Social proof is a phenomenon that shows people are more likely to take action if they see that others have already done so. Using social proof can help drive sales and create a tribe of happy customers. That’s why social proof apps and widgets showing reviews and testimonials are some of the best tools for conversion rate optimization.
“Social proof” in marketing is a recent term and can be attributed to the advancement in technology, availability of the internet and more specifically online review sites. Social conformity has always existed and been studied as early as the 1930s by Professor Sherif and later in 1951 by Solomon Asch. Asche was successful even back then at proving that people will conform to the masses because they want to fit in with the group (normative influence) and because they believe the group is better informed than they are (informational influence).
Let’s consider social proof in action - You’re walking down the street and you get hungry. You have two choices; one restaurant is full and one is empty. Which one do you choose? The reason you’re tempted to visit the restaurant with people in it instead of an empty one is because you assume the empty restaurant isn’t as good. After all, if they served good food, people would be there, right?
That’s social proof in action. Even if the empty restaurants have better food and service, because there are more people in the other ones, the assumption is they’re better.
Transfer this to the digital age where people jump on Yelp, Trip Advisor or other online review websites to check the restaurant reviews before even leaving their house. What they see on those reviews creates the same feelings as if they had walked past the restaurants and seen one empty and one full.
So why are online reviews now more powerful than ever? The internet is flooded with paid advertising, a review, however, is more powerful than an advertisement because reviewers are not seen as financially invested in your purchase. They are seen as independent and completely unbiased. You may question this unbiased assumption but the power of social proof and conformity helps people to overcome this doubt and follow the masses.
If you are not using social proof on your website then you are missing out on influencing up to 93% of your website visitors.
