How Social Proof Impacts The Purchase Journey?

The power of positive reviews, recommendations — and celebrity endorsements are key strategies that resonate with your shoppers or commercial partners more than any other strategy. Viewing how and what others have purchased is a key step in every customer’s journey.

Why is that?

Social Proof is a psychological effect that leads people to conform. It creates a kind of herd mentality. The effect happens because people make a lot of their decisions based on feeling, rather than sitting down and thinking about it for hours. The mirror neurons also play a key role in the constant need to reproduce.

Robert Cialdini is behind the concept of Social Proof, he coined the term back in 1984, in his book Influence.

Why is Social Proof a key technique to incorporate into your marketing?

· 84% of customers recommend a brand they follow on social to friends and family

· 90% of shoppers read online reviews prior to an y purchase

· 82% of customers in North America seek referrals or recommendations from family and friends before any purchase.

Put in very basic business terms, it increases drastically the volume of your sales.

What are the most efficient techniques of Social Proof?

If you would have to pick two keyways to develop the Social Proof strategy, ways which remain genuine and customers keep on trusting, even in an era where influencer marketing is less and less authentic, these would be:

- Customer love

Your customers’ kind words and satisfaction are the most genuine and trusted Social Proofs? Customer love can also be as simple as a mention on social media, or it could turn into a longer form testimonial type of content.

- User-generated content

The best way to share with your audiences and potential shoppers that you have happy customers is to give them voice. So, do share your user-generated content on your social pages. Instagram and Tiktok are some of the most efficient platforms for this type of strategy. Simply create a branded hashtag, include it in your bio and encourage users a chance to be featured.