Social Proof: What It Is and How to Leverage it to Drive Sales

There are a variety of ways that marketers can influence online consumers into purchasing a specific product from a specific business, and social proof is one of the most effective

What is Social Proof?

Social proof has become an important part of the purchase decision-making process for many shoppers, whether they’re making an online or offline purchase. You’ve likely seen the power of social proof in your own day-to-day activities. For example, think about the times when suggestions from other people have influenced where you decided to have lunch, or what clothing brand to buy, or where to vacation—the same thing applies online.

Marketers looking to reach and influence the 70% of consumers who seek out social proof online before making a purchase should leverage some of the many types available. Below, we share 5 ways to harness the power of some of the most effective social proof formats.

4 Ways to Leverage Social Proof to Drive Sales

1. Show Off Your Client Base: One popular method of social proof is to display the logos of your past and current client base. Seeing other successful businesses on your client roster fuels a phenomenon known as FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), and makes it more likely that prospective customers will want to count themselves among your successes.
2. Display Trust Seals: To ease customers’ minds and improve the conversion rates of your your landing and checkout pages add trust seals and indicators. Blue Fountain Media conducted a split test on their checkout page both with a Versign security seal and without the seal. They found that including the seal increased their conversion rate by 42%.
3. Ask for Testimonials: Consumers are influenced by current or former customers who have something good to say about your brand. According to Nielsen, 90% of consumers will trust a product recommendation from someone close to them, and 70% will even trust a product review from someone they don’t know at all. Display customer testimonials along with an inviting picture of the testimonial giver to boost trust.
4. Develop Case Studies: While this is a more formal version of social proof, case studies can provide potential customers in-depth information about problems you’ve helped to solve in the past, giving them an idea of what you can also do for them. We have a dedicated case study page on our own site that has led to new clients.

So, what is social proof? It’s a powerful tool that eases the mind of your potential customers so that they feel all the more comfortable connecting with your brand. It’s a must for instilling trust in your potential customers and influencing purchases, so make social proof a part of your marketing strategy today.

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