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We've all heard of social proof before, but it can surprising just how impactful it can be.
Recently, I tested an ad on Reddit with the principles of social proof in mind, and it got a roughly 10% increase in conversions compared to the non-social-proof ad.
Keep reading to learn how social proof applies to soccer matches, psychology, and — most importantly of all — your marketing.
How Social Proof Helps Teams Win Soccer Matches
I’ve attended football matches in London for over a decade now.
Like most fans, I get irritated when things don't go my way. If I think the referee has made a mistake, I’ll loudly let him know.
But, I’ve always wondered: Do loud football fans actually influence referees' calls? In 2002, three researchers decided to find out.
The researchers contacted 40 qualified referees and asked them to evaluate all incidents during a Liverpool vs. Leicester City match:
- 20 referees watched the game with crowd noise
- 20 referees watched the game without crowd noise
Turns out, referees who heard the home crowd noise were swayed. The refs awarded 15% fewer fouls against the home team. The crowd altered a referee’s decision.
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How to Use Psychology in Marketing
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- Turn customers into fans.
- Understand Maslow's hierarchy of human needs.
- Understand how marketing can influence how people think, feel, and behave.
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The Psychology Behind Conformity and Social Proof
This won’t surprise psychologists who have studied this phenomenon for years.
Asch's research, which first popularized the concept of conformity, is a fascinating exploration of how most people tend to follow the actions of others.
In the 1950s, Asch conducted a series of studies that demonstrated the power of conformity in groups — a concept that has significant implications for consumer behavior.
In one of Asch’s most well-known experiments, he convinced participants that their eyes were literally deceiving them. In his study, Asch would bring a real participant into his lab and sit them next to four others. The participant believed the four others were normal participants, just like him. But they weren’t; they were paid actors.
In the experiment, Solomon Asch stood before the participants and showed a picture containing three lines.
One medium line, called line 1. One long line, called line 2. And one short line, called line 3.
Solomon then showed one extra line. It was the exact length of line 2, the long line.
He asked the participants, “Which of the three lines is the same length as the extra line?”
Now, it’s clear that the correct answer is 2.
But when three other participants confidently give the wrong answer, suddenly all common sense went out the window.
It’s a wonderful experiment that shows how we follow the actions of others.
How Social Proof Applies to Marketing
As social creatures, we conform to the group. This conformity is a powerful force that shapes our behavior. We’re aware of what others think, and we often go along with the group, even if we don’t believe them.
Veteran marketers know this all too well. In marketing, we call this social proof.
Usually, this involves telling our potential customers how other people who are similar to them buy our products.
This tactic is almost certainly inspired by Robert Cialdini’s notorious experiments in Arizona hotel rooms.
Cialdini tested a social proof message to encourage guests to reuse their towels. This message was written on a card left on top of the hotel towels. The social proof card said:
“Most guests in this hotel reuse their towels”.
Upon seeing this message, 44% of guests reused their towels.
This was a 25% higher reuse rate than the control, which simply said, “Help us save the environment - reuse your towel.”
That’s an uplift of 25% due to social proof.
So, does this nudge replicate?
Fortunately, it appears it does.
There’s solid evidence that it works. David Halpern and the BIT team (who work with the UK government) added a social proof line to an HMRC tax collection letter.
It stated that, “The great majority of people in your area pay their taxes on time”.
Adding this one line increased action by 15%.
They discovered that social proof becomes even more effective when it’s personalized.
However, my favorite social proof example is in Dave Trott’s book, Power of Ignorance.
New York theatre producer Mike Todd needed help to sell tickets for his latest production. Night after night, the stalls were empty.
So he hired a lady with arthritic fingers at the box office. When someone wanted a ticket, it took her ages to give them change. The people behind had to wait, which caused a queue.
Seeing the queue, other people joined, figuring it must be a good show. The queue got longer, and people passing by decided they couldn’t miss out, so they joined. The product hadn’t changed one bit, but the queue drew in sales, and the stalls were filled night after night.
There are simpler ways to apply this principle. When McDonald's labelled the McFlurry the most popular dessert, sales increased by 55%.
We're swung by the opinion of the masses — shaping the desserts we buy and our perception of football matches.
How I Used Social Proof to Get More Subscribers from Reddit
But, I wanted to know if this behavioral science principle could improve my marketing.
So, I decided to run some Reddit ads to test the social proof principle.
I targeted Reddit users who had some sort of interest in marketing based on the type of subreddits they subscribed to (for example: /marketing or /digital-marketing).
Then, I created two ads.
I kept them as similar as possible so the text for the ad for both the control and variant were identical. It stated:
“Interested in learning the science behind great marketing? Listen to Nudge, the consumer psychology podcast.”
Simple stuff.
The only thing I changed was the image. For the control, I used an image of the Nudge logo. Since this is the image I’ve used in previous ads, I assumed it worked best.
For the variant, I decided to create a new social proof image.
It’s an image with the Nudge logo at the center, surrounded by some of the 5-star reviews I’ve received on Apple Podcasts.
At the bottom of the image, I wrote that the podcast had received 100,000 downloads and was a top 10 marketing podcast (just to ensure the message was specific to my audience).
I spent around $100 on these ads, and around 300,000 people saw one of them in total.
You won’t be surprised to read that social proof works.
When Reddit visitors saw the social proof ad, they were 9% more likely to click the ad and listen to the podcast.
That meant that for every $5 spent, the social proof version would drive an extra 20 subscribers to the podcast. It was an impressive improvement, especially considering only the image had changed.
Social proof is a powerful nudge that seriously improved the effectiveness of my communications and ads with reasonably little effort or creativity.
It’ll make you reuse your hotel towel, purchase a McFlurry, and perhaps it’s even tempted you to listen to my incredibly popular podcast, Nudge.
How to Use Psychology in Marketing
Access the guide to learn more about psychology.
- Turn customers into fans.
- Understand Maslow's hierarchy of human needs.
- Understand how marketing can influence how people think, feel, and behave.
Download Free
All fields are required.