The best way to convince users to buy your product is to show your existing happy customers and what they say about your product. If you are new to the market and don’t have a brand presence or large customer base for references, social poof is much crucial for your marketing. In this article we will dive deeper into social proof and its importance in your early days of product marketing strategy.

Customers will be more comfortable in buying an item that others already had bought and have a good experience with it. This is true in the case of online shopping, SaaS, eBook, or any product.

For a new product, best way to influence the purchasing decision of a user is by showing your existing happy customers and what they tell about your product. As you don’t have a brand presence or large customer base for references, this is crucial in the initial days of your product launch.

What is social proof? 

Social proof is a term coined back in 1984 by author Robert Cialdini in his book Influence. It’s the idea that people copy the actions of others in an attempt to emulate the behavior in certain situations. When you find yourself clueless in social situations, you will look at what others are doing and mimic them. This is called observational learning.

There is high chance that you will buy something, If your friends or a relative recommends it. That is how social proof works. Of course there are more factors but majority of us always trust our peers in making a buying decisions.

Social proof plays a similar role in marketing. People always look for reviews, recommendations, and what other customers say about the product before buying it. It can be in the form of reviews, testimonials, case studies, customer stories, or user-generated content on social media platforms.  

Why Social proof is important in your early launch days?

When you launch a new product, you will be starting with a few customers. If you don’t have a brand name or brand presence, the best marketing strategy is to show what your customers say about your product. This will create huge influence on new buyers in making a their purchase decision.

Best way to use social proof 

There are several ways you can use social proof in your marketing process. Showing that customers are happy using your product is the best way to market your product, especially in the early days.  

1. Testimonials

Testimonials are the basic way to showcase what your customers say. Especially when your product is used by big brands and companies, showing what they say about your product can make a significant influence in buying decisions. Don’t forget to update your testimonials regularly, people always like to see fresh feedback.

The real names and photographs of your customers should always be displayed in order to show authentic testimonials. Displaying links to their social media profiles will be another way to show the authenticity.

2. Reviews

Reviews are a great way to influence the purchasing decision of people. A study shows that 91% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase. Reviews are one way to show how customers feel about your product and how good you and your product are with real life experience.

It’s important to note that, customers feel more authentic if you respond to reviews. Responding to reviews shows that your ready to listen your customers, no matter if it’s negative or positive just listen and understand what your customer says 

There are a lot of review sites out of which Google My Business, Tripadvisor, Trustpilot, and Yelp are most popular. Google My Business is ideal to start with, as it can bring a lot of traffic from google search and help your SEO efforts.

3. Case Studies

Case studies are the in-depth analysis of impact that your product created for your customer. You can successfully showcase your customers by diving deep into their use cases and how it impacted positively to their business. This will create bigger reasons to buy your product as it show the benefits of your existing customers in the same niche. 

One of the key advantages of case study is the way it shows how a problem is solved and potential benefits that achieved by a real world user. Case studies show how a real world problem is addresses and solution has been implemented with right metrics. It shows precisely how you achieved specific results with best practices.

Most of the time users depend on case studies for understanding the value proposition of your product and the ROI that it brought to your customers. By investing in building case studies that dive deeper into your customer problems and the solutions you implemented, you can clearly win your competition.

4. Customer Stories

Customer stories is another powerful way to influence purchase decision of your prospects. It create more authentic proof and experience for the users to depend upon. When your customers show how they’re using your solutions to improve their businesses in the real world, users will be much more convinced as it directly showcase how the problem was solved.

People see themselves reflected in the examples when you showcase your product with real users telling their stories. Peer-to-peer sharing is so powerful that it can transcend your competition. Here is the comprehensive article that explain how GrooveHQ use customer stories effectively in their marketing.

5. Shoutouts /Customer Love 

Social media is a powerful platform to promote your product, it can reach lot of users without much investment. Many times happy customers create a positive word of mouth through social media shout outs.  Such shout outs may be in the forms of twitter mentions, Facebook posts or Instagram stories. This can sometimes goes viral that your product can be instantly famous without much effort. 

There is no any better way other than the customers praise and say kind words for your product, this is a such a strong endorsement that comes with zero cost. Nearly 40% of Twitter users say they’ve made a purchase as a direct result of a Tweet from an influencer.

In early days you can approach influencers and celebrities in your niche to use your product and give shoutout that can bring lot of attention. Word of mouth marketing is the most economical way of creating brand presence, only thing you need to do is to make your customer happy and listen to the social media.

Conclusion

Social proof is an effective way to create trust about your brand and product in the initial days. Most of the users are influenced by the purchase decisions of our peers, creating word of mouth is much important in these days. The most effective way to influence your users are recommendations. If you are yet to start showcasing your happy customers, start requesting testimonials and social media shoutouts and showcase it as a proof of trust.