When and Where to Share Customer Logos on Your Website

When you were younger, did your parents ever ask you “If your friend jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?” 

Psychologist Robert Cialdini popularized the notion of social proof theory, which states that when a person does not know the proper decision in a situation they will look to imitate others. This is one reason that showcasing customer logos is an effective way for B2B websites to attract new customers. 

The digital measurement company comScore determined that well-placed B2B client logos can increase website conversion rates by nearly 70 percent. Placing logos on your homepage and product pages can lead your site's visitors step by step down the conversion path.

Here are five tips for sharing customer logos to best effect:

1. Showcase brands that your visitors know. At Idea Grove, we primarily work with midsize B2B technology companies; most of them are only well known within their industries. That's why we make a point to highlight the global brand names we work with, like Amazon, NEC and Stanford University. It's a quick way to communicate to visitors that our work meets the high standards of some of the most successful organizations in the world.
2. Use logos that represent your specific niches and ideal customers. While showcasing big-name brands is highly valuable, it's also important to share logos that represent your most-frequent customer targets. Idea Grove, for example, targets B2B tech companies in spaces like cybersecurity, IT infrastructure and martech, so we highlight our relevant experience with logos of past and current clients in those sectors. We have even created separate landing pages specifically designed to show off logos and case studies in those target niches.
3. Place logos where they add to your story. It's important to place logos within context as much as possible; it gives them more weight. In addition to your homepage, Vital Design recommends displaying customer logos on product pages that describe the products those customers purchased. Adding a testimonial quote or case study along with the customer logo makes this trust signal all the more powerful.
4. Don't display logos in a distracting way. A logo from a giant customer like Apple or IBM carries a lot of influence -- but don't make their logo so prominent on your site that it takes away from your own company's story. Many brands choose to display customer logos in grayscale, in a rotating carousel or in other ways that ensure that no individual customer logo overwhelms the website's message.
5. Make sure the logos are OK to use. Before you decide which customers to feature on your site, it's always best to get permission. Customers logos, after all, are the intellectual property of your customer. Having said that, the primary purpose of a trademark is to avoid confusing consumers. So if you are clear and accurate in your use of a logo and your relationship with the customer is not a confidential one, it is less likely to be a cause of concern.