The name of the game in digital products is — Social Proof. We are always skeptical about crowds; a horde of people when coming together has a horde of opinions with them. In 2019, all smart marketers are now investing in time and effort to drag in the benefits of crowd opinions. From a brick and mortar business like a restaurant to a digital office like company/agency websites, the benefits can be pulled insignificantly. These benefits are trimmed and termed as online social proofs.

Social proof serves as one of the most influential sources of funneling and converting website visitors to lead consumers. Haven’t you seen the bigwigs’ websites yet? Amazon, Flipkart, WordPress and many others in different industries use social proof on their site. In today’s post we are summing up what is social proof, types, it’s an influence on the conversion of sales and implications.

Before we dive deep into the game of social proof, let us understand what is it in brief. As per the terminology, social proof is a situation where people conform to the actions under the assumption that those actions reflect the appropriate behavior. Now, taking the terminology to the business… Social proof is convincing and urging action of a potential lead in a way that one’s purchase becomes the other’s driving force to purchase.

It takes an immense effort to drive people from your website’s homepage to the pricing page. And that’s just the first step of the process. Now you have to convince those potential leads to hit the “Buy” button or Call To Action. Social proof is a new technique many small businesses are also leveraging to magnetize people.

How Does Social Proof Look?

You must have come across to one website that has this small notification that pops up saying some people have bought the product you are actually viewing or are in your cart. This is one type of website social proof. To simply put, when you add a social proof feature to your website, you’ll be able to show recent sales to encourage other website visitors to buy your product.

Types Of Social Proof

Consider social proof as a foundation for extensively scalable word-of-mouth. Generating and sharing social proof also doubles the visibility of your brand.

1. Expert proof: When a business leader of the industry or an influential blogger or any credible expert recommends the product, this social proof pulls in many website visitors.
2. Celebrity proof: When a famous celebrity endorses with a product, this social proof is comparatively more influential.
3. Customer proof: Social proof like customer testimonials serve as one authentic form of winning other website visitor’s confidence in making a call to action.
4. Certification proof: A third-party entity that is either a community badge when approves and recommends the product it is justified under social proof.
5. Subscriber proof: Visitors feel comfortable being a part of already build up space. Like the number of people subscribing to the newsletter will draw more people in the pool.

Conclusion: Social proof is a more powerful technique and there are many tools to put the bite on. 2019 is the perfect time to develop strategies to incorporate social proof in your website. Boost your online communication and remember to track your conversation rate before and after, so you can decide which tool of the strategy worked well for your company.