In our article 10 tips for creating a landing page that converts, we list social proof as one of the key elements to do exactly that.
But what exactly is social proof? And how can you use this psychological lever in your digital marketing strategy?
We’ll aim to answer these questions in this article.
What is social proof?
Imagine the following scenario.
It’s Saturday night in a large, European city, and you’re wandering around in search of a good restaurant. On one street, 7 out of 10 restaurants are full to bursting. The other 3 are totally empty. Which is the most attractive? Which one will you head towards? If you’re like most people, you’ll be attracted to the restaurants which are full to bursting, despite the sheer number of people and potentially longer queue.
The logic behind this choice is that of social proof.
The concept works as follows: people follow the action of the masses. If we notice that a certain number of people are acting in a certain way, we come to the conclusion that this must be the correct way to act.
And then we follow.
If the empty restaurants – where you didn’t want to go – served good food, how come they have no diners? Our brain makes the following link: empty = bad food = I won’t go there. The food could, in fact, be excellent there, but the brain doesn’t work like that. We assume that the restaurants which are full are better.
Why is social proof important in digital marketing?
In physical stores, you can compare the products available directly. There are fewer external influences acting on your decision. If you’re struggling to decide between two shirts, each from a different brand, you can feel the quality, try it on, see how it looks in the mirror, etc., to determine which suits you best.
Online, things are different: before making a decision, you need to appeal to external opinions to make your final decision because you don’t have the product in front of you, in your hand, to try.
Before buying a t-shirt online, for example, you read reviews to see what other users thought of it. Even if you personally like the style of the t-shirt, other buyers’ experience will influence your opinion because they know the product better, since they’ve already bought it.
This works in the same way for hotels, restaurants, services, etc.
How can you use social proof in digital marketing?
As we’ll see later, you can use social proof in several ways across your digital channels. But the idea behind social proof remains the same: if a certain number of people already like what you’re offering, new visitors are likely to follow in their footsteps.
So, here are some examples of different uses:
- Positive reviews of you, your site or your products and services
- Client testimonies
- Mentions from influencers or celebrities
- A considerable number of social media followers
- The number of users and client references
- Prizes and awards you’ve received
Social proof is even more powerful when it comes from someone your prospective client knows. According to a survey conducted by Nielsen, 82% of Americans say that they ask for recommendations from their friends and family before making a purchase.
If you don’t use the power of social proof to your advantage, your landing pages, social media posts, product pages and blog article content risk not converting as well as they could.
We’ll now review the six tactics mentioned above.
“On average, consumers consult 2 or 3 different review sites before making a decision about a business.”
1. Positive reviews
Are you more likely to go to a restaurant with hundreds of 5-star reviews on Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google Maps, or one with none? We’re all familiar with these kinds of review, and now we pay very close attention to them.
BrightLocal claims that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they do personal recommendations. The survey also reveals that people don’t simply trust the first review they read. On average, consumers consult 2 or 3 different review sites before making a decision.
For your business, try to obtain positive reviews on all the main sites for your sector: Yelp, Google, FourSquare, Facebook and TripAdvisor.
Don’t hesitate to add these reviews to your website; this will give you even more credibility and boost your conversion rate.
“The key to a convincing testimony is to highlight a problem that your product or service solved for the client.”
2. Client testimonials
Simply stating that your product works is no longer enough to convince people to buy it. You need to provide a testimony from someone who has used your product or service and showcase what they gained from it.
The key to a convincing testimony is to highlight a problem that your product or service solved for the client. A testimony that simply says “I liked the product” is far too vague.
So, be specific. See the example of Trello below:
Contactez vos clients satisfaits et demandez-leur d'écrire un témoignage sur votre entreprise. Ajoutez-y des chiffres clés, des pourcentages et des données qui mettent en valeur vos produits et services.
Une étude a récemment montré que 92% des consommateurs sont plus susceptibles de faire confiance aux recommandations non payées que tout autre type de publicité.
3. Mentions from influencers or celebrities
Contact your satisfied customers and ask them to write a testimony for your business. Add in some key figures, percentages and data which showcase your products and services.
A recent study found that 92% of consumers are more inclined to trust non-paid recommendations than any other kind of publicity.
Influencer marketing boomed in 2016, and this trend is likely to increase in future. As mentioned above, consumers trust external opinions more than brands themselves. Following the same logic, they will trust influential people.
Influencer marketing is particularly effective on social media:
- The purchase intention of Twitter users multiplied by 5.2 after they saw promotional content from influencers
- 49% of users rely on influencer recommendations on Twitter
- 40% of people surveyed stated that they have bought a product online after seeing it being used by an influencer
- Influencer content generates up to 8 times more engagement than content shared directly by brands
The key to influencer marketing is to associate yourself with the right partners. Find someone your audience trusts. Find an influencer who is known by your target group and work out how you can work together. This might be by them mentioning your brand in an Instagram post, featuring your product on their website or writing an endorsement that you can use on your website.
4. A considerable number of social media followers
Even though a large number of followers (especially fake ones) isn’t necessarily a sign of quality, your number of followers can act as a form of social proof.
Still following the same logic as that seen in the example of the restaurant, users very quickly adopt a herd mentality. When they see a large group of people doing something, it’s very likely they’ll join them.
A convincing example of this comes from Derek Sivers’ TED Talk, entitled “How to start a movement”*. In his experiment, a man starts dancing on his own in a park. One person joins him, and so on and so forth. A snowball effect is created and a whole crowd ends up getting involved.
There’s something reassuring about following a large group of people.
Even more important than your number of followers is the quality of your audience’s engagement. If you have 25,000 Instagram followers but your posts only ever receive around 50 likes, you lose credibility.
5. Number of users and client references
Here’s a classic example from McDonald’s:
Who are you more likely to give your money to: a restaurant which has served billions of clients, or one which has never served any?
Does your business have a large number of satisfied customers? If so, great: showcase them on your landing pages.
Here, iKentoo mentions its main client references, and also the number of restaurant owners who have already found the app to be useful.
As a prospective customer, can you really be making a bad decision if the product in question has already been used and approved by 4000 restaurant owners?
“The more prestigious and recognisable the source of your award, the more important it is to feature it on your site.”
6. Prizes and awards you’ve received
Consumers want to invest in brands they trust. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to simply say that you’re trustworthy. You need proof, and that’s why prizes and awards are excellent forms of social proof.
Awards validate your brand because they come from a third party which has given you their approval. The more prestigious and recognisable the source of your award, the more important it is to feature it on your site.
The company Bag Servant conducted a test which aimed to determine whether adding one of the awards received at the top of their buying pages would lead to a better conversion rate. The original version had a button to click on to follow them on Twitter, and their number of followers. The second version replaced this with a WOW badge, which was an award given by a famous businesswoman. The second version surpassed the original version on the three goals that were tested.
Also, of course, if your business gets mentioned in important media outlets, it goes without saying that you need to showcase this on your website.
Why would you not want to make a good first impression?
Use social proof for your business!
As you can see, social proof can work wonders to increase your conversion rate. So, our tip to you? To try one of the tactics mentioned above and see for yourself what results it brings.
References and links
*Derek Sivers - How to start a movement
