We (as in, all of us in Australia) tend to trust or believe (at least to some degree) what we are told if someone vouches for a particular business (if they have actually utilised that business themselves).
‘Social proof’ refers to things other people say about your business. On your website, this can be as simple as including written and/or video customer testimonials.
Without Social Proof on your website, your website will not perform very well. Here’s why:
Anyone can say anything on a website. They can make claims about how good their services and products are until the cows come home (so to speak)… but that doesn’t mean any of us will believe them, UNLESS there is ‘proof to back up and support their claims’ (aka: ‘social proof’). After all, in this day and age most of us are skeptical about most things. We have to be to avoid scams, scammers, charlatans, fake people, liars, etc. We don’t believe things unless they are backed up with proof. Your website needs to include ‘social proof’ so it is trusted. Without proof, your website will not perform – eg. attract good numbers of quality leads, enquiries and ultimately sales.
Side note: If you want your social media posts to perform better, include social proof in them too. Again, testimonials work great!
You can also include testimonials on your Flyers, Brochures and many other marketing collateral material types.
Video advertisements where an interviewer interviews a customer are also good examples of ‘social proof’.
I also describe some additional forms of social proof in this blog post.
