This video is courtesy of Shopper Approved a Consumer Ratings Software company.

Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. (from good ole Wikipedia on Social Proof)

So we all know the importance of Social Proof and gaining trust with our visitors, but what are we doing about it? Most of us, NOTHING! Which is pretty crazy in my opinion. Social Media has made it easier than ever for consumers to instantly share information about a product or service. This doesn’t however help a website owner share rating, review and feedback with it’s visitors.

If you watch the video above you find that:

“63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews.”

(Major consumer electronics retailer/iPerceptions study, January 2008)

and

“82% considered user-generated reviews ‘extremely valuable or valuable’.”

(North American Technographics Retail Online Survey Q3, 2008)

I could give hundreds of other similar stats on the importance of Social Proof, but all the stats in the world won’t change the fact that most online and offline companies aren’t doing squat to gather ratings and reviews from their customers.

Lots of companies and entrepreneurs think that it is hard to capture ratings and feedback, and for this reason almost no one does. I felt the same way until I started working with the guys over at Shopper Approved.

Shopper Approved is a consumer rating and review network that allows website owners to easily gather ratings, reviews and feedback from their customers. By adding the Shopper Approved rating/review service to your website, your customers will be able to provide you with valuable feedback, ratings, and reviews automatically. You can then give your new customers easy access to this brand building information by displaying our exclusive ‘Shopper Approved’ trust seal in a prominent location on your website.

With their simple system all you have to do is paste a snippet of code on your thank you page after a customer has bought. Literally within 5 minutes you can start gathering Social Proof to share with future visitors and potential clients.

Scott Brandley, CEO of Shopper Approved says this about Social Proof:

“Adding online reviews to your website have been proven to increase conversion, increase the average transaction amount, improve customer satisfaction, and even lower product return rates, and Shopper Approved is the best customer rating and review solution on the market today. But don’t take our word for it, go ahead and try it for free! In less than 5 minutes from now you can be gathering incredible ratings and reviews! Collect them once, and reap the benefits for years to come!”

Now you have no excuse! Take a moment of your time to see if Shopper Approved can help build more social equity for your business today. Simply visit ShopperApproved.com

Post from: Social Media Vision

Social Proof – What’s The Big Deal