What’s the first thing you look for when choosing a new place to eat?

Most likely it’s how many people are in the restaurant.

You’re looking for validation in the form of other people.

This is social proof. Social proof is a very powerful thing.

Social proof influences people’s decisions on a daily basis. From buying a product, to eating at a restaurant, to what type of clothes to wear.

Today I’m going to share with you examples of online social proof.

Use these scientifically proven examples of social proof on your website today and watch your conversions grow.

Ratings

Where would Amazon.com be without star ratings? Ratings are one of the most powerful examples of social proof. Cultivate ratings for your product and place them on your website right near the buy button.

Number of downloads or products purchased

Display the number of times one of your products has been purchased or downloaded. People like to see how many other people have bought or downloaded the product already. Again, display these numbers prominently near your call to actions to influence people’s behaviour.

Number of customers

Displaying ‘312 Happy Customers’ on your website is a great way to let potential customers know they are in good company.

Customer testimonials

A classic but still very effective. The customer testimonial is a way to show people have bought and recommend your product or service. Testimonials can be used from any source, I often use testimonials from Twitter. To further bolster the testimonial link through to the persons original tweet or a social profile online.

Social shares and likes

Display the number of times your site or page has been liked or shared on social media. This is one of the easiest examples of social proof to obtain and you should use it always. Showing new visitors that other people have visited shared your site can mean the difference between a product purchase or not.

Recent user activity

Booking.com features recent user activity in an incredibly effective way. The site features a constant stream of notifications telling you people are looking at the room and how many people have just booked the room you’re looking at. This is a great example of real time social proof at it’s best.

Comments

Comments are another great example of social proof on a website. Good or bad they show that people have stopped by your site and have made the effort to contribute. This is another example that let’s your customers know they are not on some ghost site with little or visitors.

There you have it. Next time you’re building your website be sure to use as many examples of social proof as you can.