Social proof

Proof works in proportion to its specificity and its attribution. A quote with a name, company and role carries weight; the same quote anonymous carries almost none, because the reader assumes that if it could have been attributed it would have been. A row of logos with no context asks the visitor to be impressed without saying what those companies actually did.

Placement matters as much as content. Proof next to the claim it supports does more than the same proof in a testimonials section at the bottom of the page. If a section says the site is easy for marketing to update, a client saying exactly that belongs beside it, not three scrolls away.

The rule that overrides all of this is that proof must be real. Invented testimonials, inflated numbers and logos used without permission are discovered, and when they are, they retroactively discredit everything true on the page. Thin genuine proof beats rich fabricated proof every time.