Have you gone out for a nice meal without looking at a review of the restaurant? It can be a post on Facebook, a comment from a famous person, or an introduction from your friends. The feedback will help you to be confident when making a decision. In other words, it provided you with social proof. Do you feel confused? This article will help you to have an overview of social proof and its effect.
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon referring to people’s reliance on the feedback and actions of others to determine what is right and what is wrong in a given situation. Social proof is a concept as old as marketing itself—think of the testimonials in ads.
Why is social proof necessary?
Social proof is a demonstration that other people have made a choice or partaken in a product/service — such as reviews, testimonials or social shares — thereby encouraging others to do so. Finally, it can help you to increase sales. Like you when choosing a restaurant, the online customer will feel comfortable before buying something. They can check the feedback and give out the buying decision quickly.
What does social proof look like?
There are many ways for you to create the social roof on your ecommerce store. It can be the overlays or notifications, enhanced images, highlighted text within product descriptions and other attention-grabbing features on the page. In this post, we will show social proof in six types.
1. Expert: When an expert in your industry recommends your products or services or is associated with your brand, your online clients can pay attention to it. It can be a form of blogging, posting on social media, or being quoted or photographed as a product user.
2. Celebrity: Celebrity social proof is when well-known people endorses your products. Your customers follow and trust them, then can buy your items without hesitating.
3. User: Your current users can give reviews for your products and services based on their experiences. The easiest way is installing Ryviu app. You can import reviews from AliExpress and Amazon to show on your store. Your customer can write their feedback too. Ryviu also can help you to control the negative reviews. Moreover, it will let you send emails to your customers for leaving reviews after each purchased time.
4. The wisdom of the crowd: It will bring an significant effect when a large group of people is seen to be like your brand. You can show the number of customers who view this product, or show the number of order; give a promotion code and count down the sale time. It can make customers feel in an urgent case, then make a buying decision quickly.
5. The wisdom of your friends: People tend to buy your products when they see their friends approve your product. You can create the advertising campaign on Facebook, Twitter,.. and ask your customer to share them to get promotion code or something like that. Then, clients will see their friends use your product or follow you on social media.
6. Certification: This type of social proof can increase the trust when you are given a stamp of approval by an authoritative figure in your industry, such as the blue check-mark on Twitter or Facebook.
Social proof is a powerful tool to encourage consumers to act with immediacy. It’s important to select the right kind of social proof in your marketing. We will continue talking about on the next posts.