When was the last time you bought a product without checking out reviews and ratings?
Consumers are increasingly reliant on social proof — seeking reassurance from others before making purchase decisions. It doesn’t matter the size of your business, you need to start leveraging social proof from the beginning to ensure maximum conversions.
And no, reviews on your website are not the only kind of social proof. There are many other ways you can build trust online. Let’s explore some of the top ways and how you can get started along with examples.
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Social Proof is any mechanism or action by which a user indicates that they are pleased with what they see.
When it comes to users and eCommerce sites, social proof is highly important to the way users interact with online shopping sites. It basically lets potential customers know that other customers were satisfied with the service or product. It also helps to reduce anxiety, because it removes some of the uncertainty about whether or not a particular service or product is good for you.
Using social proof can help you generate high engagement rates with your site visitors, increase trust from your audience, and ultimately convert your traffic into return sales.
For instance, if everybody is talking about a particular subject in a positive light, chances are most people, even with limited knowledge, would agree. It is a simple theory that subconsciously plays in the back of everybody’s head, thus making it a powerful marketing strategy for your business.
Here are some statistics that quantify the importance of social proof in eCommerce:
- Positive customer reviews can increase conversion rates by as much as 270%
- 81% of consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by social media content put up by their friends.
- 84% of millennials say user-generated content has at least some influence on what they buy.
There are many ways to generate and leverage social proof to build trust
1. Use reviews and testimonials
Make sure that your customers can write a review on your products and it can be displayed on product pages.
The ideal way of collecting positive reviews and testimonials is to ask for feedback from customers. You can send an email requesting a review after their product is delivered. Here’s an example:
While collecting feedback, make sure you ask specific questions about how they like your product, customer support, and more.
Once you have collected them, compile them and convert them into a strong marketing tool for your brand. Design attractive creatives with quotes, memes, and more and push them out on your social channels. Additionally, you can turn these reviews and testimonials into blog posts, case studies, and more to increase visibility and reach.
2. Showcase your affiliations
The easiest way of social affirmation is to showcase fellow businesses you associate with. This not only adds credibility but also attracts the customers of affiliate businesses to engage with you.
For example, a food business would benefit from showcasing its FSSAI registration.
Related read: How to sell food online: The complete guide
Also, keep a tab on the various platforms your company or products have been featured in. This is a sure-shot way of increasing your reach and brand loyalty.
3. User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is a term used to describe brand-focused content generated by customers and published on channels, especially social media.
UGC is a cost-effective way to build social proof and trust for eCommerce brands. It has more credibility and authenticity, which attracts the attention of those interested in your brand but unsure if they should buy.
Although customers are the creators of UGC, you can still initiate and encourage it. You can create a special branded hashtag and ask your audience to use it when they share content — like how BlissClub uses the #WomenWhoMove hashtag.
You can then re-share it with their permission and generate more reach.
4. Influencer endorsement
Influencer marketing is a great way to get social proof.
Influencers can create content that eatures your products or services. This can include product reviews, testimonials, photos, videos, or unboxing experiences. UGC adds a genuine and relatable touch to the influencer’s content and serves as powerful social proof.
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Pro tip: leverage visual content
There is no denying that images are easy to understand and grab more eyeballs. Make sure all the reviews and testimonials and converted into engaging creatives or infographics. Share them on social media to generate traction. Make sure your social media strategy has a combination of creatives, blogs, case studies, and more for maximum conversions.
5. Social network
If you just started your business, it’s important to build a network by interacting with people in your industry online. The best platform to build your social connections are Twitter and LinkedIn. You can share informative content and the journey of building your brand.
Building strong trust with your audience is the foundation of every eCommerce business. Convincing a ‘faceless’ customer to trust them and buy the product is a big challenge. What are these ‘trust-forming’ factors? How do you achieve it in the long run.
To answer these questions, download our free ebook and learn trust building exercises for D2C brands.
Conclusion
Social proof is an ideal way of leveraging the opinions of your customers to build strong brand loyalty via social media marketing. An ideal way of getting positive reviews and testimonials is to provide a customer with a perfect overall experience.
Providing seamless and secure transactions covers the last mile, ensuring positive reviews and testimonials.
With Instamojo, you can not only ensure successful transactions but also use our free services such as an online store, invoice generator, SMS alerts, pro analytics and more to help your business grow on the internet.
