06/16/2022

What is Social Proof? Marketing Psychology At It’s Best

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Many businesses struggle to convert potential customers into paying customers. Social proof can significantly increase conversions.

Social proof can be a powerful tool to empower customers to tell the brand’s story. The story should revolve around customers being happy.

This article will cover social proof and its use in marketing. We will also share the most successful examples of social proof from well-known brands.

Social proof Definition

What is social evidence? Informational social influence refers to the positive effect that people have when they see others doing it. It is a great way for website visitors to pay attention and boost their credibility.

Professor Robert Cialdini says that people are more likely to act when they see the actions of others.

While social proofing isn’t new, it has been given a new lease of life by the rise in internet accessibility.

Social proof is a powerful tool in decision-making. Decisions are made based on the actions and experiences of others, particularly when they are uncertain about the outcome.

How social proof works

Humans have sought out advice since the beginning of time. People enjoy getting advice from friends and keeping up with the latest trends.

Prospects won’t know what you have for them. This is because they haven’t used your products to solve their problems.

Statistics on Social Proof

  • Monash University discovered that positive reviews on social media were more important than 442 hotel designs or quality. This, despite not being the main factor in the rise in demand.
  • Rent The Runway. A fashion company found that paid search conversion rates increase by 200% when a magazine or blogger mentions the brand.
  • Harvard Business School found that an increase in Yelp ratings of one star can result in a 5% to 9.9% increase in sales, regardless if the business is niche- or type-specific.
  • Bright Local did a consumer survey and found that 88% had read at least 10 customer reviews before purchasing online. 
  • A survey by Nielsen showed that 92% of people trust peer recommendations and 70% trust stranger recommendations.

Does that demonstrate the importance of social proof for marketing? Now let’s discuss what social proof means in marketing.

Social Proof Marketing

Let’s ask the question: What is Social Proof in Marketing? It is a powerful tool that helps build trust and confidence in your marketing efforts.

Social proof and digital marketing

Social Proof allows businesses to embed their marketing messages in customers’ voices. You can use social proof at every stage of the buying process to encourage leads to buy from you.

Social proofing can be described as a brilliant idea.

Social Proof Popups are an efficient and easy way to add social proof to your website. You can find our recipe here Social Proof Popup Examples for persuasive persuasion.

Now you will learn how to use social proof to increase conversions.

These five ideas are great for your website.

Testimonials

Get testimonials. This is a great way to show social proof on your website. You can write text, video, or quotes.

Testimonials are powerful because they reflect the opinions of customers. You should ensure that testimonials come not only from your company but also from influencers.

Make sure your testimonials are specific to your company’s problem. 

User-generated Reviews

While case studies and testimonials are impressive, people still trust the opinions of those who are like them. 

All reviews are not equal in weight. Trustpilot CEO Peter Muhlmann stated that “Using a closed platform is like asking your mother whether she’s handsome.” “

Third-party platforms are more trustworthy and have higher recognition of social reviews. Register your company and encourage customers to leave reviews.

Buying is more emotional than rational. Soon, you will see a rise in brand engagement.

Total number of social media followers

A simple way to demonstrate social proof is to list how many followers your company has on social media. Since a brand cannot manipulate these numbers, this is a great way to build trust.

You will connect with your audience more if you have many social media followers. This also shows the trustworthiness of your brand.

What happens if a visitor to your website discovers that one of her friends is a fan? She will likely buy from you because she trusts your brand more.

Wisdom of the Crowd

Surprise your visitors with the wisdom of the crowd! Consider displaying a popup offering a free e-book download to visitors who submit their contact information. 

Now imagine if the e-book could be downloaded by a reasonable amount of people. That would attract more attention.

The wisdom of the crowd can be used as a way to say, “What are we waiting for?” Everyone else has joined us. Your customers will be impressed and your subscriber base will grow by telling them how many people have used your service.

A landing page or popup can be a great way for social proof to showcase your most popular products. 

The Best Social Proof Marketing Strategies

It’s important to focus on the ways that social proof can be used in marketing strategies.

Now, we will discuss the best strategies for maximizing sales with the social proof concept.

Display third-party customer reviews platforms’ data on your site

Businesses with social proof are more trustworthy than those without traditional marketing, especially in declining markets for trust. Employees may post reviews on closed platforms.

Trustpilot reviews are trusted and respected by many. Canvas Factory shares ratings and reviews on its page footer. It helps establish their credibility, I swear!

Trigger Fear-of-Missing Out

You can use social proof to show visitors that you are a credible source of information. 

When they see others shopping at the same store, they are more inclined to shop there.

Celebrity Approval

An analytics company conducted a study and found that 40% of respondents purchased an item online after watching an influencer post it on social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Twitter.

Celebrities can provide social proof and authority in today’s society. 

You can use this tactic via endorsement payments or naturally. Large brands tend to have huge budgets for digital marketing.

Social Media Takeovers: Expand Your Influence

Social media is a great way to reach potential customers. An influencer on social media can take over your accounts and share posts about your brand for some time.

This allows you to build a relationship with the person and also allows you to reach him differently.

Share Media to Mention

Are you mentioned in media outlets To establish authority you should take media mentions and display them on your website.

It doesn’t matter if your brand was mentioned in a podcast, TV program, or magazine. This will increase the likelihood that they visit your website to learn more about you.

Use well-known logos

One persuasive social proof strategy is to include logos of your clients on your pages. This will make it more attractive to the world.

These logos are great for email marketing campaigns and popup ads. 

Add logos for your integration partners

This is a great way to build social credibility by adding logos to third-party integration logos. ” Right?

Kobe Digital lists all integration partners to build trust with prospects.

The Best Seller Banner

Display your top sellers with relevant banners to convert more customers

People will buy from brands they haven’t seen before. 

Cross-sell Your Products

Customers can see similar products to yours when they are looking at your product.

This tactic is used to cross-sell, and can also be used as social proof by claiming others have bought the product.

Sidebars featuring popular products are a great way for people to become interested in your brand. They also help customers decide which product they want to buy from your store.

You can display your most popular posts in your blog to show that they are highly sought-after as they provide valuable information.

Kobe Digital displays our most popular posts in the sidebar. This allows you to increase your traffic to these pages.

Showcase Customers

Showing happy customers on your website is a great way to demonstrate your social proof. 

Customers will see your brand and be more likely to share it with others 

Social Proof Tools to Boost Results

Even if your budget is small, you can still convert more with social proof.

These are 10 social proof tools that will help you create a marketing strategy. 

Trustpulse

Trustpulse are popups that can instantly grab users’ attention and display site activity 

Price: $39 for 2,500 sessions, $99 for 10,000 sessions, and $199 for 25.000 sessions.

Do we have proof?

Proof lets you add social proof notifications on your website.

Your customers can set the tool up and display it to their website visitors. This includes both opt-ins, views, and purchases.

Prices start at $399

WP Fortify

WP Formify is a powerful WordPress plugin that makes your visitors feel urgent and social proof.

Prices start at $99.

Fomo

Fomo is a powerful marketing tool that can be customized to convert to paying customers. 

Prices: Starting at $19 per month

Social Proof Examples

Now you have a solid knowledge of social proof theory and how it affects marketing. How to use it in your marketing strategies.

You may be asking yourself, “What is social proof?” Let’s look at some social proof examples to show how compelling a social-proof concept can be.

Hubspot

Hubspot makes use of the wisdom and crowd effect to increase its subscriber base. Keep them in your sights!

eBay

eBay uses social evidence to embed information on product pages. This includes the seller’s rating and the number sold.

Nature is beautiful

Nature Made integrates social proof into Facebook ads using expert USP certification.

Workday

The Harvard Business School article about Workday’s culture is featured on Workday’s blog page. This article will help you create a smart strategy.

Fitbit

Fitbit’s buzz section includes the opinions of tech experts about their products. 

Buzz Sumo

Buzzsumo provides customer testimonials and case studies that help customers learn more about the brand. 

Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans, a popular mobile game, has gained a lot of popularity. To connect Liam Neeson’s strong-man personality to the game, they have Liam Neeson as their spokesperson. This is a great way for celebrities to social proof!

Starbucks

Starbucks does not need to be promoted because many celebrities carry a Starbucks cup in their hands. 

Netflix

Every video on Netflix has been rated and reviewed by real users As the number of positive comments increases, people are more likely to share their 2-hour film-watching time with Netflix.

Google Play Store

Google Play Store uses another rating system A list of all people with a particular star rating is displayed. This is a very popular idea.

The New York Times

The New York Times Bestseller Label is used to identify the best-selling books worldwide. 

McDonald’s

McDonald’s allows customers to keep track of the number of people they’ve served. 

Why are hamburgers so popular?

Always challenge a website as if it were a visitor. Add these elements to the page. I think one of those elements would include social proof.

It is simple to decide on the type and level of social proof you need. 

Which social proof strategies are you planning to use?

About the author

Kobe Digital is a unified team of performance marketing, design, and video production experts. Our mastery of these disciplines is what makes us effective. Our ability to integrate them seamlessly is what makes us unique.