This document discusses how to use social proof to get more people to buy from you. It explains that people tend to follow the behaviors and choices of others when making decisions. The document then provides 4 ways to leverage social proof in marketing: 1) Showing proof from other users like testimonials and reviews, 2) Highlighting your product's popularity through metrics like subscriber counts, 3) Enticing customer recommendations through rewards, and 4) Using expert endorsements from influencers. It also shares results from an A/B test showing ads with social proof generated lower costs per lead than ads without social proof.

1. How to Use Social Proof
to Get More People to Buy from You
How to Use Social Proof
to Get More People to Buy from You
@AdEspresso

2. Do you sometimes wonder why customers pick
your competitors over you?

3. After all, you do everything by
the book. You attract the right
traffic, engage visitors with
killer content and constantly
test different approaches to
improving the user experience

4. And yet…they still prefer to
buy from someone else

5. But maybe they have a good
reason for doing so?

6. Perhaps they perceive your
competitors as more
trustworthy…

7. Valuable

8. And consider their products
as more popular at that?

9. They see others using your competitor’s products.
They hear stories from friends about how well they
have helped them, and read reviews and praise for
your competitors’ efforts…

10. So while you think your products are better,
customers still prefer to buy something else… just
because of social proof that convinces them to do so

11. LET’S HELP YOU
CHANGE THAT!

12. Enter social proof

13. I’m sure you’ve noticed:
Whenever you’re unable to make a decision, you
look at what others do, assuming that their actions
are correct for the given situation

14. You pick a restaurant based on the
number of people already dining there.
Sign up for a service based on the
number of people already using it.
And pick a product with more positive reviews.

15. And you’re not alone.
You see: We humans are
pack animals.
We exhibit what
Friedrich Nietzsche
called the Herd Morality
“lacking any individual will
and living by group instincts”

16. Harsh? Perhaps. But so
true... Just take a look at
these couple of
examples.

17. Experiments like the Stanley Milgram’s Street
Corner Experiment or Dr. Solomon’s Asche’s Lift
and Line Experiments have proved that we tend
to assume that if many people are doing
something, have done something or believe in
something, there must be a good reason why.

18. And you can use this behaviour to
entice more people to buy from you.

19. How? By displaying proof that confirms your
credibility, trustworthiness and popularity

20. Here are 4 ways to use social proof to
entice more customers to buy from you
2. Highlight Your Product’s Popularity
(AKA Wisdom of the Crowd)
3. Entice Customers to Recommend
Your Products (AKA Peer Recommendations)
4. Use Expert Endorsements
(AKA Expert Social Proof)
1. Show Proof from Other Users
(AKA User Social Proof)

21. User Social Proof

22. Do you pay attention to what
other people have to say about a
product before purchasing it?
So do 77% of other customers.
Reviews, testimonials, and
case studies work as an
approval for a product or
service. In fact, 88% of people
trust reviews as much as
personal recommendations

23. Display testimonials and reviews
on your site and landing pages

24. Include reviews in your ads to
increase their impact

25. Use schema.org to display ratings
and reviews in your search listings

26. Promote user generated video
GoPro is one example of a company that successfully incorporated
user-generated content in their marketing. And to some great results.
In 2013 the company’s net income grew by $28 million with only $41k
more in marketing costs.
All thanks to embracing user generated video as a social proof

27. Offer case studies for
prospective clients to download
Case studies provide an insight into a customer’s story,
from the problem they experienced and the reason
they sought out your solution to how you’ve helped
them solve it and in doing so, they help prospects
validate their buying decision

28. HelpScout, for example, offers video case studies
right on their homepage:

29. Intercom combines the power of testimonials
with case studies to offer a strong social proof
on their website

30. Show client logos
If you work in B2B, displaying logos of companies
you’ve worked with might offer enough social proof to
convince visitors to reach out and inquire about your
services

31. Wisdom of the Crowd

32. Seeing that the others might
be benefitting from
something makes many of
us want the same
And you can use this
phenomena (called the Fear
of Missing Out) to entice
more people to buy from you

33. Show subscriber numbers on
newsletter signup forms

34. Display the number of reviews
a product has received

35. Display user or sale counts

36. Display online brand mentions
on the site

37. Recommendations
from Friends
Social Proof

38. We almost unconditionally
trust recommendations from
the people we know
And so, enticing people to
recommend your products is
another way to highlight
their value and popularity

39. Entice customers to share their
purchases on social media

40. Offer rewards to customers for
forwarding your emails or
product pages to a friend

41. Reward customers for every new
customer they bring into your
business

42. Expert Social Proof

43. Use a credible source
(a celebrity, an influencer or
another recognizable
person your audience
identifies with) to endorse
or approve a product or
service in some way

44. Feature a celebrity
in your ads

45. Feature testimonials from
your industry’s influencers
Copyblogger’s home page features testimonials from people
their audience would consider influencers and look up to:

46. Get celebrities to tweet or
promote your product in other
ways to their followers

47. BUT WAIT,
DOES SOCIAL PROOF
REALLY WORK?

48. All of the above sounds great,
doesn’t it?
But does it REALLY work?
We decided to test it for
ourselves. We ran a test as part
of the AdEspresso University
to find out if adding social
proof makes any difference

49. We ran two ad campaigns
In both campaigns we used 3 types of ad creatives:
• One included a rounded number as a social proof (i.e. 35000+),
• The other, an exact number,
• Finally, the third ad featured no social proof whatsoever
One enticing people to join
our newsletter
The other, an eBook
download

50. Here are the visuals

51. Here are the visuals

52. We spent, on average, $100 per each ad

53. And the results?

54. Ads with social proof generated lower cost per lead
than the one without any social proof
The “Newsletter” Campaign:
Cost per Lead
• Ad with exact social proof:
$1.973
• Ad with 35000+: $2.202
• Ad with no social proof: $2.478
The “eBook Download” Campaign:
Cost per Lead
• Ad with 15,000+ : $1.572
• Ad with exact social proof:
$1.741
• Ad with no social proof: $2.056

55. And so it’s true, to entice more people to buy from you:
Show proof that confirms your credibility,
trustworthiness and communicates your
product’s popularity

56. More information:
https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/
social-proof-marketing-guide/
https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/
social-proof-examples/

57. thank you!
www.adespresso.com
@AdEspresso