Social Proof when you have none. Fake it till you make it or not?
Just wondering how people feel about false testimonials or other forms of social proof when they are just getting started? Pretty much every landing page checklist will have this on it but if you are just starting out you'll typically have none.
Does 'fake' social proof undermine credibility / trust or does everyone just lie and get on with it until they get real credible customers and ergo testimonials?
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That's a big 👎 (imo)
Outside of the obvious ethical implications (do we really need more misinformation in the world?), you've got to respect your audience in order to build something that will last.
Social proof is easy to find anyway. Head to a community that you're a part of and offer something (for example 3 free months) in return for honest feedback. If it's good feedback, use it as social proof. If not, iterate and then try again.
Last thing I'll mention is that people really appreciate honesty. You don't need to have a million users. Just be upfront that you're early-stage, you're bootstrapping the company, and you're looking for your first users. That's something people can get behind.
Hope that helps - good luck 🚀
You can start with none, it won't block you from getting your first customers/users.
Of course your landing page won't be 100% optimal/perfect for conversions but at this point you don't care ! If you need to do everything perfectly to even get one customer, it will be hard to grow in the future (what will you improve ?)
tl;dr : don't. Deal without it and when you have the opportunity to get some, do it.
Beyond the fact that it's proof that the company can't be trusted, it also very likely qualifies as wire fraud, so I'd recommend avoiding it. Surely, you have a pleased tester or a friend willing to say something kind...