5 Social Proof Strategies for Luggage Brands

54% of travelers plan to take more trips this year than they did in 2022. With consumers itching to book planes, trains, and automobiles to distant destinations—it’s no surprise the luggage market’s value is on the rise. Although the future of the travel industry is bright, simply being part of it doesn’t guarantee a brand’s success.

To win customers and clinch a meaningful piece of the growing travel industry, luggage brands must implement website strategies to convert casual shoppers into bonafide customers. One tried and true way to do that? Social proof. With 93.4% of online shoppers relying on customer reviews when making a purchase, social proof is a key lever for luggage brands to pull as they build and optimize their sites. 

To illustrate various ways you can feature social proof on your site we’ve pulled together five examples from leading luggage brands like Calpak, Tumi, Away, Monos, and Solgaard. Keep reading to see how each brand leverages a different form of social proof.

Calpak: User-Generated Content (UGC)

If you’re finding it difficult to convey the value of the luggage your company sells through descriptions and branded imagery, consider investing in a robust UGC strategy. UGC enables prospective buyers to see how real customers feel about your products, helping to inform their purchasing decisions and hopefully convert!

Paging through Calpak’s site it’s not hard to see that UGC is a key part of their website experience. To gather their library of UGC, they’ve added a page to their site where customers can drag and drop images of their purchases from the brand. Customers can also upload photos directly from Facebook and Instagram. This seamless experience makes it easy for happy customers to submit UGC directly through the brand’s site.

Tumi: Celebrity Endorsements

From A-list testimonials to micro-influencer sponcon, celebrity endorsements are everywhere. Because of the social proof strategy’s popularity, it’s no surprise that luggage brands have taken to featuring celebrities on their websites.

In the below example, Tumi uses its homepage to highlight the brand’s partnership with father-daughter duo, Lenny and Zoe Kravitz. With their busy schedules and jet-set lifestyles, the two are credible figures to endorse Tumi’s products.

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Away: Customer Reviews

When online shopping people want an average of 112 reviews per product—woof! It’s clear Away is aware of this consumer expectation, given their whopping 4911 reviews on their viral Carry-On. 

In addition to being able to search and sort reviews by rating, shoppers can also use suggested keywords to find reviews that may interest them. Enabling visitors to easily find the information they are looking for may lead them to spend more time on your site, and ultimately convert.

Monos: Awards and Recognition

As the old adage goes—if you got it, flaunt it! And, when it comes to Monos’ accolades, the brand has done just that. On Monos’ homepage, the brand features several pull quotes from publications like Travel + Leisure  and Fortune.

By featuring these recognitions, Monos shows prospective customers that reputable sources in the travel industry are speaking positively about the brand.

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Solgaard: Before and After Video

When replacing an item, consumers want assurance that their new purchase will be better than what they had before. One way to show shoppers that your luggage will improve their travel experience is through a before and after video,

Solgaard, which sells innovative luggage with built-in shelves, leverages a before and after video on its product detail page (PDP) for the Carry-On Closet. On the right side of the video, you can see a shopper struggling to find what he needs in his cluttered suitcase, while on the left he’s at ease with his Solgaard luggage. This before and after video conveys to prospective buyers how Solgaard’s luggage can make their lives easier when they’re out on the road.

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We hope these five social proof examples give you the inspiration you need to start running more experiments on your luggage brand’s website! Looking for more inspiration? Be sure to download our eBook, 21 Website Experiments for Travel Brands, and see your conversion rates take flight.

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