Founded in 1999, they offer insurance plans direct to consumers online and over the phone.
Esurance has plenty of awesome customer testimonials and they know how powerful these reviews can be for increasing on-site trust and conversion. So they decided to see how they could maximize results.
The Company
For insurance companies, it’s extra important to ensure that prospective buyers are confident in their decision.
After all, insurance is all about safety, and customers need to know that they can trust the company they’re purchasing from.
In order to encourage customers to move from the consideration to purchase stage, Esurance tested how they could leverage social proof to increase conversion rates for high-intent buyers.
The Test
Esurance tested the impact of adding star ratings and testimonials to the sidebar of the last 4 pages consumers see before they purchase an insurance policy.
The test included 4 variations:
Variation 1: Control variation containing a sidebar with no social proof
Variation 2: Sidebar with a customer testimonial
Variation 3: Sidebar with star ratings
Variation 4: Sidebar with a customer testimonial and star ratings
The Results
The test was run on 4,000 participants, and all 3 social proof variations significantly outperformed the control variation.
Here are the conversion rates:
- No social proof: 12.3%
- Testimonial + star rating: 13.8%
The control variation already had a strong 12.3% conversion rate, which is likely because consumers had high purchase intent by the time they reached the page.
But even so, the versions with social proof had a noticeable impact, increasing conversion rate up to 11%.
Social proof increased CVR 4-6% on average, and the difference when combining star ratings and testimonials was most significant, at 11%.
All in all, the control variation with no social proof performed 93% worse than the other variations.
Why the Variation Won
The test increased consumer confidence after they were already deep in their purchase journey and interested in making a purchase.
Including authentic customer reviews and testimonials on checkout pages gives an extra boost and allows businesses to keep shoppers with high purchase intent from leaving.