Use the Carrot Credibility Bar to Build Trust

Do we ever sleep?

Not when it comes to optimizing your websites for conversion. ;-)

Constantly, we’re on the look-out for new ways to improve your (our member’s) website conversion rate. But we don’t just want to increase your conversion rate, we want to make it dead simple for you to make those conversion rate improvements.

In other words, we want to help you convert more visitors in less time.

The Carrot Credibility Bar

Here’s a look at what this credibility bar might end up looking like on your website. This is a version with a testimonial.

And here’s a version with logos.

If that ain’t enough for you, then we even have a custom version where you can add your own text and images to your heart’s desire – like we did with this block quote…

Or video…

Pretty awesome, right?

But this new feature isn’t just remarkable because the dev team here at Carrot did an amazing job designing it and making it easy for our members to use.

No. The feature is amazing for another, more important, reason.

It’s going to help you build more credibility on your website, instantly. But you don’t have to take my word for it.

ConversionXL ran an in-depth test to determine which type of social proof on a credibility bar is the most effective. They used testimonials with and without photos, logos, social sharing buttons, and a whole slew of other types of social proof.

Here’s one example.

Then, they had a control version that ran without any credibility bar.

In the end, one thing was for sure: every single variation of the page with some type of social proof performed better than the control.

And the reason is simple: when people arrive on your website for the first time, they have no reason to trust you. You have to show them that you’re trustworthy. Of course, you want to do that as quickly as possible to avoid them bouncing from your website.

This is why a front-and-center, top-of-the-page, no-scrolling-required credibility bar is so damn effective at building that necessary trust.

People see it the moment they arrive on your website and it confirms for the visitor that they can, indeed, trust you.

Just consider massive organizations like Opendoor, insurance.com, or ourselves ( :D ) that count on a credibility bar for building trust with visitors.

So, you’re probably wondering by now, What should I put on MY website’s credibility bar?

For that, there are a few different options.

Consider…

Displaying a compelling testimonial from a happy customer.
Displaying a series of logos from publications your business has been mentioned in.
Displaying a series of logos from other companies you’ve worked with.
Displaying awards your business has won.

The way you to choose to use this feature will depend on how you want to build credibility with website visitors and the kind of credibility builders you have access to.

But, to help you make an informed decision, here are the types of social proof that ConversionXL found (from the study I mentioned earlier) had the highest recall rate among participants, and thus (this part is conjecture) the highest impact.

As it turns out, testimonials were the most effective at generating website visitor recall.

Whatever type of social proof you choose, every single Carrot member should be able to make use of this feature – whether it’s through a testimonial or a series of company logos. This feature worked with our real estate agent websites as well!

Plus, a credibility bar can help you stand out from other websites online (i.e. the competition), giving you the extra edge you need in your market.

If you still don’t want to use the credibility bar, though, no worries. This feature is completely optional, so you can just leave your website as it is now if you’d rather.

For the rest of you, go here to learn about how to add the credibility bar to your Carrot-powered website.