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Imagine this…

You’re visiting Paris for the first time with your best friend.

But before you see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum, you want to have a memorable breakfast filled with buttery croissants.

You use Google to instantly find an eclectic restaurant with a 4.7-star rating within walking distance of your hotel.

And judging by the customer reviews, they’re apparently known for their croissants. Score.

You feel as confident in your decision as Julia Child did preparing her famous Coq au Vin.

As you walk to the restaurant, you playfully tease your friend that you’ll forever be known as the person who found the most epic breakfast restaurant ever.

When you arrive, you open the door and greet the host. He tells you it’ll only be a five-minute wait while they clean off your table.

As you’re both standing there waiting, you can’t help but notice several awards proudly displayed on the wall.

You’re grinning ear-to-ear, until you see *it.*

This restaurant was voted “Best Brunch Spot” annually from 2013 to 2021. But… we’re in 2024.

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Your mind wanders to all the possibilities of what could have happened between 2021 and 2024 that caused them not to receive that award again.

Why are you no longer as excited to eat here?

In today’s edition of Why We Buy 🧠 we’ll explore Social Doubt—why we look for proof that’ll prevent us from buying.

Let’s get into it.
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🧠 The Psychology of Social Doubt

We’re about to blow your mind when we say this, but…

Social doubt is the *opposite* of social proof. (Didn’t see it coming, right?)

But in all seriousness, social doubt is just as powerful—if not more so. Your buyers are constantly looking for reasons *not* to buy from you.

Why? Because we’re loss-averse by nature, and we don’t wanna spend money on something we might regret. Parting with cash is painful enough.

So buyers can—and do—put on their detective hats and search for ANY clue that makes an offer seem suspicious.

Social doubt carries a lot of weight in your buyers’ decision-making.

That’s why smart marketers know peppering in social proof is crucial to destroying social doubt. And when they *don’t* have social proof, they get pretty dang creative.

After all, McKinsey & Company found word-of-mouth marketing is responsible for up to 50% of buying decisions.

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🤑 How to Apply This

Alright, so how can you apply this right now to sell more?

Ads​
​Incentivize early-bird reviews, referrals, or testimonials

Nothing breeds social doubt more than a lack of reviews and testimonials. That’s problem número uno.

Problem número dos is that, unless they’re your friends and family, people rarely want to be the first to buy a product.

So to rack up glowing reviews fast, choose an incentive like G2 did.

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They offered subscribers a $10 Starbucks gift card to leave reviews on their website, which was crucial to building out their review-based platform.

Bonus points: As people see others leave a review, they’re more likely to hop on the bandwagon and leave one, too.

Reviews and testimonials​
​Don’t let social proof only live on your website

Your website is great. But *don’t* hoard all your testimonials and reviews there.

Use your social posts to routinely remind browsers that *your* product is the bee’s knees.

Pro tip: They don’t have to be fancy. Using raving feedback from your DMs (with permission, of course) can arguably be even *more* powerful than a polished-up version.

New York Times Bestselling Author Ramit Sethi consistently posts raw, unfiltered testimonials from his happy readers.

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This technique not only prevents social doubt from creeping in, but it also MAJORLY alleviates writer’s block for content creation. Win-win.
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Sales pages​
​Tell your buyers who your product ISN’T for

You’ve heard the saying, “If you sell to everyone, you sell to no one.” And I’m 100% sure you agree, right?

So *don’t* pretend like your killer product will work for everyone. It’s inevitable that it won’t.

Instead, define who your product *isn’t* for to weed out buyers who will likely cause you a headache (and loss of profits).

Alex Cattoni uses this technique on her sales page to clearly speak to who her digital product is for… and who it *isn’t* for.

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The result? You’re less likely to hand out refunds (or have unhappy buyers) because you pre-screened buyers and ensured they’re the right fit *before* they hit “Buy now.”​
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💥 The Short of It

Your buyers are risk-averse. And they’re in full Sherlock Holmes mode, searching for any clue that buying from you *won’t* be the experience promised.

So ease their fears by removing their social doubt and replacing it with the confidence that your products will deliver on your promises.

A key to doing that? Pepper in LOTS of social proof anywhere you can.

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Until next time, happy selling!