Consumer Psychology, B2C Marketing, Social Proof in Marketing
Learning about social proof is one thing, but what about the benefits?
We’ve written a number of stories on social proof — posts about what it takes to effectively leverage this psychological principle, ways social proof appears in modern-day marketing and more — and while those pieces may have given you an idea as to how marketing psychology can benefit your brand, this one is specifically dedicated to showing you the perks that come with this psychology.
We spoke with Sue Moore, founder of Virtual Gold Dust, a marketing psychology consulting agency, to outline the consumer-centered benefits you can experience by exercising social proof in your business.
Here are the key takeaways from our conversation:
Consumers have a crowd mentality
Brand advocates don’t come around everyday, but when they do, you can trust they’ll bring along a few more.
This sort of “follow the leader” mindset is a direct result of social proof, the psychological principle that people are heavily influenced by those around them. When consumers see or hear about a brand item from another customer they will base their purchase decisions off of that interaction.
“Humans are group animals. We’re tribe animals, and we want to look around and see that the option we’re about to make is safe and that other people have made the same decision,” Moore said.
For many brands, one simple way of showcasing consumer opinions is through reviews and testimonials. It allows customers to get a feel for the product or service they’re considering buying. While this tactic is effective, it isn’t the only one available to brands.
For instance, highlighting awards your brand has received can show customers that industry officials recognize your brand as credible and high-achieving. You can also create a specific space for your best-selling products. This does one of two things: One, it lessens the work consumers have to do to find items they might love, and two, it shows them all of the products that other customers have purchased repeatedly, a tall-tale sign that they are worth buying.
“All of those combined together give extra reassurance [to consumers]. It’s a multi-pronged way of using consumer psychology as persuasion,” said Moore.
Trust is a major component of what makes social proof so effective. The brand has to build trust with the consumer in order to motivate them to make a purchase or leave glowing reviews. Consumers extend a certain level of trust to other customers when they base their buying decisions on referrals and recommendations.
As a marketer, you know just how important trust is to driving positive consumer motivation for your brand. You also know what role it plays in your own consumer journey.
“Think like a customer. How do you behave when you go buy something? Do you do it blindly and think ‘That’ll do,’ or do you gather information about the credibility of that brand and think about how many people have purchased from them before,” said Moore. “I think if marketers can think like a consumer that’s ultimately how they will start to understand how social proof could work for them.”
If so many of your social proof goals rely on the positive opinions of others, does that mean everything you deliver should be flawless? Moore doesn’t think so. She says things don’t have to be perfect for them to be authentic — in fact, it’s better if they’re not.
“What’s really interesting about social proof is that people really trust products that other people have used, but they don’t appear to be perfect,” said Moore. “People tend to trust reviews that are 4.5 stars rather than 5 stars, because they believe that people have discovered the minor imperfections of a product but it still works.”
Social proof is ingrained in your consumers and its consumer-centric perks are a testament to its powers. We’ve included a few examples in this blog, but you’re sure to find a few additional advantages once you include more of this marketing psychology into your brand strategies.
