In today’s online world, social proof is everywhere in the form of testimonials and reviews. These can be good or bad for a business. Social proof can be very influential to a business’ potential customers and is simply something that helps people to decide which businesses to trust — and just as importantly, which businesses not to trust.
A key reason why social proof is so important for businesses of all sizes, is that many people — and especially millennials — don’t trust traditional advertising anymore, even if it involves celebrity endorsements. Social proof tends to be more organic or earned by a business and isn’t as “salesy” as other forms of advertising.
Let’s take for example this review that was received by Suncoast Ducts, one of our clients.
“There was mold in the vents and on the ceiling in at least one room. It was so disgusting. John came out and sprayed the mold, and it just disappeared. It was like magic! While he was in my home, John noticed that there was mold on several of my purses. I thought they were ruined, but he took the time to clean them, too. When he was finished, every purse looked good as new. John called about three weeks later to follow up and see how we were doing. We were breathing better—no sneezing, no coughing, and no congestion—and no more mold creeping out of our air ducts. We couldn’t be happier!” - Lori Ann Roth, Sarasota
Even if you don’t know anything about Suncoast Ducts, you would have a positive view of the company after reading this review. Then if you found yourself in need of their services there is a good chance that you would at least research the company further if not have them give you bid.
As you can see social proof can be a powerful tool to gain customers for your business. A few different types of social proof would include customer testimonials, online reviews, case studies, trust symbols, earned media, crowd statistics and expert stamps of approval. If you would like to learn more about social proof or how to incorporate it into your website, please contact us at Noble Webworks.
