Recently I saw an ad for a Facebook comment-boosting solution in several channels. After the ad came a discussion: whether comments work, which verticals they work for, and all that. This is kind of like cap stuffing—the subject has been tested every which way and is easy to understand. But if people still have questions, maybe this will help someone.
Disclaimer:
- This post is for beginners and non-arbitrans. If you buy traffic, you should already know and use all of this.
- In some locations, fake reviews and ratings can get you fined. I am not urging anyone to do anything.
tldr;
- social proof in general and comments in particular work, and how: at worst, done right, they add 20–30% to ROI (in Russian); sometimes they deliver x2–x3
- sweeps and nutra either do not start without comments or start sadly; the other mechanisms are present almost everywhere by default
- for some verticals, comments add a bonus to ROI—gambling and similar ones
- ecom, COD, and white apps always use social-proof mechanisms but rarely use comments, even though comments are exactly what provide a good boost
Where does this come from?
The densest and most careful testing I did around social proof was while building an ecom project. We had our own brand, store, logistics, an account with (almost) no bans, and all that. I tested everything I could: reviews on creatives, unboxings, comments under ads, testimonials and reviews on landing pages, collecting real reviews, stars, and other mechanisms—you name it. Working properly with social proof across the funnel more than doubled CR. After that, without losing CR, we increased the product price 2.5x.
I saw plenty of tests on gambling apps—the thing everyone modestly calls iGaming now, ha. I ran large tests on non-affiliate apps. One way or another, I tested and untangled this across practically every major vertical.
What are reviews, comments, and testimonials?
They are all social proof. People trust a product more when a review comes from some real (yeah, sure) person. This is not news. It is surprising if you do not use it, but people do forget.
Where it can appear:
- in the creative: unboxings, video inserts, screenshots, stars, ratings, and a couple of relatively fresh approaches
- under the ad: comments first of all; the discussion was about exactly this method
- on a landing page (in Russian) or in a shop: in different forms and at every funnel step—cart, checkout, thank-you page—just like in the creative
Conclusions from experiments and observations
- Social proof works.
- I have almost never seen it make a test worse, and I have seen it improve one plenty of times. Obviously everything was added gently.
- It works at every funnel step: creative, comments on a post, replies to comments, landing and product pages, carts, checkouts.
- For sweeps and nutra, comments on posts give the largest gain of all these mechanisms. Without them there is no gain, or it is not fire. I think that is because landing pages and creatives have been polished for years and are hard to improve. Possible, but hard. Comments are a different story. Not exactly fresh either, but not everyone uses them and not everyone uses them well. Done right, comments add 20–50% to ROI, sometimes more.
- For ecom, COD, and white apps this approach is rarely used, and it is imba: margins there are usually not very high; comments can push them up to traffic-arbitrage ROI.
- For gambling and similar verticals, the gain is noticeable but not as large—people understand what they are getting, so decent comments appear organically. Apps are their own story.
- You need good copy (AI cannot do it yet). Go to Reddit for good copy. Reviews for any kind of product are easy to find there, and the language is native, alive, and current.
- You need to watch the negative comments.
- You need to reply, both as the page and as users, to reasonable questions.
- Subjectively, warming up a post at launch lowers CPM, but I am not very confident about that and need to retest it.
- Optimal: 15–25 reviews or comments and a few dozen reactions. Ten is the minimum threshold where the lift becomes noticeable; after 50 there is almost no additional lift.
- A few years ago LATAM was the pickiest about comments, then Europe, then the US. Now I do not see much difference.
A little math
Along with a huge number of my own tests, I have accumulated external case studies (in Russian). I selected them for myself, so they are good. I will not pretend to be scientific, cite links, or give exact percentages. There is plenty of research; find it yourself if you want. Anyway, good third-party research says the following, and it matches my conclusions:
- people trust reviews about as much as personal recommendations from their close circle—40–90%, depending on age; younger audiences trust them more
- more than half of people will ignore products without reviews
- most people—90% or more—read reviews and comments
- a rating on a product card raises CTR and CR in ecom by 10–30%, sometimes more
- even a few store reviews, according to different tests, can increase add-to-cart conversion by up to 4x—that is a hell of a lot
What is the conclusion?
As usual: test it. In many verticals the landing pages and approaches are already well optimized on their own. Fresh mechanisms can pull ROI higher.
What has your experience been?