Social proof in marketing offers proof of a brand’s acceptance or usefulness among consumers to affect the purchasing choices of potential and loyal consumers. It’s a great way to boost sales for online businesses.
What is Social Proof?
Social proof is the psychological idea that people are persuaded to act according to societal norms or expectations because others influence their decision-making.
It is a tool used in marketing to persuade potential and loyal customers to purchase by showing proof of a brand’s acceptance or usefulness among consumers.
How Social Proof Affects To Consumer Behavior
Most of the ways on our list simply include Social Proof in the layout of online stores. Some, however, also take into consideration other psychological ideas. The following are just a few of the additional psychological impacts that you should look out for:
- Base rate fallacy: Base Rate Fallacy occurs when contextual or general information is neglected when analyzing more recent information.
- Commitment and Consistency: Once we have publicly committed to something, we are more likely to carry through and deliver on it.
- Mere-exposure Effect: The Mere-exposure Effect is the way a positive reaction can be induced simply from familiarity.
- Self-efficacy Theory: Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in their competence. Remarkably, this belief is one of the best predictors of success or failure.
- Social Cognition: Social Cognition explains the way most people gravitate to things that resemble themselves.
- Social Comparison Theory: Social Comparison Theory describes how individuals evaluate themselves through comparison rather than absolute terms.
Why is Social Proof important?
People are persuaded by social proof to believe that a product or service is valuable because it has attracted the interest or payment of others. This often happens when customers search for a product, find several identical things, and decide to purchase one item over another based on the large number of favorable customer evaluations.
As more individuals join in and generate discussion about products or services, brands use social proof to boost conversions and exponentially expand their consumer base.
The following is a brief list of the additional psychological impacts to look out for:
Increasing trust and credibility
Consumers are more likely to trust and believe in you when they see that many other people have purchased from you, had excellent experiences with your items, and appreciated them.
Growing Conversions
Being trustworthy isn’t always a goal in and of itself. Instead, it focuses on increasing your conversion rate by removing potential barriers.
Customers are more likely to sign up for your newsletter if they believe you will protect their personal information and won’t bombard them with unrelated offers; similarly, if they believe in your checkout process and the value of your goods, they are more likely to purchase from you.
Improved Retention
Just think about how much more money you could make if you could keep more of your current customers. Social proof may be helpful in this situation by supporting other customers’ positive experiences and encouraging users to continue using (and purchasing) your items.
Increasing Your Reputation
Potential consumers may find you (and your items) more appealing if you develop a strong brand reputation. To put it simply, you must use social proof to increase trustworthiness and improve your reputation.
Types Of Social Proof
7 Different Types Of Social Proof
Social proof comes in different types and is not an idea that fits all situations.
- Customer reviews are reviews made by previous customers evaluating their experiences using and purchasing from you.
- Testimonials: Customer success stories created by your marketing staff for promotional objectives are called testimonials.
- Social media proof: Likes, shares, mentions, and other social interactions relating to your business or product.
- Influencer recommendations: Support from well-known people in your niche.
- Expert recommendations: Similar to influencer recommendations, but they come from a respected subject-matter expert.
- Trust badges: Logos, symbols, and certifications that are meant to show that your e-commerce store is trustworthy.
- User-generated content (UGC): As its name suggests, this is content that has been produced by your customers and highlights their interactions with your product.
Social Proof Principles
Each type of social proof depends on one or more of the following:
- Uncertainty: We are more sensitive to following other people’s lead when we are unsure about what to do at an event.
- Similarity: If a group of people and we meet an unexpected situation at the same time, we are more likely to follow the lead of those who we believe to be most like us.
- Expertise: We prefer to believe the words and behaviors of real (or perceived) subject-matter experts when seeking advice (consciously or unconsciously).
- Number: The “herd mentality” concept, according to which the judgements and acts of the majority are considered to be the most reliable and trustworthy.
How To Use Social Proof For Your Online Store
Include Customer Reviews On Important Pages
Positive feedback from consumers is the second-largest measure of trust, ahead of factors like quick customer service responses and good quality products.
In other words, customer reviews are valuable. It ought to come as no surprise that many businesses include them on their most important sites, such as Product pages, Landing pages, and “Coming soon” pages.
Build an email series that automatically asks customers to give reviews a day or two after their order arrives if you are interested in more current opinions.
Feature Reviews In Email Campaigns
Emails, as we all know, are a great way to collect responses from current customers. Follow these suggested practices for the best results:
- Add imagery of the product in question.
- Include the customer’s name and social handles.
- Write a relevant subject line, such as: “See what our customers say.”
- Build an automated email campaign that shares product reviews with customers who’ve recently viewed the product in question or left it in their shopping cart.
Show Customer Reviews In Paid Advertisements
You may increase sales and revenue from people who already know about your business and have signed up for your marketing list by sharing reviews with email subscribers.
Because consumers already use reviews to research products they haven’t heard of, it makes sense to save them time by including reviews in your paid advertisements.
[H3] Verified Buyer Badges Should Be Displayed On Customer Reviews
How can you make sure your reviews look trustworthy?
One strategy is to identify the reviewer by adding a “verified buyer” badge. According to 69% of consumers, these tags help to show that reviews are real.
These evaluations are available on every one of the biggest review websites, such as Trustpilot and Feefo.
Highlight Bestsellers On Category Pages
When many other consumers buy a product, it’s a good sign that it’s worth the cost.
Try labeling your most commonly purchased items as “top sellers,” “trending products,” or “popular choices” on category pages to highlight them. Or why not add a “best seller” product badge to your most in-demand products?
Promote Content Created By Customers On Social Media
User-generated content (UGC) has a much greater impact on consumer purchase behavior than the content that businesses create themselves. So it makes sense to encourage customers to create content about your products — and to share it far and wide when they do.
Share Success Story Using Your Product
In the B2B world, case studies are a popular social proof strategy because customers want to see complicated products explained through the eyes of businesses in related industries and following comparable objectives.
However, B2C businesses can also use customer success stories to increase conversion rates. This is particularly relevant if their products are a little unusual.
Show Awards And Honors
Won an award? received appreciation from a well-known magazine or influencer? Add it to your website instead of keeping it to yourself.
Use Branded Logos On Your Homepage
Similar to what was mentioned in the previous part, showcasing the logos of businesses and nonprofit organizations that have positive things to say about you is a powerful and eye-catching approach to using social proof.
Verify Your Social Media Accounts
If you use social media, you probably see a lot of stuff from verified people. Therefore, verification is, to put it simply, pretty difficult to come by.
The blue tick, however, may truly make you stand out as a trustworthy business. Besides, verified accounts have an average interaction rate that is 30% higher, per HypeAuditor’s research.
Show Demand Proof
We’ve already talked about how you may use your best-selling products as social proof. Showing customers the number of other customers who are looking at the same product as them is another way to prove that there is demand for it.
Launch An Influencer Campaign
Influencer marketing is often seen as a strategy for raising awareness of a brand rather than as a technique to create social proof, promote confidence, and increase revenue.
The truth is that collaborating with the correct influencers may be a highly successful approach to marketing your business’s brand and products to new markets.
While 60% of consumers have engaged with sponsored posts in the past, 36% of consumers believe influencer posts are the best method for marketers to persuade people to try new items.
In Conclusion
There are many strategies available to help you maximize the advantages of social proof, including product badges, customer reviews, and influencer marketing campaigns.
Hope you can find a suitable way based on our suggestion to increase sales on your online store.
