Today is a new day!
As you get ready for the day, you think about what you want for breakfast.
Your friend swore vegan bacon and pancakes are delicious, so you try it out.
A local café is trending online, so you check out what the rage is all about.
And your choices don't stop there.
Through the day, you make several decisions regarding a whole host of issues.
However, you may not be aware that you don’t make the majority of those decisions yourself.
Someone else is controlling your decision-making process.
How?
There’s this psychological phenomenon known as social proof. Or you might be more familiar with the term "herd mentality".
What does this mean?
You make most decisions based on what other people are doing. This is mainly because, on an innate level, we all want to be part of the group. No one wants to stand out.
For so long, eCommerce businesses have taken advantage of social proof. They use it for advertising their brands and products.
In the digital era, this herd behavior is particularly apparent in several ecommerce social media marketing strategies.
Words such as "influencers" make the rounds because of this concept. However, there are several other ways social proof comes into play.
Keep reading as we peel away the layers of social proof. I will show you how to leverage social proof in your Shopify marketing strategy.
Let's take your eCommerce brand to the next level!
How To Apply Social Proof In Your eCommerce Marketing Efforts?
What genre of music do you like? I myself prefer alternative rock over everything.
No matter what you prefer, you don’t really mind what kind of headphones you use.
Heck, you can’t even distinguish between the different audio qualities of the other brands. But now you find yourself really attached to a particular brand.
You can’t even entertain the idea of buying another pair from a different manufacturer. You go ahead and buy your preferred brand online. You’re delighted with your decision.
But was it really your decision? How can you, a confessed audio amateur, know that this brand is better than the next technically-similar brand?
The answer is simple. You’ve seen other people wearing these particular headphones; athletes, notable musicians... and even your friends on social media.
Notice how other people's opinions have an impact on your purchase decisions. This is social proof in eCommerce.
So let’s get down to it! This is how you can use social proof in your Shopify store to boost online sales.
1. Highlight Customer Testimonials On Your Site
Here's a kicker: 92 percent of people trust a product recommendation from a peer. And that is to be expected. After all, they know the person and can vouch for their honesty.
However, 70 percent of those same people trust a recommendation from new website visitors.
What does this mean for your eCommerce store?
This means that if you put up written reviews from existing customers, potential customers will trust them. This is regardless of their relationship with your existing customer base.
Customer testimonials are an efficient way to drum up trust in your product pages. And for your overall brand, as well.
Off the top of your head, select a handful of online stores you know. Check out their homepage.
Chances are, you will find customer testimonials in a carousel or other format. This form of social proof is next to foolproof.
And to make it even more so, display customer testimonials with photos for more authentic social proof.
You see, this humanizes the testimonial. It makes it real and not something that a computer algorithm spewed out.
Here's another way you can leverage social proof and show a customer testimonial. You can show other customers shopping on your eCommerce store.
A great social proof example comes from influencer marketing...
2. Collaborate With Online Influencers
I'm sure you follow a celebrity or two on social media. I certainly do!
Some accounts on various social media platforms carry sway over the masses.
The personalities are usually celebrities. Even more common are those who are considered thought leaders in their given niches.
And when a new product comes out in that niche, your target audience usually checks social media posts. More specifically, they'll be looking for celebrity endorsements.
These personalities are known as influencers. And with influencers, you can gain priceless social mileage. Partnering with influencers to promote your online store can nudge customers into buying.
How so?
Association with the given influencer is seen as approval of your products and brand. If you have a larger social media marketing budget, you can leverage the power of celebrities. Create brand ambassadors out of them.
Check out Spindrift's social proof example. They feature positive reviews from influencers with huge followings on their social media page.
Naturally, the masses already look up to celebrities. They try to copy everything the star does.
The celebrity’s fans will jump on the bandwagon if they endorse your brand. They will be buying your products and further spreading your brand’s name.
That's a powerful social proof strategy!
Take care to collaborate with celebrities and influencers who relate to your online store. This will make their message to the masses more genuine. Genuineness carries a lot of weight in social media influence.
Up next, leveraging social proof also means you have to...
3. Show Buyer Activity Regarding Different Products
What's the whole point of social proof in Shopify marketing?
It is to get your potential customers to make purchasing decisions. And these decisions should be based on what they think other customers are shopping online.
An effective way of doing this is by showing buyer activity for different products.
Here's a classic example. Once prospective customers add an item to their cart, you can display "People also viewed" or something along those lines. They will be compelled to view those products.
This falls under another related phenomenon – fear of missing out (FOMO).
You can also create urgency by showing real-time figures depicting buying activity.
Here's how:
Shopify themes like Debutify allow you to show the number of items sold per product.
The Sold Items Add-On shows how popular a product is. Your prospective buyers will be more confident about buying from your eCommerce site.
Feature as much social proof as you can and...
4. Use Industry Experts To Convince Your Target Market
The words and opinions of industry experts carry a lot of weight. When they speak about a particular product, interested individuals pay attention.
And when potential customers see these expert contributions on your social media channels... they will be more than willing to buy your products.
Furthermore, the expert’s fans and followers can learn about your brand and products. This opens up another market for you!
Perhaps you hadn’t even targeted that market in your Shopify marketing strategy. You can use expert reviews to vouch for your product.
Alternatively, you can decide to omit the direct sale altogether. Instead, let the expert take and answer questions from your audience. Simply by hosting a thought leader, you have piqued the interest of your target audience and other groups.
An added advantage is that people will look to your brand when looking for a solution to a problem in the niche. The increased brand authority is more than worth it.
Take a look at Listerine's sign-up form as a social proof example. They proudly state that professionals highly recommend their products.
Satisfied customers' genuine reviews and experts are not the only social proof that can vouch for you. To drive sales through social proof, you can also...
5. Show Off Your Media Mentions
We are surrounded by media all the time. It can be through our television sets, radio, newspapers, or even magazines.
And mass media influences the perception of several things. These range from day-to-day affairs to brands and their products.
Add websites and noted social media channels to that list in the digital era. There’s a common saying, "People believe what they see on tv." This attests to the media's power over people’s beliefs and decision-making.
If your brand has been featured in different media outlets, show off these mentions on your homepage. These can be excerpts from magazines, websites, or videos that feature your product.
You might ask... How would I know if my Shopify store is mentioned?
You can set up Google Alerts that let you know each time a media outlet mentions your brand.
Podcasts are also popular media channels. On your social media channels, you can post links to the podcasts where your product or brand was featured.
Better yet? You and a well-known influencer or expert might have made an appearance on the said podcast and talked about your brand.
That's double the social proof!
What happens when your target audience sees or listens to these media mentions? They are likely to pay more attention to your brand.
Thus, this leads to more conversions and more sales. All because respectable outfits have mentioned your brand or products.
Social proof in ecommerce also considers...
6. Who Has Used Your Product Before?
Social proof works for the more established online stores when you display other brands that have used your products. On many websites, you can see a selection of notable brands displayed.
Check out a social proof example from Semrush's landing page. You can't deny that the names they feature hold a lot of influence.
This makes your target audience trust you more because they see other significant businesses that are your customers.
Even when your brand doesn’t carry a lot of clout in the industry, displaying the brands you’ve worked with lets you borrow some of their authority.
Positive reviews can also come in different forms, so go ahead and...
7. Display Social Shares
Your social media marketing strategy probably includes sharing blog posts through different channels.
How can you show the readers and potential buyers that your brand is worth the time?
You can display the social share numbers on the page.
In many blogs, the share buttons are near the author’s name under the title. You can show the number of times the article has been shared on different social media platforms.
Your reader is likelier to share the article via their social accounts. This increases brand visibility. It also increases the amount of traffic to your eCommerce platform when people follow the links embedded in your blog posts.
So there you have it! You can use these social proof examples and strategies to boost sales. It's time to...
Feature Your Happy Customers Through Social Proof!
Social proof is one of the many strategies you can employ to increase sales in your Shopify store.
Using the above methods, you can get a head start in your mission to make your Shopify marketing efforts more effective.
And Debutify Reviews is now live to help you leverage your social proof to the next level!
Don't miss out and...
Highlight Your Social Proof With Debutify Reviews!
