Have you ever wondered why TV sitcoms always have canned or “filmed-in-front-of-a-live-audience” laughter over them? Most people say they hate it – so why do so many shows continue to do it if it’s so annoying?
It’s because TV execs know we laugh more (and enjoy the show more) when everyone else is laughing.
In a similar way, advertisers tell us something’s “best-selling” or “fastest-growing” because they know we think if everyone else is buying it, it must be good.
How many of us look for well-reviewed AND popular products when choosing? I know I often go for a product that’s not only got good reviews, but lots of them. If loads of people are buying it, and most of them are saying it’s great then…it must be great, right?
You might have heard of this phenomenon. It’s called social proof, and it influences the decisions we all make – including your customers. It’s one of the six factors that influence your customer’s decision-making.
But what you might not know is that the strength of social proof is enhanced if the person we look to for that proof is like us. So, a builder’s even more likely to buy something if it’s got good reviews from other builders, rather than by people in other professions.
So my tip for today is to consider how you can use social proof to sell more of your own stuff.
Remember, these are the rules of social proof:
- We’re more likely to buy something if other people say it’s great
- We’re more likely to buy something if we know lots of other people are buying it
- We’re even more likely to buy something if the people buying it and saying it’s great, are just like us
Here are some ways you can tap into using social proof for your business:
- Get reviews for your business on Google – get lots, and lots of good ones
- Consider using reviews on your website – there are lots of good third-party systems like Feefo that you can plug into
- If you’re using testimonials on your website, use people who are like the customers you want to get
Social proof is just one of many tactics to use to improve your sales as part of a successful marketing strategy.
We know it’s not easy to get this strategy right, and can be difficult and time-consuming to implement. If you’d like to talk to the experts and get it done properly, get in touch and find out how we can help you, like we’ve helped dozens of other clients.
Give Tomango a call on 01273 814019 for an initial 15-minute chat, or email hello@tomango.co.uk.