Imagine you’re shopping for a new bedside table. You’ve found three that you love, based on the pictures alone. One has over 500 reviews with an average rating of 4.8 stars. The second has 140 reviews and a 2 star rating. The third has no reviews. Which do you buy?

Of course you’re drawn to the bedside table with over 500 satisfied customers.

Why is this? It’s due to a psychological phenomenon called social proof.

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people are more likely to make a decision if they see other people doing the same thing. Behavior practiced by others, especially our peers, is perceived as the “right” choice in our minds.

The explosion of the digital landscape has put online business owners in a unique position. Instead of only leveraging social proof from friends or peers, they can build trust by connecting strangers from all over the world.

What is Social Proof?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of using social proof to grow your business, it’s essential that we first explain social proof as a concept.

Social proof, also known as informational social influence, refers to people (in your case, potential customers) assuming that the actions of others are correct, based on the frequency that they see said actions.

Let’s cover a real-life situation to demonstrate how social proof works:

You’re walking down a street in a new city and you stumble across a restaurant that is filled with people who are all enjoying a meal. You’ll likely think that the restaurant serves high-quality food — why else would so many people be eating there?

This scenario demonstrates social proof in action. You saw other consumers who were engaging with a product which is popular, so you too saw that product as attractive.

Why is social proof important?

Now that you know what social proof is, why do you need to incorporate it into your marketing? Why is it a valuable component to your business strategy?

• 40% of consumers find new brands to follow online based on recommendations from friends and family.

• 91% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase.

• 82% of Americans ask for referrals and recommendations from family and friends before making any kind of purchase.

In a few words: social proof gets your business more sales.

What Social Proof Can Do For Your Business

Incorporating social proof into marketing efforts has allowed many startups and small companies to grow in popularity and see a spike in sales.

Implementing social proof such as recent customer activity takes less than five minutes to set up and deploy on your site with a great social proof App like Gprove. And, it can boost conversions by up to 15%.

An example of social proof would be displaying something like: “Laura from Vancouver, Canada recently purchased the Turbo Traffic tool”, or including customer reviews on your product pages.