Over the past few years, people have found a new way to decide on places to visit and products to purchase. When deciding on a restaurant or bar, online platforms have become the go-to. For millennials, the most important thing is that the place looks good while others want to ensure it has high ratings.
What is Social Proof?
Social proof is the concept that people follow the actions and make decisions based on other people. What we see others purchase affects what we purchase, where we see people going has an impact on where we decide to go.
How we live, what we buy, where we choose to go is all influenced by the opinions and actions of other people. It’s not always a bad thing, because it makes life easier for us.
E.g. If someone purchases a TV that you want to purchase, and leaves a bad product review, you probably won’t purchase it. This saves you time and money.
Google, Social media ratings, reviews, comments, likes, and shares are all social proofs we see online daily.
Using Social Proof to increase conversions
Over the last few years, especially once the pandemic hit, there has been a huge shift online. More and more people have traded going into shops to purchase products online. The tricky part is, you can’t physically touch or test the product or service you purchase online – until it arrives of course. Therefore, it is extremely important to use social proof for your eCommerce store. Incorporating social proof across social media platforms, website and on your online store can turn window shoppers into confident buyers.
Different types of social proof
There are a wide variety of social proofs, you need to find what works best for your business. Some customers turn to traditional sources for social proof while others, especially millennials turn to celebrity endorsements, social media and online reviews.