When we aren’t sure how we should act, watching other people’s actions gives us a lot of information. That is called social proof. For example
- Testimonials
- Recommendations
- Reviews
- User Ratings
Suppose you want to buy a new car. You look around on different websites to find one that fits your budget and has all the extra features you want.You’ve read the listing’s product information and looked at the pictures. Everything seems to be a good fit. But when you put the item in your cart, you see that the car only has 4 out of 10 stars in the reviews.
All of a sudden, your whole view of the car has changed. You thought this was the perfect deal just a few minutes ago, but now you’re having second thoughts and want to do more research before making a final decision. This is the effect of social evidence.
Whether it comes from industry leaders, reviews, social networks, or friends and family, what other people think about a product can significantly impact how you feel.
This article will look at the social evidence and its types. We’ll also give examples of social evidence you can use to your advantage in marketing and sales. But before that, let’s find out what social evidence means.
What is social proof?
Social proof is the idea that evidence of what other people think is likely to change people’s minds. Social evidence happens when you’re unsure about trying a new brand until a friend tells you how much they love their products.
A lot of social evidence happens beyond the control of a brand. A brand doesn’t have much say over what friends say to each other about products and businesses. But you have more control over some types of it, and you can use those to persuade people who visit your website to choose your company.
For example, it is why you won’t get up and walk around during the third hour of a brainstorming session, even though you want to. But when someone braver than you stands up, you do the same.
We have discussed the definition of social proof. Now we will go through its importance.
Most trustworthy types of social proof
There are many types of social proof, but let’s take a quick look at some of the best ones before showing you some top-notch examples.
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Customer Testimonials Recommendations
Customer testimonials are one type of social proof that comes in different forms, like written or video testimonials. They’re a great way to show that someone else has used your solution and liked it. Recommendation works when current customers suggest your products and services to others because they want them.
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Social Media Shares
Posts on social media reach a large number of people right away. Positive comments on social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram help to build trust in your business and make people feel good about it.
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Reviews
Most people read reviews from other customers before they buy something. Reviews differ from other types of social proof because they are more accurate, unfiltered, and raw. Because customer reviews are on 3rd party sites, companies don’t have much control over what is said.
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Case Studies
Case studies describe a consumer’s success using a product or service. This kind of social evidence focuses more on the customer’s journey, including where they were before the service and how it alleviated their problems. This is a fantastic method to show off happy clients and illustrate how they got the desired results.
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User Ratings
Users can easily say what they think about a business, product, or service through ratings. They can be used for just about anything, like rating products in online stores, showing customer reviews on business sites, rating movies and TV shows on a streaming service, rating and ranking apps in the App Store, and much more. So, user rating can help determine how much customers rate your product or service.
Social proof examples that convince customers
Let’s explore some examples to make it better and more precise.
Example 1: Ahref’s case study
Use cases are often organized by role. And while Ahrefs does include roles and industries (content marketers, bloggers, agencies, SaaS, and eCommerce), they go one step further by including SEO experts. This helps to ensure potential customers since these professionals are well-known and trusted in their field.
Example 2: Figma’s success story
This example of social proof goes above and beyond. Figma not only shares customer success stories but also makes guides that show how these companies used their tool to be successful.
The guides show Figma’s power and teach the audience about specific design features and strategies. This includes presentations, best practices, examples, and tips.
Example 3: Loom and Semrush’s customer base
Using numbers as social proof is a quick way to grab your audience’s attention and send a message without having to say anything. Both Loom and Semrush have numbers that are hard to ignore. Loom shows how many people, businesses, and even countries use their products to show their popularity.
Semrush’s site does something similar, but it does it uniquely by showing the number of international awards and the percentage of Fortune 500 companies that use Semrush.
Example 4: Mailchimp’s customer loyalty
Mailchimp not only shows the logos of its best customers, but it also shows how long each company has been a customer. This does a great job of showing strong customer loyalty through social evidence, which helps to build trust and confidence in the platform.
Example 5: Freshly’s recommendations
Freshly referral programs incorporate two essential kinds of social evidence: customer recommendations and social media shares.
Customers may recommend friends through various methods, including social media shares, which helps bring their brand in front of as many people as possible. Furthermore, they provide incredible value.
Conclusion
We discussed social proof, its types, and examples above. Now we have a piece of explicit knowledge about it. Using social evidence on your website, landing pages, sales emails, marketing emails, and other channels is extremely beneficial for any business. These are just a few examples of how it may assist in confirming purchasing choices, developing trust, and motivating consumers to take action.
People nowadays are advanced in their thought. They believe what they see. So, if you want to exist in the business world in a better way, social proof can help. You can find out what your customers think about your products or services. Tools like QuestionPro CX help you get customer feedback and determine what it means.
With the help of QuestionPro CX, you will find out what types of social proof are suitable for your business. Contact the QuestionPro experts’ team for any kind of help related to social proof.
