How to Prove Your Credibility in Your Copy

Credibility and trust in your writing come down to proof. Proof helps your audience experience what you have to offer. Proof also helps people justify their choices, not just to themselves but to their peers and family. No one wants to look like a fool.

Your track record—proof given over time—is just as important. People tend to value things that “stand the test of time”.

What also adds to credibility is the antithesis. This can be a money-back guarantee or a freemium that pads the customer from feeling they’re risking too much. Customers may be borderline interested in a product or timid at the price. So they will appreciate that you let them sample the product or get their money back. You are showing them you understand their mental state.

Nine types of proof provide the best experience in your copy that builds trust and increases sales.

Testimonials: your customers promise your credibility

A good testimonial is like a short story or even flash fiction. You have a character with a problem which the hero—you—has the power to save them from. A good story is an experience that’s easy to remember. Good testimonials can do this.

Testimonials include surveys, letters from customers, case studies, and conversations on social media.

You don’t even have to use someone’s testimonial verbatim. Whether it’s journalism or copywriting, you’re allowed to prune the grammar or use only certain parts.

Some people leave poorly-written testimonials that have lots of filler that will lose potential customers. Edit the filler out. You want to keep their voice, their story, and their choice of words. But like an editor at a publishing company, sometimes you have to help the writer refine how they tell the story.

Personal profiles: you trust who you meet

You can create personal profiles of relevant experts and product creators. It gives the customer a view behind the scenes. They get a chance to “meet” the people behind the product or expertise they’re interested in. It’s like getting VIP tickets to a concert. Only instead, both social and reserved personalities can partake in the experience.

Third-party validation: safety in numbers

Much like the previous examples, third-party validation is a form of social credibility. Fitting names, faces, and backgrounds with opinions make customers feel like they met real people. And real people, at the very least, can be someone else’s guinea pig. At most, people might think highly of the people who endorse you. Then the customers transfer the credibility of those people to you.

Third-party validation includes studies, academic opinions, well-known industry expert opinions, reports from media sources that your audience would respect, and even anecdotes.

Graphs: make proof easy to understand

People grasp and retain some information from graphs better than just words. Graphs can even be fun. Infographics often have several sets of graphs. Readers slow down to study each bit of information. Good visuals have the effect of getting people to take time to think without feeling bored or forced to think hard.

Good feelings make for good experiences.

“Topsoil Organisms Bar Graph” photocourtesy of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Photos: you believe what you can see

Brochures are popular for a reason. So are photo-based social media posts. Photos, in many respects, are the easiest way to sell an idea. Perhaps “a picture is worth a thousand words” carries significance even in marketing?

For example, you can use photos to show before-and-after scenes, working experts, product manufacturing, or how the products are unique. All of these examples tell stories for customers to imagine all that goes into the offer they’re considering.

Non-rounded numbers and specific details: even description adds credibility

In school, we got used to rounding numbers. After school, we continued to use them for simplicity.

But for copy, non-rounded numbers sound and look more real. This is because they’re the opposite of rounding numbers for conversation’s sake. It shows you’re not generalizing and you got the number from a technical source.

Of note, there’s always someone using honest approaches to game the system, and some customers will be wary. However, details create an honest image. So as long as you are honest, then that image is honest. And in time, the wary customer will learn you’re one of the good guys.

Using specific details has the same effect. Details make you sound like you know your stuff and you want your audience to have the best possible information. Use real names and numbers and show your documentation if you can.

Additionally, clarify nuances to avoid confusion to people less familiar with the topic. Besides feeling frustrated, someone confused might accuse you of misleading them.

Specifics feel real and make the mind visualize more. A good story, fiction or otherwise, uses specifics to make the experience more vivid and tangible.

Creative use of relevant jargon: be the wise figure

Generally, you don’t want to use jargon. Jargon confuses people or makes their minds work harder than they’re are willing to work on your behalf. It also makes your writing sound formal and stiff.

But sometimes jargon works in your favor. Sometimes it shows you have the right background to know what you’re talking about. Depending on your audience, if you don’t use jargon, you sound like an outsider.

Always keep in mind who your audience is. Imagine how informed they are to know when it’s good to use jargon and how much.

Guarantee: freedom of choice

While not usually considered proof for copy, guarantees prove a similar quality of character that some of the previous points had.

We often add guarantees and warranties to offers. This is because they give the customer a way out, which removes some inhibitions to parting with money. But no one is required to add these benefits. If you do it out of routine or because you were taught that’s how to do it, it works. Even if the customer thinks it’s a gimmick, it works.

You are willing to give them that escape route so they don’t feel cornered. You can make them feel relief instead of anxiety, just like that.

Sometimes, trust is just an exchange of good feelings.

Freemium: gifts sweeten the deal and soften the attitude

Similar to guarantees, premiums—or freemiums—have a habit of altering a customer’s emotions. Say you wanted to invest in a marketing course to learn modern strategies and which approaches to take. You want to know if you should do it yourself, hire someone in-house, or get a freelancer.

Great! Oh, but there’s…more.

Remember those lines in commercials using 1-800 numbers and products worth $19.99? Do they still do that on TV?

The premise works beyond those commercials. You make the offer and state what it’s worth. But then you add another product and the amount it’s worth to the original offer. Despite that, the final tally is less than the first number mentioned.

It makes customers feel like they are getting all the more value for the price they eventually pay. The purchase doesn’t feel bad because, hey, they got a couple of free things with it, right?

And you let them have those free things and the reduced price of the main offer that hooked them in the first place. They’ll remember that with good feelings. Emotionally-powered memories last. So better make sure they’re good memories with good sentiments!

Credibility is in the copy

Injecting proof into your writing shows your credibility and track record. They make your audience experience what you have to offer. Proof helps people to visualize how your offer can help them. Proof helps people justify their choices. Other people have tested the offer before them, and have done so for some time. It’s old-school social security.

Proof also has this ability to be entirely logical, yet foster positive emotions. Positive emotions make powerful memories to associate with you.

These nine types of proof will give the best experience your customer can have through a marketing medium. With such proof, your customers will have a good experience that builds trust and leads to sales.