Social proof is considered one of the most effective marketing tools for building trust in your business, and it has the potential to become even more powerful as you grow. But what exactly is this fundamental marketing principle and how can you use it to influence visitors and increase sales?
How Social Proof Works
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon popularized by Dr. Robert Cialdini, describing our tendency to rely on the opinions or actions of others to guide our own decisions. It is also known as informational social influence, as it serves to validate a shopper’s choice, confirming that it is worth their time, money, and attention by using others as a guide.
Why Social Proof Matters
Whether you are aware of social proof or not, it has likely influenced your decisions, both big and small, throughout your life. Social proof piques our interest because we are naturally curious about what is happening, why it is happening, and what the correct behavior or response is.
Social proof makes people stop to check out a social media post because it has high engagement. It makes them try out an unknown brand due to the good things others say about it. It’s also the reason you follow a TV show that everyone seems to be raving about.
The numbers prove the importance of using social proof: 71% of people are more likely to buy based on social media referrals. 91% of shoppers read at least one review before making a purchase. 80% of shoppers in the United States seek recommendations when buying any type of product. 54% of people have purchased a product that was packaged after seeing user-generated content visually about it. 63% of consumers noted they are more likely to buy from a website that features product ratings and reviews.
Examples of Social Proof in Advertising
Let’s take a look at examples of social proof in advertising. Which of the two ads would you be more likely to click on and why?
Both are for the same brand, both are videos, and both advertise the same thing. The biggest difference is that one includes social proof in the form of engagement and a testimonial from a customer in a magazine. The other does not have that. If I had to bet, you’d likely be more attracted to the ad with social proof.
This is the difference that social proof can make in your online marketing efforts.
Types of Social Proof
Social proof can be generated on any online platform where you have a presence, including your website and your favorite social media networks. It can vary in how it manifests and can cover a wide range of actions across different channels from different groups of people.
1. Wisdom of the Crowds
Tangible indicators of brand popularity are a common type of social proof and can make potential customers feel confident in making a purchase from you or at least more willing to check out what you are selling.
For example, as a shopper, you might evaluate an unknown business based on how many followers they have on any given social media account. A Facebook page with 115,000 likes might appear more established than a page with 500.
Types of social proof that fall under this category also include: the number of likes, comments, views, and shares on social media posts, live stream views on Facebook or Instagram, and sharing the number of subscribers to your email list to encourage your audience to subscribe.
2. User Social Proof
Consumers trust what others say online, and peer-driven praise will be your most effective selling tool.
In
In fact, around 70% of American consumers look for opinions from independent review sites before making a purchase. These reviews will certainly impact buying decisions and can be the difference between high bounce rates and high conversion rates.
Ratings and reviews can be collected and displayed on your site, through an app, or in open forums such as Yelp, Facebook, or even Google. Both product ratings and general company reviews will benefit you, and customers will trust what their peers say.
3. Celebrity Endorsements
Celebrity endorsement can be a difficult feat to achieve. Paid partnerships aren’t always regarded as credible as peer-driven social proof, but they can be effective especially if they feel genuine.
Content from influencers and celebrities that is shared publicly is still considered endorsement. Smaller influencers, like industry bloggers or complementary businesses in the same niche as you, may have an impact that overlaps with your target audience, and these endorsements can be authentic, as long as the posts don’t come off as promotional.
4. Friends’ Wisdom
This social proof indicates that people see your friends approving of your product. For example, seeing a friend follow you on social media or use your product, such as through user-generated content.
Content posted by satisfied customers online about your brand is what’s known as user-generated content. This often comes in the form of customers sharing posts that showcase their experience with your product or brand on their personal accounts. They may tag you or use your hashtag.
This is not the same as sponsored content, which makes it feel more authentic, and users trust it more. If you can find this content and get permission to use it, share it on your own channels.
5. Testimonials
A testimonial is evidence when a trusted person in your industry gives you a stamp of approval. Consider getting a verified badge on TikTok and Instagram.
6. Experts
Social proof from experts indicates that an expert in your industry recommends your products or services or is publicly associated with them. For example, an Instagram or TikTok story from an expert, or having someone as a guest on your Instagram Live.
Best Examples of Social Proof
Social proof is an undeniable marketing principle that all e-commerce sites should focus on in one way or another. But how can you do this exactly?
1. Customer Reviews on Product Pages
The first and most common way is to display customer reviews. Try to cultivate and display reviews on individual product pages, landing pages, or coming soon pages, especially if you can capture some reviews with photos.
I know I have bought clothes in the past because the reviews convinced me to. Seeing how great they looked on real people and hearing how much they loved them was enough to persuade me to convert.
The Shopify store Partake Foods utilizes reviews well on its site. Not only does it have reviews displayed on product pages, but it also has a section at the bottom of the page showcasing various available reviews about the brand as well.
2. Highlighting Best-Selling Products on Category Pages
The second way to leverage social proof on your site is by highlighting “bestselling” or “most popular” products on your category pages. Showcasing products as popular instills confidence and reassurance in customers that they are making the best possible purchase.
On Partake Foods’ cookie collection page, shoppers can clearly see the chocolate chip cookie as a best seller. This, along with the star ratings beneath the product image, can encourage hesitant shoppers to investigate further and make a purchase.
3.
Adding Trust Buyer Badges to Customer Reviews
People look for fake reviews when shopping online. If customers feel that the reviews are fake, it can be bothersome and affect sales.
You can build shopper trust by adding “trust buyer” badges to your reviews. The “trust buyer” badge indicates that real customers have reviewed the product and recommended it.
See how Kettle & Fire integrates these badges on its product pages. The brand places a small green check mark under each review to build trust with customers before they purchase.
4. Promoting User-Generated Content on Social Media
Social media is another perfect place to showcase social proof, as it may be one of the first places people turn to find it. These sites may also be the first point of contact for many new customers, so having plenty of visual social proof upfront can encourage them to visit your site as well.
You can do this by focusing on engagement-building campaigns rather than content that is solely sales-driven. Many of your engagement-building campaigns can be used to gather user-generated content in the form of product images that come directly from the users themselves.
You can showcase this on your channels by sharing it (with permission) and tagging the original post. Remind other users that if they share their experience, they may be featured on your channel as well.
Many customers love this and it helps them feel appreciated, so they may be willing to share content about your brand in the future. Pipcorn does this well in the example below.
5. Showcasing Customer Testimonials in Paid Marketing Campaigns
You can also use reviews as the centerpiece for ads in a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. Using social proof this way is particularly effective in Facebook ads, Instagram ads, YouTube ads, and TikTok ads, where you have plenty of space to provide a description.
Put the text in the description and use images or videos of the products discussed in the testimonial. BOOM! by Cindy Joseph does this regularly, using customer reviews as the basis for his Facebook ads to build trust and quickly increase sales.
The more likes, comments, and shares you gather over time on any given ad, the more visual social proof you create, making new users pay more attention. This creates a snowball effect, giving you more momentum every time you run a specific ad.
6. Displaying Reviews in Email Marketing Campaigns
Email is another great place to use social proof to boost sales, especially with a community of subscribers who are ready to buy from you.
Include encouraging customer reviews about specific products in your email design, along with an image of that product and even the customer’s name, if you have permission to do so. You might even choose a subject line like “See What Our Customers Are Saying” to capture interest and increase open rates.
Old Navy uses this strategy frequently to drive sales. They showcase a specific product and then select some positive reviews that are sure to resonate with their email list.
7. Showcasing Case Studies About Your Product
Content marketing is an excellent way to build trust overall, and some strategies can help you gather and share more social proof.
You can use engagement-building techniques to increase social proof on your actual blogs. This includes calling for action that encourages readers to leave comments by asking specific questions or opening the door for them to ask you questions.
Case studies
The case is another way to leverage customer success stories to attract a growing customer base. One customer or one story can be used to create proof that shows you can help other customers achieve the same thing.
BioClarity uses this strategy well with a comprehensive clinical study prominently showcasing its product on its website. This places them ahead in the skincare market, which may not support their claims in the same definitive way.
8. Run an Influencer Marketing Campaign
Social proof is a critical sales channel for social selling. For this reason, brands regularly run influencer marketing campaigns as the world shifts towards social commerce.
Influencer marketing campaigns are akin to a friend’s recommendation on where to spend the holiday. They are trustworthy, so you value their advice. Influencer followers also trust their recommendations.
See how Tosh Snacks collaborated with influencer Amanda G to promote her honey cookies. The influencer talks about how she and her friend love the snack and shares a recipe to prepare a sweet meal at home.
Anne-Sophie Bourjac, Influencer Relations Director at Pierre Fabre Group, tells Glossy: “Given that 63% of consumers trust user-generated brand content shared by influencers more than direct advertising, we now need to develop targeted, long-term, and repeated influencer marketing strategies.”
The influencer marketing platform Traackr found that influencer marketing drives social sales. After testing various influencer strategies, they found that when influencers mention discount codes or partnership codes, brands can see the following results: a 111% increase in direct shopping and a 521% increase in click-to-shop features.
By partnering with influencers on social media, you gain exposure to a warm and friendly audience, which can lead to better business results than banner ads. Look for influencers to boost sales using Shopify Collabs.
9. Focus on Awards and Accolades
Do you want people to know about your business achievements? Show them on your site. United By Blue, which sells sustainable clothing and goods, proudly displays the amount of trash removed from the ocean and waterways.
For example, Hydro Flask promotes its Parks For All program, which helps nonprofits build, maintain, and restore access to outdoor parks. The company has given over $2.5 million over the past five years and continues to work toward making a difference in the world.
Such achievements link your brand to customers who share the same principles and inspiration.
10. Place Media Logos on the Homepage
Another way to display social proof is to place media logos on your site. The longevity and reputation of certain brands can indicate to people that you’re good to do business with.
If your brand has been featured in outlets like Buzzfeed, HuffPost, or a niche magazine relevant to your target market, place those logos on your homepage and about page.
Pura Vida, a seller of handcrafted bracelets and jewelry, excels in this area. In their “What People Are Saying” section, they showcase logos of popular publications, the number of five-star customer reviews, and quotes about the brand. It’s a smart way to show shoppers that you’re trustworthy and have excellent products for purchase.
11. Get Verified on Social Media
The verification badge, or the famous blue checkmark next to your profile name, signals to people that you are a legitimate business. It shows that social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook have validated your account.
Verification adds credibility to your brand and makes you more trustworthy than unverified accounts. A study also found that verified accounts see 30% higher engagement rates on average.
12.
Creating Your Brand’s Social Media Hashtag
Your brand’s social media hashtag is a unique tag for your business. It could be your company name or logo. You might even create social media hashtags for specific campaigns.
For example, if a potential customer goes to Instagram or TikTok to check out your brand, they see a hashtag specific to your brand and click on it. In the feed, they see hundreds of people wearing or talking about your product.
Fashion Nova, an online clothing brand, promotes the hashtag #NovaBabe on its Instagram profile.
When you click on the hashtag, you are taken to a public feed that contains over 1.7 million posts from women wearing Fashion Nova clothes.
Brand-specific hashtags are an effective way to showcase social proof and spread the word about your business. This social proof, the “wisdom of the crowds,” is key to proving that your products are trustworthy and can lead to more sales for your online store.
13. Show Order Proof
This type of social proof shows that customers are not only interested in what you say, but they are actually buying from you. A large volume of sales demonstrates demand and can lead to increased interest (and thus sales) as a result.
The easiest way to utilize this is simply to share the number of orders you have fulfilled, integrating it into your marketing copy. Or like LSTN, the social company, you can showcase the metric that is most relevant to your business and audience.
You can also, with the help of applications and tools, automatically make the following information visible to site followers to prove social proof: the number of items sold, which can show in sales counters or simply by showing customers when supplies are low or run out (leveraging another persuasive tool known as scarcity), customers who recently purchased a specific product, and the number of customers who are viewing your site or a particular product page.
Social Proof Marketing Applications
There are many types of social proof, and many ways to leverage it. This may seem overwhelming, but fortunately, there are plenty of great e-commerce tools that can help you with that.
1. Loox
Loox is a Shopify app that automatically sends emails to your customers asking for reviews, offering discounts if they leave reviews with photos. It then makes it easy to display user reviews (and photos!) in galleries that can be placed on any page of your store, including the homepage, product pages, or a dedicated review page.
2. Fera
Fera is another review app for Shopify with customizable interfaces that look great on your site. You can import reviews from Facebook, Google, Etsy, and others in minutes. It also automatically requests reviews from customers and offers discounts or incentives for reviews.
The best part? Product reviews with Fera are useful for search engine optimization and will show up in Google search results and Google Shopping. If you’re looking for an easy way to create and manage photo and video reviews, Fera is a great app to try.
3. PressKitBuilder
If you want to spread the word about your site quickly, PressKitBuilder can help. It helps you create a professional press kit for bloggers and journalists, making it easier for them to write about you.
It will also make it easy to showcase the coverage and social proof you’ve already received on your site. This ensures that any media coverage you get has a longer-lasting second life on your site as well, not just in the original media outlet it appeared in.
Many new users may feel more comfortable with a brand that has
Source: https://shopify.com/blog/social-proof
Leave a Reply