Social media is no longer just an entertainment app where teens post memes and videos. Today, more businesses integrate these platforms for their e-commerce success. With this meteoric rise in brands invading the social media space, choosing the right ones to buy and purchasing quality products can get a little difficult.
This is where social proof for e-commerce comes into the scene to help consumers make sound purchasing decisions. As the name suggests, social proof is evidence that a brand is getting the marketing game right. It includes content from influencers, celebrities, and fellow users of the brand that shows its expertise in the respective field.
Let’s learn about social proof, its different types, and how you can use its benefits to create a trustworthy brand that consumers can rely on for increased sales.
What is Social Proof for E-commerce Stores?
Social proof psychology follows the idea that the decisions of others influence people’s decision-making. This phenomenon believes that people mimic the actions of others when choosing things for themselves.
This psychology works for people while making purchases as they rely on the reviews, visuals reassuring quality, and ratings left by previous consumers. This is especially predominant in people’s online purchasing decisions, with 93% of marketers verifying that consumers trust content created by other customers.
Importance of Social Proof for E-Commerce Stores
Watching review videos or photos by consumers improves the authenticity of the brand and increases trust in its products. People are more likely to buy products if they see that others have used and loved them. Consumers can increase curiosity about products, which increases lead generation because more people are likely to buy products.
Social proof for e-commerce stores can help customers decide on their purchase by clearing doubts and seeing a brand’s strengths and weaknesses. Customers can judge from the reviews left whether they want to buy a brand’s products and the advantages it will offer over other brands.
How can Brands Integrate Social Proof for E-Commerce in Marketing Strategy?
Brands can incorporate social proof in several ways in their marketing agenda. E-commerce stores can benefit significantly by collaborating with influencers to create effective social influence with customer reviews from famous figures who people already trust.
Your brand can share social proof for e-commerce on your social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and even your Squarespace store. This gives the audience an idea of the brand and the advantages that your products offer over other brands.
An important thing to keep in mind for social proof is that negative consumer reviews are inevitable. 53% of buyers want fast responses to negative reviews, and this is where you can use negative reviews to your advantage. If potential buyers are reading consumer reviews, they are most definitely going to run into negative ones.
If a business responds to negative reviews with valid solutions, it can create a positive brand image. Responding shows that your brand cares about consumers liking your products, and potential buyers have the reassurance that even if things go wrong, the brand will take full credit for it.
Here are some types of social proof for e-commerce you can consider integrating into your business.
Examples of Social Proof for E-Commerce
There are several types of social proof for e-commerce stores and adding them to your marketing strategy is a great idea to increase your company’s authenticity. Here are a few ways of adding social proof that you can consider for your brand:
1. Customer Testimonials
92% of customers read reviews or testimonials while making a purchase, and they have a significant role in shaping their decisions. Such social proof psychology works well for customers because they can see how previous users have liked products, and this allows them to decide if they want to make a purchase.
You can consider adding customer testimonials in the form of reviews with every product on the page. You can do this with star ratings, where consumers can rate products out of five stars based on how much they liked them.
Users can also share their brief experience with the product in their testimonials. This social proof for e-commerce can help viewers understand the product’s weak and strong points and whether it fits their needs.
A good example here is Amazon, which allows users to not only give ratings out of five stars but also write comprehensive product reviews, which users can review to get a definite idea about the pros and cons of each product.
2. Awards and Achievements
Awards are great social proof examples. They prove that your services are of premium quality and make it easier for potential customers to trust your brand. These awards show the credibility of your products and how your brand is successful in catering to the changing needs of your audience.
Forbes here is a great example of a website that shows its awards and achievements so that people can understand the different services at which the brand excels. So, if you have been considering putting up your achievements on your website, you are on the right track!
Any type of award or achievement in any competition can be great for giving your brand a competitive edge over other companies. This will help you create a strong brand image that attracts more audiences.
3. Celebrity Approvals
Celebrities or influencers can be the driving force for companies because they exert such a significant influence over people. Consider your brand’s budget and try to collaborate with influencers accordingly. Big companies can even consider getting celebrities involved in their strategy for social proof for e-commerce.
Getting such influential figures to work for brands works because the audience already trusts them. Therefore, they find it easier to trust brands that their favorite influencers use and recommend.
Fashion brands are a great example here, and one that stands prominently is the collaboration between Versace and Dua Lipa, which in 2023 gave birth to the “La Vacanza” women’s collection.
This collaboration increased sales significantly because of the strong social media marketing and the great influence that Dua Lipa exerted with her influential image in the pop music scene.
4. User-Generated Content
Potential customers are more likely to believe the brand’s users than the company itself because they trust that they get first-hand social proof from authentic experiences. User-generated content is believed to work 8.7 times better than influencer marketing and 6.6 times more influential than branded content.
Makeup brands like Rhode are a great example here as they use social proofing to show the authenticity of their brand and products. This strategy can help you create a positive brand image by creating a platform that cares and prioritizes their interactions with each user and how they are proud to show their customers as endorsers of their brand.
This creates a relationship of trust, and if a user considers purchasing items from the brand, they can move up the purchase funnel. One great way you can integrate UGC into your social proof strategy is by sharing online reviews on your social media channels through stories and posts.
UGC integration can greatly increase authenticity. But brands need to be creative and careful when using this social proof because if not done correctly, these advertisements can come off as fake or paid sponsorships. Consider displaying the social shares, like the number of likes, comments, and shares on each post, to show exactly how many people trust and use your brand.
5. Social Ads
Social media is the key factor in any e-commerce store’s success, and advertising on these platforms is a great way to increase sales by generating quality leads. As of April 2024, social media had 5.44 billion users, and these numbers are only going to rise.
Undoubtedly, social proof on these channels can be a great boost to your company’s success because it adds to the authenticity of your brand. A great example here is Nike, the global sports brand that has leveraged several social media advertising platforms, especially Instagram, along with Facebook, X, LinkedIn, etc., to create a strong brand image.
These platforms show the human side of your brand and make your viewers aware of your business goals so you can bring them closer to your brand and make them feel like a part of the experience.
These platforms are also great for opening up different ways of putting up advertisements by utilizing your best creative side. You can use images, videos, reels, stories, and live streaming to let your users see your products and brand closely to really see what your brand stands for and what beliefs it supports.
Social proofing on social media can be a great way of maximizing viewership at low costs with concrete results. Different types of social proof can be used, and this serves the purpose of a broad range of people who would like to access your brand.
A good place to use social proof marketing is your Squarespace store, which has several benefits.
Let us discuss below how you can use Squarespace for your e-commerce store and how you can integrate social proof into this store to increase its credibility.
Squarespace Store for Your E-Commerce Success
Using Squarespace for your e-commerce is a great idea, as it offers several key features to increase profits by generating an enhanced number of leads. The platform has a comprehensive website builder that can attract new audiences by showing a brand’s products with attractive pictures and offering easy shipping.
As a brand, you can consider adding social proof for e-commerce to your Squarespace store to add more credibility. This will make your brand more trustworthy to casual scrollers, increasing the chances of them becoming consumers. Let us find out how you can add social proof marketing to your Squarespace store.
How to Integrate Social Proof in Your Squarespace Store?
Squarespace is a fairly easy platform to work with, and thus, adding social proof to it is also pretty easy. You can add social proof to your Squarespace store in different ways. You can show customer testimonials or add customer ratings.
Here are some of the most used social proof examples and how you can add each of them to your Squarespace store.
1. Customer Testimonials
Customer testimonials are a good way of integrating social proof for e-commerce on your Squarespace store. Here is the step-by-step guide to help you understand how you can do this:
Step 1: Go to the Squarespace store’s dashboard and click on ‘Edit,’ where you can add customer testimonials.
Step 2: Click ‘Add Section’ in the area where you would want your testimonial section.
Step 3: Select the black section that appears when you click ‘Add section.’ A pop-up will appear, similar to the screenshot below, where you click on the ‘Testimonials’ tab to see the different formats you could try for your brand.
Step 4: After you have selected the one you want for your company, it will appear in the area you chose, and you can edit it as you like.
2. Product Reviews
Another easy way to integrate social proof marketing into your Squarespace store is for people to know how each product is doing specifically. Here is how you can add product reviews on your Squarespace store:
Step 1: Go to the dashboard of your profile and choose the ‘Selling’ section from there.
Step 2: From the sidebar, select the ‘Selling Tools’ icon and then select ‘Product Reviews’ from the screen.
Step 3: Click on the ‘Turn On’ option and enable the ‘Request Reviews’, ‘Email notifications’, and ‘Requested reviews’ from under the Product and Store Reviews bar.
This allows you to request product reviews from customers and to receive notifications when customers leave a review on your Squarespace store.
Step 4: You can also urge users to fill out a review form with a star rating system and a short note describing their experience with the product.
This form will look something like the image below.
3. Third-Party Social Proof
Squarespace, as of now, does not allow users to add social proof for ecommerce stores from apps like Facebook, Instagram, or others. But it does allow you to use Etsy reviews by importing them to your Squarespace store. Here is how you can do this:
Step 1: Go to the ‘Product Review’ panel.
Step 2: Click on ‘Import from Etsy’ and ‘Login and Import’.
Step 3: Grant access from your Etsy account so you can import reviews from your Etsy account.
This process will take up a little time, depending on the number of products you have on your Etsy website.
Step 4: To ensure that you have all the reviews have been imported, click on the ‘Reimport’ button.
Note: Keep in mind that you can only import reviews once a day.
These different types of social proof integration can make your Squarespace store easy for customers to navigate. They can help you make decisions without going to any other sites. Potential customers can see social proof right on the website, which saves them time, and they decide on things faster.
Social Proof for Ecommerce Store is the Ultimate Weapon to Increasing Sales
Using social proof for e-commerce is a great idea to increase brand awareness and make customers aware of the products that your brand sells. There are several ways to integrate it into your marketing strategy and Squarespace is one such great way of doing just that.
Adding social proof marketing to your Squarespace store can be a great way of showing casual scrollers and potential clients the feedback of others on the product selling page. This saves them time and speeds up conversion. With adequate knowledge of how the store works, you can integrate social proof effectively for increased sales.
Use Predis.ai for the Best E-Commerce Support
Do you want to get the most out of your social proof marketing? Predis.ai offers the best post templates for user-generated content and increases leads for your e-commerce store. It also offers AI assistance for content creation to make the process faster and easier.
You can schedule your content with the help of Predis.ai and make the most of the social proof for your ecommerce store. You can manage your content with elaborate content calendars that help you keep track of every post and social media channel that you run.
Sign up at Predis.ai today to create a successful marketing strategy for your social proof!
Related Content,
