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Social Proof - put simply, there is a general tendency that when people find themselves in a situation of uncertainty, when they are not sure how to act, they look at the environment around them to find cues and guidance. Like laughter from a ghost audience. And they are especially influenced by people of their own age and status.
This type of reasoning is what’s driving the success of websites and applications like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and “like-a-local” guides. People like to rely on the experience and opinion of like-minded people to guide their own decisions and actions.
There is an excellent experiment that demonstrates the utility of this principle in action. The main goal of the study was to try to get people who are staying at a hotel in Arizona to reuse their towels. Four reasons were given to four different groups of guests, each appealing to a different thing: the environment, prospective donation of end-of-year laundry savings, an already completed donation, or the fact that the majority of the hotel guests reused their towel at least once per stay.
One driving force behind social proof is the need to belong to a social group. Humans base about two-thirds of their self-image on the social groups they are part of. It stands to reason that when a situation occurs that makes us feel uncertain, we re-evaluate ourselves and start thinking on behalf of the group it makes sense to be a part of for this decision. For example, if choosing between several hair products an individual can ask themselves “What would make sense for me, as a young college graduate on a budget who cares about quality?” She would go with the choice that fits this description the best, and many others in her position will too.
One very clever strategy used in TV ads was to change the usual tagline from “Operators are standing by” to “If our lines are busy, please call again”. At this point you can probably guess what that accomplished. This simple switch conveyed that many others are also calling in, thus the product or service must be very desirable and you will not be placing your eggs into the wrong basket if you also trust it. An easy way to convey a similar message in an increasingly online world is by introducing counters on your web platform, for example, of how many people have bought or support the product. Think about Kickstarter – the “funded in one day” banner on a project fulfils this exact purpose. And it is super effective!
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