What is Social Proof?

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where a person looks to the actions of others as assurance (or proof) that the decision they intend to make is the correct one.

Social proof is also 1 of the 6 key principles of influence, as researched by Robert Cialdini for his book titled, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. When discussing social proof, he gave a very interesting example of how social proof influences people. In an experiment one or more people would look into the sky, and other bystanders who saw this looked up into the sky as well. This reaction occurs in many scenarios, and of course it happens online. We look for social proof before we purchase, subscribe, or follow.

I recently experienced social proof offline with my wife when visiting a new outlet mall in the the Chicago-land area. We attempted to walk into a Tory Burch (no clue who that is) store, but we were quickly stopped and told to wait in a line of about 10 people before we could enter. As I looked into the store I noticed only about 15 people were actually in the store. It quickly dawned on me that this was a tactic of social proof. Tory Burch was attempting to influence bystanders by creating a line of people outside the door. Being the savvy marketer I am, I refused to wait in line knowing that I was being psychologically toyed with. However, as a digital marketer I must admit that I am some what of a hypocrite because I not only envy social proof tactics online but utilize them as well.

Types of Social Proof Online:

Displaying # of downloads
Displaying the # of purchases
Displaying the # of subscribers
Displaying your # of followers
Case studies
Testimonials
Reviews
Showing # of views
Showing # of comments or engagements
Displaying customer logos
Share buttons (that display number of shares)

Below are some brilliant examples of how websites use social proof to improve conversions. To some this may seem like bragging, but to marketers, it’s just brilliant.

1. Basecamp

Can anything be more impressive and reassuring than seeing that 6,644 companies signed up last week for Basecamp. Obviously they’re doing something right. Let’s sign up!

2. Optimizely

So you’re telling me that you have 4,500 happy customers? That’s good enough for me. Where do I sign up?

3. Elance

Wait, how many jobs have been posted in the last 30 days? And how much money have people on your site earned? Heck ya, I’ll register now!

4. Social Media Examiner

220,000 of my peers read your blog regularly? Wow! Yes, I would like updates. Here’s my name and email address.

5. Active Campaign

Well, I do need help with email marketing, and I am a small business. You say that you’ve helped 100,000 small businesses with email marketing.

…ya got me. Where’s the sign up button?

6. Web Designer Depot

Surely 353,254 people can’t be wrong. They would have opted out if the content stunk and they got spammed. You want my email address? Oh, why not.

7. Twitter

Should I follow this Danny Sullivan guy? He says he talks about SEO.

…HOLD THE PHONE! He’s got over 300,000 followers. Following now! Thanks for the insight twitter.

8. YouTube

I don’t want to waste my time watching a boring video. However, this video has been viewed over 87,000,000 times. It’s got to be good. PLAY! PLAY PLAY!

9. Themeforest

As a person who has purchased many themes, I really need to know which themes are good and which are bad. 34,000 purchases gives me the assurance I need.

Conclusion

If you’re thinking of utilizing social proof as a digital marketing strategy, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that it should be very easy to display an automated or manual number on your site to help sell whatever you’re selling. The bad news is that you may have to wait until you get your numbers up. Five subscribers are impressive but 5,000 subscriber are very impressive.

Comments

Please share any social proof examples you can think of below.