There are some things in life we are absolutely certain of, and others where we need more proof.

Of course Father Christmas exists. Who else could deliver presents around the world in just one night?

And before I learned how to buy and sell for profit as a child, the tooth fairy was one of my main sources of income. Of course she’s real, there’s no way my dad, a “get-your-jumper-on-and-turn-the-heating-OFF” Yorkshireman would have parted ways with 50p for one of my teeth.

However, there are other things in the world that we need a little more help in believing.

Such as the promises made by politicians. Or your credit card statement (“I never ordered a super-size Domino’s pizza to myself followed by a whole ice-cream cake… it must be a mistake. Oh wait.”) And of course the dubious argument that success comes only from persistent hard work and NOT an easy button.

Unfortunately, based on the Edelman trust barometer, consumers don’t tend to believe what companies say.

What this means for you when writing a sales page, you have to try extra hard to offer proof about how amazing your product is.

Fortunately, I’ve picked out 5 ways for you to do just that.

1. Get customers nodding with you

I know I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to junk food. Zero. If it’s in my fridge, I’m eating it. This doesn’t stop me buying a 1Kg tub of sweets ‘for the kids’ at Halloween. Even though no kids have been trick-or-treating in the years I’ve lived here. Maybe I’ll stop turning the lights off and closing the curtains this year… maybe.

However, this lack of food willpower is something I know, have personally experienced and can relate to. I don’t need statistics about how people are tempted to eat chocolate when they know it’s not good for them. I am all too aware how seductive sugar is.

So, one way you can lay the groundwork for proof in your own sales page is to re-tell a customer’s firsthand experience. This might be when you talk to them about the problem that they have, or about results they may have seen in the past.

For example:

“You know when your hair is styled perfectly, you feel you can take on the world. So how can you manage that even after you’ve left the salon?”

“It doesn’t matter how meticulous your to-do list is, you find you never get quite as much done as you’d like. So how can you be more productive?”

How does this type of firsthand experience build proof in a sales page? It shows:

• Proof that you understand your target market
• Proof that the problem exists
• Proof that a solution is possible

2. “No really, it happened to my brother’s girlfriend’s cousin…”

“He woke up in an ice cold bath and he’d lost a kidney… Seriously!”

There is power in being told something by someone you know. It’s the reason myth-busting sites like Snopes exist. When people start talking about a story, we listen. And no-one is immune with even national newspapers reporting on hoax stories, simply because it was mentioned elsewhere. 

Now, before you say it, I’m not talking about promoting a hoax story with your business, I’m simply saying, use this power of social proof and find soundbites from others to help prove your product works.

This might be via:

• Testimonials from previous customers
• Testimonials from industry figures
• Poll results 
• News reports (about the problem for example, or the importance of solving the problem)

3. Lab coats are sexy

“Each drop of our anti-aging serum contains more than 7,000 micro bobbles of baby panda tears. This makes your skin more like skin than it was before. Every bottle is cryogenically tested. That is, used on dead billionaires who had themselves frozen after death… And boy do they look younger than their years!”

We can laugh at the cosmetic industry with their animations of how shampoo and make-up works, but science does help prove the promise behind a product.

Even creative industries benefit from science in a sales page. Let’s say you’re a designer. You might feel that you work on creative intuition, but actually you are using rules, formulas and processes that have been proven in the past to be aesthetically pleasing.

So on your sales page you could share HOW you know which colours clash and WHY different designs evoke different types of moods.

Provide the science behind what you do and you not only build proof, you add credibility to your expert status.

4. “Wanna SEE what it can do?”

Visual results are always persuasive.

In online marketing there was a phase of posting screen shots of affiliate cheques and bank statements to show just how much money was being made. The same with huge spikes in traffic stats, or numbers of subscribers.

Why?

Because visual proof is compelling. People read your sales page, get excited about the promises you make, but want to feel good and safe and know what you have works.

Of course, your results have to be real. We’re ethical people here.

Think about your sales page. Is there a way you can illustrate in images the results of your product?

If you work in fitness can you show before and after photos of clients? Make instruments? Use sound clips and video files. Help people be more productive? Get clients to keep a diary to use as a before and after illustration of how they spent their time.

Rather than just tell people what you can do for them, build trust in your sales page by showing them.

5. You do exist… right?

I am guilty on more than one occasion of travelling alone to another country on an international adventure… only to step inside the nearest Starbucks for coffee.

Feel free to judge but I know I’m not the only one who buys food and drink thousands of miles away from a place that’s on the doorstep back home. You see, I know Starbucks. I know they exist, I know what to expect and I know what to order. If I walk into somewhere else, I may not pick a coffee shop correctly, or understand the etiquette of ordering, or know whether the quality is going to have me raving about it on Trip Advisor or clutching my stomach for the next few hours.

It might make me a wimp and rule me out of a job at the National Geographic, but the point is, your customers face a similar dilemma when they read your online sales page.

You know how I mentioned in the previous point that some marketers would post photos of bank statements etc. Well sometimes even though the results were impressive, there was no other evidence of these people existing online. No full website, no social media presence, no real grounding in actual reality.

So how does this relate to your sales page?

Give people plenty of proof that you are an actual business and not a fly-by-night organisation that will be shredding receipts and deleting records within hours of a purchase.

For example, by:

• Telling people how long you’ve been in business
• Explaining how many people you’ve served
• Including any nice things reputable reporting outlets have said about you
• Showing exactly what will happen when they buy from you (what support they get, when they get their products etc)

Make them feel as comfortable about doing business with you as an introverted traveller does in a Starbucks in Nicosia, Cyprus,

Those are just 5 ways to add proof into your sales page. Keep a note because we’ll be using these when we put them altogether at the end of this free series. Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments below