Social proof matters for brands, especially as they’re just starting out on the ecommerce stage. And with so much tech at our fingertips, it’s easier than ever to source — if you know how.
Overview
Speaker’s name: Justin Clarke
Job role and company: Psydro
Links to Twitter profile: @psydrouk
Link to LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/company/psydro
Link to the slides:
What was the talk about?
Everyone knows that consumers have power. They provide your business with the revenue stream it needs to exist and without them, you’d be out of a job. But it’s not a one-way street and you have the power to use the influence consumers have to drive up revenue for your business. How? By leveraging social proof and using it to convince customers to buy from your business, as Justin Clarke demonstrated.
People really do value the opinions of their fellow shoppers and Justin used a black and white video to demonstrate this. In the video, we follow the story of the man in a black hat who enters a lift – all pretty banal stuff. What’s really interesting, though, is that the video is a setup where the rest of the people on the lift are actors who all do things in unison – such as changing direction or taking off their hats. Each time the group does something, our man in the black hat follows.
Why is this lesson from Justin Clarke’s black hat man important? Because if you can add examples of your existing customers using your products to your site, or publish positive reviews from shoppers on your social channels, then other people will follow their lead and buy from your business.
Fave quote
Potential impact on the industry
Social proof is already a massive asset to the industry, with UGC representing the golden egg of content. So, while the impact of this talk is unlikely to be that people begin using social proof, it could very well be that they step up their game with it.
Key takeaways
Different to the conclusion, this section needs to condense actions from the talk that readers can use in their jobs/careers/business. Ideally, these should be bullet points, providing scannable takeaways at the bottom of the article:
- People are influenced by suggestion
- Use the power of customer reviews
- Add consumer explainer videos to your site
