How to Sell More Online Courses Using Social Proof

Title

How to Sell More Online Courses Using Social Proof | The Ultimate Guide

Date

Jan 1, 2025

Description

In this article, we’ll discuss how you can use social proof to promote your online courses. When done right, social proof can be a powerful marketing tool.

Status

Current Column

Person

Writer

Your online course is a product in which you have invested a lot.

Resources, time, and your hopes.

You most likely created it to help others while making money.

How will you make sure your prospective students like it enough so they buy it?

One of the most powerful ways to achieve that is by using social proof from your past students.

This is the best way you have to tell the world what to expect from the course, if the content is actually valuable, and how well it delivers on the promises you made on the sales page.

Can you imagine how difficult would it be to try to sell an online course without social proof?

Relying on testimonials, reviews, and other forms of social proof it's not only relevant but essential to scale the sales of any online course.

In this article, we'll discuss how you can use social proof to promote your online course, mastermind, or training program.

We’ll cover topics like:

1) Five different types of social proof you can use

2) How to get useful reviews and testimonials for your course

3) Five ways you can use social proof to promote your online courses

By the end of this article, you'll have a solid understanding of how to use social proof to promote your online courses.

So let's get started!

Some course creators fall short in their efforts to grow their income from online programs because they rely on platform reviews only.

There's a lot more than you can do.

While you don't necessarily need to use all of the forms of social proof available through an appropriate marketing strategy, getting to know the different types of social proof and understanding which one would fit your curse. The best would be ideal.

In this section, we'll take a look at five different types of social proof and give you some tips on how to use them to create an effective marketing strategy for your course.

1. Testimonials

I would definitely start with testimonials.

Testimonials are different from reviews, and by nature superior, too.

When properly used on sales pages, testimonials increase conversions like crazy.

Testimonials can help you:

Build trust.

Highlight the benefits of your product from the voice and experience of another person.

Help your prospects create an emotional connection with you as a professional and so, the course that you're selling.

Testimonials can come in multiple formats.

These could be the written, graphic, or video experiences of your past students.

They should be positive and specific and show how your course solves a real problem.

This how Justin Welsh, a creator that has made millions from his online courses did it with The Creator MBA.

Justin believes so strongly in Testimonials that one of his yearly milestones was getting, “700 new 5-star testimonials.”

According to a study, 90% of customers searched the internet for solutions in the past year, and 82% made it through online reviews.

So, it doesn't matter if your course is about cooking, painting, or highly technical internet skills - testimonials will help you.

It’s simple.

People want to buy from other people. People want to buy from people they trust.

You can speed up your results and make your life a lot easier by running your testimonial marketing efforts using a tool like Testimonial.

I invite you to check it out and see if it’s worth it or not. You can even get started risk-free by simply signing up for the Forever Free plan or starting a free trial of any of our paid plans.

You can learn more about our product and each of the plans available here.

User-generated content (UGC) is any content that is created by users, such as reviews, comments, or social media posts.

UGC can be a great way to show potential customers that others are using and enjoying your product.

This section of Dream Studio by Kevin Shen’s landing page is made of X shoutouts from students.

This could be anything from featuring positive tweets or reviews from customers on your website, to simply displaying your social media follower counts or the number of students.

A good example is Ship30for30, which shows various tweets from past students on their landing page making it very effective and well-supported.

In their case, they have these social media reviews but also a Wall of Love, creating great synergy.

That way their website is a money-making machine that has served over 10,000 students since its launch.

3. Public Ratings & Rating sites

Reviews from third-party websites like Google or your course listing can be extremely valuable for your business.

They provide potential customers with an unbiased look at what others think of your material.

Tip: We recommend responding to both positive and negative reviews.

Negative reviews can be difficult to read, but they provide valuable feedback that can help you improve your business.

If you take the time to respond thoughtfully and address the issues raised, potential students will see that you care about your course participants and are committed to providing a great experience.

4. Case Studies

Case studies are in-depth stories that illustrate how your course has helped solve a problem for a student.

They provide valuable insights into how your course works and can be very persuasive for potential new customers. They're especially useful if you have a complex course.

Case studies are one of the ultimate forms of social proof, hence their importance.

People want to learn about other businesses from the voice and perspective of their equals and not from a sales pitch. So, testimonials, reviews, and case studies should be part of your marketing combo if you are looking to get ahead. These allow you to impress your potential customers’ minds in a way that ads and fancy websites can’t.

The best? You can use AI to create these custom case studies for you.

💡

How To Create Custom Marketing Case Studies With AI in Seconds

5. Expert Endorsements

Not every testimonials counts the same or has the same power.

If you can get well-known experts in your industry to vouch for your online course, that can be invaluable social proof.

Eddie did a very good job on his Very Good Copy landing page. 🎉

For instance, when working with clients for his GymLaunch course/program Alex Hormozi is known for running ads using himself.

Don’t want to bother with complicated tutorials?

Make testimonials a one-time, headache-free setup with Testimonial.to.

How to Get Useful Reviews and Testimonials for Your Course

Are you struggling to get testimonials for your online course?

You're not alone. A lot of course creators find it tough to get people to leave feedback.

In this section, we’re going to share some tips that will help you get more testimonials from your students. Read on!

So how do you go about getting testimonials and reviews in the first place?

Here are six tips and methods that will help you with this process:

1. Where Should You Link Your Customers to Receive Testimonials?

First, make sure that you have a place for students to leave their feedback.

This could be in the form of a comments section on your course page, review sites, or a link to an online survey.

If you want all your testimonials in one place, you should consider trying Testimonial.to.

You would get a dedicated collection page you can share with your customers so they can leave you text or video feedback in seconds, without any additional processing or storage costs.

Remember, students are your customers and they are trying to do something good for you so the least you can do is give them a seamless experience.

Make the process too difficult and you will lose them!

So go ahead and create a form, survey, or collection page or some sort.

Pro Tip: Now that you have a specific link in mind, add it to your email signature!

💡

Try our Email signature with a testimonial generator. It’s 100% free. No sign up required.

2. Use Your Contact List and Reach Out to Past Students

If you've already taught the course, reach out to past students.

You could ask them how they found the course, what they enjoyed about it, and if they have any suggestions to help you improve the content.

If the platform you are using allows it, you can try to only reach out to students that completed the course.

You can also use Testimonial email assistant.

The Testimonial Email Assistant, or T.E.A., is an innovative tool designed to automate and streamline your testimonial collection process.

You can find TEA in the Integrations section on the left navigation bar 👇

It takes the hassle out of following up with customers and ensures you never miss an opportunity to gather valuable feedback. With the workflow now complete, you can streamline your testimonial collection process. The team behind Testimonial focused on creating a solution that automates testimonial requests, helping you accomplish more.

Now, you can request, collect, and showcase your testimonials using a single tool: Testimonial.to.

This tool seamlessly integrates into your existing email workflow:

Send your regular confirmation email to your customer.

BCC T.E.A's unique email address and include a special snippet with customer details.

T.E.A. automatically schedules a personalized testimonial request.

The request is sent based on your custom timing settings, ensuring optimal engagement.

Now you can focus entirely on delivering excellent products or services while T.E.A. handles the testimonial follow-ups.

One of the easiest ways to get testimonials and reviews is to simply ask your students for them, in a one-on-one conversation.

Wherever it seems like they'd be easy to reach, which often tends to be social media DMs. You can also ask for testimonials and reviews by email, text, or in person.

This is especially effective if you have a good relationship with your students or are interested in building one.

The applicability of this step will depend on the type of course you are selling, the number of students you have each month, if you have upsell options, and the time and labor resources available to engage and conversate with your students to get their feedback.

If your course has a forum, a private community or you have an active social media presence you can post a request for testimonials and reviews there.

This is a great way to get feedback from your students openly and transparently.

Using a community such as a Facebook Group, Circle, or Geneva, can help you stay more connected with your students as well as throw in an ask once in a while.

For example, WIP is a very open community for builders and indie makers where you can share new stuff you are building, milestones, lessons learned, and more.

You could easily be getting feedback, reviews, and other type of input from students and potential students in communities like this.

5. Online Review Platforms

Platforms like Udemy, Teachable, and Thinkific allow students to leave reviews for courses they've taken.

You can use these platforms to gather testimonials from past students.

If you have reviews on multiple platforms such as any social media platform and you want to put all of them together into a beautiful Wall of Love, you can use Testimonial.to.

Be Specific!

When reaching out to potential reviewers or testimonial writers, be specific about what kind of feedback you're looking for—whether it's positive comments about the quality of the course material, compliments on your teaching style, or both.

This will help ensure that you get meaningful feedback that you can use to improve your course and market it effectively.

Asking for reviews and testimonials might feel awkward at first, but there are lots of benefits to doing so—including improved visibility, increased credibility, and higher enrollment numbers.

And when it comes down to it, getting good reviews is simply a matter of following a nine simple tips. So what are you waiting for?

Start collecting those reviews today!

Online courses are a great way to teach people new skills and share your expertise with the world. But how do you go about promoting your online courses?

One great way to promote your courses is through social proof – showing potential students that your courses are highly rated.

It will help ensure that potential students are aware of the great benefits your courses offer.

In this section, we’ll discuss five ways you can use social proof to promote your online courses. Keep reading to learn more.

1. Include Customer Testimonials on Your Course Landing Page.

One of the most effective ways to use social proof is to include customer testimonials on your course landing page.

When potential students see that others have had success with your course, they'll be more likely to sign up themselves. One simple way to do so, without any coding required is to use Testimonial.to.

If you're looking for some inspiration, check out the website Justin Welsh and Kevin Shen created. If that wasn't enough, you could also check out useEffect and NonDevelopers.

Here’s an example from Kevin Shen’s Dream Studio Course:

Creating a social media presence is an excellent way to promote your courses.

By regularly sharing updates and promoting your courses on social media, you can reach a larger audience and generate more interest in your courses.

You can use design tools like Figma which has Free Testimonial Templates to create posts. Or screenshot tools like Screely or BrandBird.

3. Create a Wall of Love

What better way to show your students and customers just how much you care than with a Wall of Love? Companies like Superhuman or Rewardful created a Wall of Testimonials.

To do so, you can create a page such as /love or /wall-of-love and showcase all your awesome testimonials in one place. Our tool, Testimonial.to can help you build one in minutes!

Here’s an example of the Wall of Love from Superhuman:

Another great way to promote your courses is to get involved in online discussion forums, communities, and Facebook Groups related to your course topic. By engaging with potential students in these communities, you can show them that you're an expert in your field and that your courses are worth taking. I mentioned a few of them above. They will be really helpful.

5. Make Sure Your Courses Are Listed on Reputable Directories.

One of the best ways to promote your courses is to make sure they're listed on reputable directories such as ClassCentral. By getting your courses in front of potential students who are actively searching for them, you can increase the chances that they'll sign up for your course. This will also help with your SEO, mainly if your course is targeting a specific niche.

By following these tips, you can use social proof to effectively promote your online courses and increase signups!

Not sure where to start? Start by creating an effective landing page that encourages potential students to enroll in your courses by showcasing Testimonials. And don’t forget to actively participate in online communities and forums related to your course topic; this will help you build credibility with potential students and attract new leads. Finally, make sure your courses are listed on reputable directories – this will increase the chances that people will find and enroll in your courses.

Wrapping Up…

And there you have it: How to Sell More Online Courses Using Social Proof, The Ultimate Guide.

Social proof is an essential ingredient in online course marketing and can help convince potential students to enroll in your online courses. By using the different types of social proof we’ve outlined, you can create an irresistible offer for your online courses. Have you tried any of these techniques? What has been your experience? Let me know on Twitter.

If you want a tool to help you get the most out of your social proof, you should check out the platform we've built, Testimonial.to.

It will help you streamline the process of collecting, managing, and showcasing your testimonials in a single place.

Thank you for reading, we hope you've found this helpful!