Let’s imagine that you’re trying to get a photo editing app. You look at the wide variety of options available in the market and most likely you’re closely considering what your friends think about the app. Is it great? Are the transitions between pages too slow? The real experience can only be discovered by either committing to it yourself or relying on someone else’s observations.
The comments existing customers leave about a particular product help people out there to decide whether or not they want to get it themselves, which is why the ratings and reviews matter in the today’s world of millions of businesses and things they offer. In fact, 91% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase, according to Bizrate Insights. Therefore, legitimate experiences associated with a company’s services or products serve as helpful tools for consumers on a global scale.
What’s social proof?
Coined in 1984 by famous author Robert Cialdini in his book Influence, social proof represents a concept that people copy the actions of other when trying to reflect a correct behavior in a certain situation. In the U.S. alone, more than 80% of consumers seeks recommendations or referrals before purchasing anything, which highlights why social proof and its implication in marketing are highly important.
A case study
One of the most common examples of social proof is a case study that companies tend to present to emphasize the satisfaction of the current customers with the product or services. Often times, the document includes some statistical observations and qualitative assessments. If you don’t already have it, you can select the customers that had the most excellent experience with your business and ask them to participate in a case study during which they would have to answer certain questions.
Reviews
If your company is still not receiving testimonials or reviews, you should add a review form or a comment section under some pages to gather the opinions of the customers about your business. After you complete this step, you should decide upon the way you’d share these reviews with others. The most popular approach is having a testimonial section on your website, but with the rapid development of the social media realm in the past few years, sharing customer reviews on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok etc. can hugely contribute to the success of your business. Video reviews have proved to be generating the most impact on the increase of sales.
Social proof does make a difference. In today’s world, it confirms the existence of your business and its satisfactory performance. When choosing between different companies, consumers are more inclined to go for the one that has been a trusted choice among many people for a while. Hence, it’s crucial that you share the reviews and case studies as much as possible because it raises the trust towards your product or service. Social proof does not only help override competition in 2022 but also serves as a de facto requirement for all business worldwide.
