Why Social Proof Should Be a Top Priority for your E-Commerce Business

A product advisor helps move more people from the orientation phase to the decision phase. With this in mind, I believe it’s also our responsibility to provide you with insights on improving the decision-making (purchasing) stage for your potential customers, helping to turn interested visitors into buyers.

After all, it’s never just a Product Recommendation Quiz or Product Finder that drives up your conversion rate.

No…

It’s the combined power of organic content, advertising, social media posts, CRO, email marketing, and more.. summed up in one word; marketing. One of the most important aspects of marketing and conversion rate optimization is social proof. That’s what we’ll cover in this article. I’m Jelmer, one of the co-founders of bluebarry and hopefully you get some value out of this post.

The Importance of Social Proof for your e-commerce site

We all know that social proof plays a vital role in marketing and sales. When done right, showing that others already trust your brand or product can significantly influence your buyers’ decision-making. Having others talk positively about your brand in a testimonial, or seeing 5-star reviews gives a lot of assurance to a buyer.

Boast.io gathered some statistics that make you see the importance of including social proof in your marketing activities:

1. Testimonials can increase conversions on sales pages by as much as 34%.
2. Adding logos on a landing page can increase conversions by 400%.
3. Consumers will spend 31% more on businesses with “excellent” reviews.

Big numbers, right? I’m not saying that you can expect to double your revenue by including some logos. But you’ll always have motion when the product is good because word-of-mouth and reviews can spread themselves.

I often find it interesting to reflect on my own buying experiences. Doing so can offer valuable insights into how our customers make decisions.

(Btw, if you work in Marketing or Sales, I highly recommend analyzing your own buying journeys. Like your customers, you’re also a buyer. While there are different types of buyers, they all share similarities. Reflecting on your own experiences can provide true insights.)

In my last three B2B purchases, there were make-or-break moments where a lack of social proof led us to choose another company. For example, when searching for a branding agency for the SaaS company I worked for, we were initially very excited about one agency. They had a great brand, and a solid sales pitch, and we connected well on a personal level—everything you’d want in a potential partner, right?

But there was one problem: they had no case studies or testimonials from the manufacturing industry (our target market) or the SaaS sector (our business). Project declined.

This was a B2B example with a longer buying journey but think about your own recent purchases as a consumer. Did you buy that book because you specifically sought it out, or was it mentioned in your favorite podcast? You can see how crucial social proof becomes, especially in the later stages of the buying journey.

The Psychology Behind Social Proof

But why is social proof so powerful? Can’t we make decisions on our own? The short answer is that we’re social creatures, and our survival once depended on being part of a group. Not conforming to the group could mean being left alone, which in ancient times, could lead to death. This evolutionary drive is why we still value the opinions and experiences of others so highly today.

But let’s bring this into a modern context a bit. Today, you’re not going to die because you didn’t read a product review, but your brain still reacts as if something’s at stake.

One reason for this is that social proof taps into our innate risk aversion. Just like your brain, your buyer’s brain doesn’t like uncertainty and unexpected outcomes. Our brains want to avoid unnecessary fight, flight, or freeze responses to conserve valuable energy.

Here’s where it gets interesting: when buying a product, the same mechanisms are at play. We seek out the experiences of others when we lack our own. We’re looking for confirmation that our decision is the right one. That’s why we look to others who have already done the legwork. If those others share similar personalities, businesses, or challenges, it reassures us even more.

Ultimately, social proof is about reducing the risk, pain, and anxiety of making the wrong decision. People aren’t necessarily looking for the perfect product—they’re trying to avoid buying a flawed one.

I sometimes refer to social proof as ‘outsourced decision-making.’ Which is a nice way of looking at it I believe.

Are there levels of risk-aversiveness?

Is Every Buyer Risk-Averse? It’s not that black and white—people vary in their tolerance for risk. Generally, the older you get, the less risk-averse you become. Why? Because you’ve built up experience and trust in your own decision-making. You can look back on past decisions and draw from that experience to make choices today. This confidence reduces your reliance on social proof (though you’ll still need it). In a way, you’re also relying on others. But this time, other versions of you.

Where to place social proof elements?

Now the question is, when is social proof the most powerful? To answer that question, we have to look into how people make decisions in general.

Very often, especially in B2C. Decisions are not made very consciously. I believe it was Kahneman who found that around 95% of daily decisions are made unconsciously. This means that most decisions aren’t made rationally. They’re deep-down pre-made and driven by emotions. By the time a customer reaches the bottom of your funnel, they’re not looking to be logically convinced of your product’s value or made aware of their problem—they’ve likely already made their decision on a deeper, emotional level. At this stage, your job isn’t to convince them; it’s to help them find the arguments that rationalize the decision they’ve already made. To assure them that it’s a good decision.

As we learned, arguments to buy your product are most powerful when told by someone else (in other words: social proof).

Let’s tie this together with where we started. Where should you place social proof? If you are lacking social proof, this is where to start. On the product page, or on the category page on your website. Where you already know there is an intention to buy from you. That’s where social proof is the most powerful. And why optimizing your product detail pages as an e-commerce business is so valuable.

Prioritizing Social Proof Content

Now that we’ve covered why social proof is essential and how it works, it’s time to prioritize its implementation. Social proof plays a significant role in conversion rate optimization by helping your potential customers make more informed and trusted decisions.

But it can be challenging to set priorities—should you focus on building SEO blogs, landing pages for ads, LinkedIn posts, or “social proof content”? All of these are important, but I’m assuming you already have traffic on your website. So, why spend all your time trying to attract more traffic when you could be increasing the likelihood that your current visitors will buy more, buy sooner, or increase their order value?

It doesn’t make sense not to put social proof high on your list of priorities.

Start by calling up a customer and asking for a review. Email another customer and request a video testimonial. Then, implement these social proof elements on your most important product or category pages. And see what happens.

Building social proof step-by-step

To help you execute all of this. Here’s a quick step-by-step list.

1. Get to KNOW your target audience
2. Identify ALL the players in your buying centre (this doesn’t relate to B2C – just to B2B)
3. Identify their challenges. Not only from a business perspective but also from a personal point of view.
4. Find similarities in your customer base. Don’t forget that lower similarities in social proof quality (meaning; to fully align it with your target audience) is better than no social proof at all.
5. Use the power of video, and let them tell their story.
   Implement on landing pages and your content strategy.

Hopefully, you now have more arguments to put social proof higher on your priority list.

Good luck.