By Mehdi HassanAlmost every B2B homepage has a row of grey logos under the hero. Some of those rows do real work; many are there because every other site has one. This guide explains when a 'trusted by' section is genuine proof, when it's decoration, and how to design one that earns its space. It's part of our larger guide to social proof on landing pages.
Does a trusted by section increase conversions?
A trusted by section can increase conversions when it answers a doubt the visitor actually has, usually whether this product is used by serious companies like theirs. When the logos are unknown to the visitor or from unrelated industries, the section adds little except scroll length. The effect depends on relevance, not on the logo bar's existence.
You'll see confident numbers quoted for logo walls, such as a 43% conversion lift. Our research traced claims like that back to misattributed or unsourced figures, so we don't repeat them as fact. The honest position is that logos help some pages, do nothing on others, and the only way to know for yours is to measure. Our list of A/B test ideas for SaaS landing pages includes logo tests worth running when you have the traffic.
When is a logo wall decoration rather than proof?
A logo wall is decoration when the visitor wouldn't recognize the logos, wouldn't care about them, or can't read them. In those cases, the section signals 'we have customers' without saying anything the visitor can use, and it pushes the content they came for further down.
Signal | Decoration | Proof |
|---|---|---|
Relevance | Logos from unrelated industries | Logos from the visitor's industry or size |
Recognition | Unknown startups the visitor can't place | Names the visitor knows or respects |
Quantity | Twenty logos in a scrolling marquee | Four to eight chosen logos |
Legibility | Tiny, low-contrast, uneven sizes | Readable, optically balanced, consistent treatment |
Context | No link to any story | Some logos link to a case study |
Freshness | Includes churned customers | Current customers, reviewed regularly |
The 'as seen in' variant, with press logos, follows the same rule. A press mention in a publication your buyers read can help early-stage companies. A row of outlets that ran your press release adds very little, and sophisticated buyers often recognize it as padding.
How does segmenting logos by visitor change results?
Segmenting logos by visitor makes the trusted by section relevant to each audience, which is where most of its value comes from. A healthcare buyer cares far more about two hospital networks than about a famous consumer brand. Showing each segment the logos it recognizes turns a generic bar into targeted proof.
Group your customers
Sort logos by industry, company size and use case. Note which ones are recognizable to each group.
Match pages to segments
Industry pages, solution pages and campaign landing pages each get their own logo set, picked for that audience.
Match ads to logos
If an ad campaign targets fintech companies, its landing page should lead with fintech logos.
Keep a sensible default
The homepage shows a balanced mix of your most broadly recognized logos, since you don't know who's visiting.
Measure by segment
Compare scroll and conversion for each segment's page rather than the whole site's average.
This doesn't need complex personalization tools. Separate landing pages per segment, each with its own static logo row, gets you most of the benefit. Dynamic swapping by detected industry is possible, but it adds tracking complexity and can misfire. The same segmentation idea runs through good SaaS landing pages, where the strongest pages tailor all their proof to one audience.
How should you design a customer logo bar?
A customer logo bar should be legible, consistent and calm: four to eight logos in one row, in a single color treatment, sized so they look visually equal rather than mathematically equal. It sits just below the hero, with a short, honest label above it.
- Optical sizing. A wide wordmark and a square icon need different dimensions to look the same weight. Adjust by eye.
- One treatment. Monochrome logos in a muted color keep the row from shouting over the hero. Full color can work if the brand palette allows it.
- A specific label. 'Used by product teams at' says more than 'Trusted by industry leaders'.
- Static over scrolling. Marquees show more logos but make each harder to read. Use one only if you genuinely need to show many.
- Accessible markup. Each logo image needs alt text with the company name so screen reader users get the same information.
That last point matters more than teams expect. Logo rows are a frequent accessibility gap: images with empty or file-name alt text, or logos that fail contrast. If you're fixing an existing site, our accessibility remediation guide covers images and contrast step by step.
For example, suppose a SaaS company has 30 customer logos
For example, suppose a hypothetical scheduling SaaS has permission to show 30 customer logos across healthcare, education and professional services. Instead of a 30-logo marquee on every page, it picks six broadly known logos for the homepage, then builds three industry pages, each with six logos from that industry. Its paid campaigns for clinics point to the healthcare page. Two of the healthcare logos link to short case studies. The homepage bar gets lighter, and each industry visitor sees companies they recognize.
Do you need permission to show client logos on your website?
Yes, you should get permission to show client logos on your website. Many customer contracts include publicity clauses, and some companies have strict brand policies. An unapproved logo can lead to an awkward removal request or a damaged relationship, so ask in writing and keep a record.
Build logo permission into your process: ask during onboarding or at a natural success moment, the same time you might ask for a quote. Our guide to getting testimonials that sell covers the timing and wording. Review the logo set every quarter and remove companies that have churned. A visitor who knows a company left you will trust the whole page less.
What should you use instead of logos if you don't have recognizable ones?
If you don't have recognizable logos, use proof that doesn't depend on name recognition: a specific testimonial, a usage number you can stand behind, a short case result, or the team's track record. An unfamiliar logo row adds clutter without adding trust, so it's often better to leave it out.
Pros
- Logos are the fastest proof to scan: a visitor reads them in a second or two.
- Segmented logo sets make each campaign page feel built for its audience.
- Logos linked to case studies give curious visitors a path to detailed proof.
Cons
- Logos don't prove results, so they can't replace testimonials or case studies.
- Unknown or unrelated logos add length without adding trust.
- Maintaining permissions and removing churned customers takes ongoing effort.
Early-stage companies have more honest options than they think, from investors and design partners to beta usage. We list twelve in social proof for startups with no customers yet. When you do land a customer with a strong story, turn it into a case study page and link that customer's logo to it.
