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Imagine this …

You’re mindlessly scrolling through Instagram when you see a new post from one of your close friends.

They’re posing outside with their significant other, and immediately, your eyes are drawn to your friend’s sneakers.

You click the photo to see if they tagged the brand, and you see that the shoes are made by an athleisure company you haven’t heard of before.

You decide to shoot your friend a DM and ask about the shoes.

“They’re the BEST,” your friend messages back. “I literally have been wearing them everywhere. And I get so many compliments!”

Your friend sends the link to the exact pair on the brand’s website, and you instantly click it.

You check if the shoes are available in your size and see that they’re in stock!

You add the shoes to your cart and hover your mouse over the checkout button.

What do you do?

In today’s edition of Why We Buy, we’re taking a look at Social Proof – why we take cues from others.

We’ll explore the basics and 3 examples of unusually awesome types of social proof.

Let’s get into it…
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🧠 The Psychology of Social Proof

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people look to others to help them make better decisions or adopt the right behavior.

When we’re uncertain about what to do, we assume that the people around us (experts, celebrities, friends, etc.) know more about what’s happening and what should be done.

There are 6 categories of social proof that people respond best to:

• Experts
• Celebrities (paid or unpaid)
• Users (past and present)
• Wisdom of the Crowd (approval from a large group of people)
• Peers
• Certification

There are likely plenty more, but these six categories can apply to nearly every industry.
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🧐 Inside Your Buyer’s Mind

Your buyers aren’t sure if you’re the real deal or not.

Will you follow through or leave them hanging with a low-quality product?

​58% of consumers surveyed have left an ecommerce store without purchasing because there weren’t any reviews.

Showing proof that others have bought and enjoyed your product will ease your buyer’s mind.

It’ll prove to them that other people are happy with their purchase…and they’re not the guinea pig that’s stuck testing it out.

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🤑 How To Apply This

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

Aside from testimonials and user-generated content, there are 3 unusually awesome ways your brand can leverage social proof more creatively.

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​Highlight real interactions with customers or fans

Almost every sales page includes at least a handful of testimonials from happy customers. Polished testimonials are great, but you know what’s even better? Unsolicited praise from customers or fans.

Positive tweets, customer emails, or DMs from real people can be some of the best marketing assets.
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Every week I remind people to subscribe to Why We Buy by teasing the topic of the next issue. I often include screenshots of kind words from our readers, like I did yesterday when I tweeted a screenshot of this DM from David Chilton.

Sharing this raw, unsolicited compliment from David is much more compelling than the standard testimonial. It feels more real. And people like realness.

On that point…

Share negative feedback too

Buyers want honest opinions on your products — including negative reviews. Having a 4.5/5 star rating is more believable than a 5-star rating.

The same applies to reviews. Sharing the odd negative review shows that you understand your products aren’t for everybody. (And that’s ok because they shouldn’t be for everybody).

Flaunting your flaws can actually make you more likeable, which is exactly what happened to The Harlem Cafe after they shared a funny message on their billboard.

The cafe’s transparency about their bad Trip Advisor review took people by surprise. People wanted to try the “worst salad” for themselves, and it became a best seller over night.
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Use specific numbers

Round numbers aren’t as trustworthy as real numbers. Who do you trust more— the author who says they’ve sold 10,000+ copies of their book or the one who says they’ve sold 9,835 copies? Using specific numbers proves that you’re not exaggerating and makes your brand more trustworthy.

I share the exact number of subscribers on my newsletter signup page. It’s a small detail that builds trust. After all, if 49,260 people read Why We Buy it’s gotta be good, right?

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We used to update this manually a few times a week but recently I started using Sparkloop’s free tool, Proof. It saves time and there’s added trust since Sparkloop verifies the audience size.

(Not using Sparkloop yet? It’s been a huge driver of growth for this newsletter. I’m a big fan and recently became a Sparkloop affiliate. Try it free here.)

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💥 The Short of It

The urge to get approval from our peers, friends, and the crowd can influence people to do what others are doing.

Leverage one of the 6 categories of social proof to ease your buyer’s mind into knowing that they’re making the right decision.

Be proactive and ask your customers for reviews and share their feedback publicly.

Until next time, happy selling.