had a pretty good handle on what I needed to ask my

audience, Jeanne’s patient insight into the process revealed that I needed to take a

seat and let the professional do her job. If I had not used Jeanne, it’s very likely I

would have ended up with a mess of unusable data that provided

no solid conclusions or insight - and possibly a large group of

survey takers frustrated and upset because of the nature of my

questions. Thanks very much Jeanne - the data that you helped

me capture will inform the decision making process for my entire

business for well into the next 12 months.

– Andy Jenkins

APPLY FOR YOUR STRATEGY SESSION

Apply for your strategy session or contact us at http://socialproofdoctor.com/thank-you-for-signing-up/



Documents

SocialProof 7factors 091615final