A lesson in social proofing from project management software, Flow

This weeks teardown focuses on how Flow users a number of different approaches to weave social proofing on to their landing page. And they do it incredibly well.

Summary

• First thing I love about this landing page is that it's immediately clear who they are trying to target
• This is reiterated through the landing page, starting with a subtle banner along the top, the header text and intro and finally the supporting copy above their customer logos
• Even at a glance, it would be hard to miss that this tool is all about teams. Very nicely done without cluttering things with lots of copy
• They also even provide a subtle hint in the sign up form, asking specifically for your work email. This is a great way to provide a nudge that this a business tool and ensures the right users sign up

Social proofing above the fold

• The next thing that stands out are logos from some of the most recognisable brands in the world
• These send a very powerful message that really help visitors feel like they would be in good company using this tool
• And to really drive home point, Flow uses the copy "trusted by the worlds best teams"
• The term "trusted" is incredibly powerful to highlight the fact that if the best teams in the world trust them, then you can count on them too
• What's already really clever about this is that it requires very little content specifically focussed on the tool itself. i.e If you know it's a project management tool, they are banking on convincing you because of the social proofing and value it has added for other well known teams rather than having to spell out specific features which are now ubiqutous across project management tools

Not only the best teams, 100'000's of teams!

• Next up Flow continues to reinforce the point about who they are targeting
• They then provide an incredibly powerful statement that not only do the best teams use them but 100,000's of teams use them
• In fact, 100,000's of teams use them from all over the world. They literally make you feel like everyone is using flow. You really do wonder why you're not using the tool yet!
• This is then reinforced by EVEN MORE LOGOS of well known brand names using the tool
• More enticing copy, this time weaving in most productive teams, driving home the value and that you need to join to see why
• At this point, there is also something else clever happening. A neat persistent sign up banner, meaning that no matter what part of the page a visitor is viewing, there is a super obvious CTA to get started
• What's clever about this is that it means they don't need to use up valuable real estate to include sign up blocks throughout the landing page.
• It also means that the minute a visitor is convinced they are ready to sign up, the option is always visible so there is zero friction to getting started and no risk of being distracted by something else

And what do people think about Flow

• Well they love it of course! Yet more social proofing, this time using real quotes they have received on well respected review sites
• This is 101 of social proofing. Sharing real feedback from users of the platform
• What's really smart about this is that by showing these after the barrage of household logos, it feels like these are the kinds of things Apple, Shopify, Ted etc are saying. The reality is, they are probably lesser known brands/individuals but it doesn't matter because it just constantly reinforces the message
• What they've also done well is just to take snippets of the best bits from these quotes to really drive home the key points
• It's 'fast', 'a game changer', 'simple' and better than the 'competitors'
• This makes it super easy for visitors to scan and pick up on how happy current customers are without having to read lengthy quotes and extract the key points themselves.
• Important too, because so few people will do more than scan these kinds of things
• One minor snag when I viewed this page was that clicking read more reviews went to a coming soon page which didn't really back up the statement about 'thousands of teams' highly recommending the tool. Hopefully they'll fix that soon.

Social proofing through customer stories

• The final piece of the puzzle on this social proofing masterclass from Flow is where they introduce more detailed social proofing through customer stories
• What's important about this is that as these require a lot more reading and time to digest they are led you to this point with all the other social proofing you can scan
• Having scrolled this far on the landing page, they know they have probably got your attention. You have invested some time digesting everything else and so it's a great time to show you more detailed stuff as you're already invested
• That said, even if you didn't want to read they in full, Flow have done enough with the snippets from the case studies, providing a quote, highlighting the value, again from some very well known brands
• Even if you didn't read them in full, it still makes you feel reassured that big teams are using this and willing to write case studies/be a reference for the tool. Very promising sign.

This wraps up the landing page walkthrough for flow. There's a huge amount of good stuff to take onboard about the things Flow are doing but here are my top 3 takeaways.

Top 3 takeaways

• First key takeaway here is the focus Flow has on who it is targeting. It's essential you're clear on this for your social proofing to be effective. Teams are clearly the target here which means all of the social proofing from logos, quotes, to customers stories, revolve around things relevant to people in teams
• Secondly, numbers can be an incredibly powerful way to convince a visitor that they should jump on board too. They tend to speak for themselves. Flow is lucky that they clearly have a huge customer base to drive home that point with. But even with smaller numbers, you can break down these numbers. Don't have 300,000 teams using your tool, what about 50 people signed up today, or 10,000 projects created today. There are lots of ways you can spin this to drive home the point, obviously some being more powerful than others.
• Finally, take the time to talk to your customers to get quotes and case studies. This is the single most powerful way to demonstrate to prospective customers that you solve a very specific problem them and can back that up with evidence of the value you've added to other companies. It's also incredibly powerful to prospective customers when a tool has well known brands that are essentially happy to be references for its use in this way.

TL;DR download

Just working on the PDF download that wraps all this up into one page for an easy scan. Check back soon.