How to use your customer references

Imagine walking through the door of a bar and realizing that there is a long line to get in. Those unfamiliar with the place perceive this long line as a sign of the place’s popularity and are likely willing to wait to get in simply because “if all the people are waiting, it’s because the place has to be good”. Venue owners can do this on purpose by reducing the number of people allowed in the bar, thereby creating a sense of the venue’s popularity.

These types of actions relate to the concept of social supportf (or “social proof” in Spanish), a psychological phenomenon in which people assume that the actions of others reflect the correct behavior in a given situation. This effect occurs in ambiguous social situations where people are unable to determine appropriate behavior and They get carried away with the premise that other people know more about the situation.

This concept can be perfectly transferred to online business Therefore, below we share some practical ways to implement it in your internet business:

• Get an expert on this topic to talk about your business, company or product.
  • For example, if you are a designer for a clothing brand, ask a fashion expert to talk about your new collection for the upcoming season.
• Get a celebrity to talk about your business, company or product.
  • For example, if you are a furniture factory, get some TV or mass media celebrities to have their furniture in their house.
• Get customer success stories. Use of your company’s product or service.
  • This can be for companies or end users as well as for customers. In the first case, they might talk about how their product or service has improved the company’s business. In the second case, the satisfaction that the person receives for what you offer him.
• wisdom of the crowd.
  • For example “more than 10,000 people have already used it” or “more than 30,000 products sold”. The aim is to give an idea of ​​the volume of customers, visits or other.
• wisdom from your friends.
  • An example would be if you have integrated your store or page with Facebook and anyone who enters the site or store can see how many of their friends are already fans of that brand or business.
• Exhibition of brands or customers who have and create trust.
  • You can take the opportunity to communicate them in your store or in other ways so that potential customers can see who you already work or have worked with. With that in mind, you have to be careful with customers and ask them if they’re okay with that.

All these measures are valid and complement each other. The most important thing is to understand which of them best suits your business and your type of customer. Once identified, it is necessary to collect these comments or types of customers in order to communicate them either through your store, your website and communication channels such as email, social networks, etc. This helps gain your customers’ trust faster and encourages them to try your product or service.

What measures do you implement in relation to social proof?