11 Eye-Catching Website Content Examples that Use Connections to Build Authority

Jennifer Bischoff profile picture
By Jennifer Bischoff

Published
9 min read

The more outside sources that can vouch for your software company, the better.

A glowing review of your outstanding customer service, or a testimonial highlighting your beautiful user interface will convince new prospects to take a chance with you.  Similarly, a well-known company saying they are a customer of yours is a great vote of confidence to sway wary buyers.

More and more software companies are leveraging this social proof principle to influence potential customers to notice what they are offering.

It’s likely if you are a software company, you are already using some of these Trust Elements, but what are some design savvy ways other successful software websites are displaying these to increase conversions?

Here are 11 eye-catching website content examples that get noticed:

  1. Customer Logos


Customer content is some of the most sought after information from prospects to gauge the quality of your product and services, as well as the fit with their own organization.

One of the easiest ways to build credibility is by displaying your customer logos on your website.  This offers easy visual brand recognition but also lets a prospect know right away what other type businesses or organizations are using the software (and how similar to his own company they are).

The example below on Basecamp's website demonstrates the use of logos that integrate nicely with their general design aesthetic.  The example also shows how logos and customer visuals lend to a nice educational balance with relevant images compared to strictly text heavy website content.

Customer Logos

  1. Customer Testimonials


Customer testimonials are a great tool to publicly show real people that are raving about your product.


Below on Alma's web page, you can see customer testimonials that are placed in prominent locations on their website.  They are paired with friendly-looking customer pictures that increase the legitimacy of the comments as well as provide more information on the name, position, organization, and even location of the customer!

Customer Testimonials

  1. User Generated Video


Beyond displaying a traditional testimonial, the below example on Mhelpdesk's website uses customer generated video to include even more useful praise for their solution!  These testimonials cover good ground on the software as each is organized around main benefit areas for prospects.  What is more believable than seeing and hearing from the actual mouths of customers!?

User Generated Video

4) Social Media Engagement

Do you have customers that are saying good things about your company on Twitter?  Use those great tweets on your website to stream across the screen like HubSpot does below.  It’s valuable for prospects to see your customers speaking positively of you in very public forums like social media channels.  Such public displays of approval can also have the extra benefit of influencing current customers to remain committed and consistent with their comments over time.

In this example screenshot, HubSpot also leverages their social website connections by displaying those exact numbers on each button for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  Such high engagement will indicate others are seeing a great value add and the software is popular.

Social Media Engagement

  1. Customer Reviews Badge


Similarly, if you have quality reviews on third party channels and review sites, don’t just leave them there; leverage them on your own website as well.  If the channel offers a badge, you can integrate it into the design of your website like the example below.  This can increase the percent of prospects that are exposed to quality feedback on your product.

On ApplicantStack's website, the badge is strategically placed under a compelling conversion path and is a cohesive part of a designated ‘User Reviews’ section that also offers navigation to another page full of testimonials.

Customer Reviews Badge

  1. User Survey Rankings


If you have strong user rankings in certain areas on a third party survey page, you can take advantage of this by displaying that content prominently on the website.  HubSpot puts these user rankings to work by creating design icons and copy on their website and then linking back to the third party website where those data points are supported.  Similarly, Capterra ranks Top Reviewed Software Companies for each category so you can translate your ranking into copy and design that toots your own horn.

User Survey Rankings

  1. Customer Success Stories - 2 Examples


A customer success story or case study can give great insight into what pain points other companies were seeing and how your software tackled those and offered measurable results.

In the Infusionsoft example below, as in previous designs, this software company displays great images of the customers themselves.  The headline of this section makes it clear that small businesses will see success with their software.  For other small businesses, this will resonate right away before a prospect even clicks through to the actual story.  They also pull targeted and creative benefits-focused copy right below the images that gets to the heart of each business owner’s success with the tool.

Customer Success Stories 1

The next example on design for a customer success story puts great prominence on using customer logos.  This is because Salesforce proudly serves some very recognizable brands.  They’ve also pulled out testimonials to appear next to the call to action so they are utilizing multiple authority principles.  For those prospects that want to see peer company stories, Salesforce offers an easy way to filter the large number of stories by industry or product.  The large number of success stories they have collected is also impressive.

Customer Success Stories 2

  1. Third Party Rankings


Have you been ranked by a credible third party source?  Display that on your website.

In the below example, Wintac software was ranked number one in Capterra's Field Service Software Infographic .  They complement their bold header statement with an image certificate that links to the third party rankings.  Superlative statements can be easily overlooked and seen as less impactful or ‘fillers’ unless there are valid metrics or sources to back them up.  In this case, the data empowers the copy and gives more weight than something strictly vendor-generated.

Third Party Rankings

  1. Third Party Awards


Similarly awards, separate from rankings, can indicate the quality of your offering to prospects.

Here’s an example from Act-On, a software company awarded and ranked in major publications such as Inc. Magazine and Forbes.  They leverage these awards through copy and prominent placement on their website.  They then link to another page that is a comprehensive house for all of their awards and accolades.

Third Party Awards

  1. Media Mentions


Got mentioned in trustworthy media outlets?  Spring Metrics displays well-known industry media channels such as TechCrunch in a section on their website. Using mentions in popular media outlets  is a great way to harness the power of affiliation.

Media Mentions

  1. Major Integrations


On Unbounce's website, they know that their customers use many other tools for their business so they have included integrations to make it easier to work across tools and systems.  If your prospect uses one of these popular tools already and they notice your system integrates with it, they are much more likely to feel secure that your software will fit into their day-to-day workflows.  Take note how they also have a testimonial around that says how useful the integration was!

Major Integrations

  1. Security Logos


Entering your payment information online is scary to some people. My main concern when buying online...is this site secure? Will my information be stolen or sold? Giving your customer the peace of mind by posting the security you use, will put them at ease when they are making the decision to provide you with sensitive, personal information, like their credit card.

Salesforce posts their security measures right under where you submit your personal information. This technique adds an additional layer of confidence while the customer is giving you their personal details. Customers are not always forthcoming with their personal info, so anything you can do to make them feel more comfortable will help. If you are having trouble or want to learn how to add trust badges, check out this site.

security logos 2 salesforce

  1. Log in With Popular Social Media Sites


Integrating your website with social media channels, like Google + or LinkedIn, has many benefits. Pre-filled information means the buyer spends less time completing the form and can focus on the information you are providing. There is a much higher chance of a valid lead due to the fact that it’s much easier to enter fake information when manually filling out a form versus making a login for a fake social account. And lastly, promoting ease on a login not only shows the website is more modern, but reflects that the actual software will be more user friendly.

On Workable’s website, they have the option for LinkedIn and Google+ log in. For a user, this means they don’t have to spend time creating a whole new account, and the vendor can show they have the ability to integrate their website with social media. As a customer who has used this feature before, I am more willing to provide my information knowing it’s just a quick login away vs. a breakdown of my basic info.

Check out these statistics on B2B marketers who are using LinkedIn. Given that so many people use these social media sites, you can’t go wrong with making their login process easier.

Capture

  1. Updated Content


A great way to ensure businesses that you are reputable is by keeping your information up-to-date. This could include blog posts, pricing, and design. It’s important to make sure you are on current topics and staying on top of your website so that businesses are also more willing to check your site frequently.This won’t always be noticed by new visitors, but returning customers and prospective buyers will be able to see that the information is consistently new and up to date. And new viewers will see that you are keeping up with the times!

Insightly is great at keeping their blog up-to-date and posting frequently to keep their readers engaged and their content relevant. Even updating older blog posts (like this one) provides confidence to the buyer that the vendor is still engaged with their site. The goal is to reflect their engagement/maintenance of the actual product.

updating blog

Building authority on your website by leveraging what others are already saying about you is an important part of helping you grow in market share. As you get great mentions in social media channels, directly from customers, and on third party websites, make sure to place those on your website to provide compelling reasons for prospects to sign up.

Designed a great authority building website? Comment below with what you did and give your hard working web designers some street cred.

Depending on your needs, you can hire a company for help optimizing your website. Check out our hiring guides for web development companies and web design companies to determine which one would be a better fit for you.


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About the Author

Jennifer Bischoff profile picture

As part of Capterra’s product team, Jen focuses on CRO and UX, particularly on best practices for mobile lead generation. Staying abreast of how buyers access and interact with product content across devices keeps her fingers tapping. A graduate of UofM, Jen enjoys reading classics, writing, and being taken for walks by her Bernese and St. Bernard.

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