What an Attractive Blonde Can Teach You About Influencing Your Customers

In a scene from the movie Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon fakes heartbreak from an obviously unattractive male in front of two women, causing the women to instantly change their attitude towards him from uninterested to highly attracted…

This is an example of Social Proof, a powerful influence on behaviour that you can harness to persuade more of your website visitors to become customers.

Social Proof, one of the Weapons of Influence coined by best-selling author Dr Robert Cialdini, is where people, unsure about the appropriate behaviour, choose to act according to the choices others have made. We are all copycats to some degree, looking to others to help make our decisions, from which restaurant to try to what products to buy.

Utilising product reviews and testimonials is one way you can harness the power of the Social Proof phenomenon.

Here are three examples of how online retail giant Amazon uses customer reviews, all for the same book:

In fact, so much importance is placed on reviews by many leading eCommerce websites around the world, that reviews are now typically given more prominence than product information.

Why do reviews matter?

They aren’t ‘salesy’. Instead of your usual sales pitch, reviews and testimonials are more credible because they are unbiased. Reviews build trust and overcome scepticism. Your visitors all have different barriers they need to overcome before making a purchase, sometimes another customers opinion is all that’s needed to sway a decision in your favour.

Top ten tips to make reviews work for you

Convert more of your visitors into customers using these tips:

1. Use your website to encourage reviews.

It’s not easy to tap into the power of reviews without the reviews! Give your website visitors the option of adding their review easily, right there on your site. The more forward-thinking platforms already have this functionality as standard, ask your website supplier how your platform incorporates reviews. Having it built into your website saves you time and money reformatting your site and will increase the number of reviews you attract.

2. Make it real.

Select testimonials from customers similar to your prospects. If most of your customers are female, prioritise reviews from women. The more similar the author of the review is to your potential customer, the more influence they have.

3. More than gender matters.

Including the reviewers first name is usually enough to identify gender, but other information; like age, job (business owners like feedback from other owners, mums from other mums), or location; also increase the Social Proof effect.

4. Resist the urge to edit.

Mistakes and bad grammar add authenticity to reviews. If you sell to teenagers and you get a ‘text speak’ review - avoid correcting it. Although you may need to shorten a review, try not to lose the person’s style of writing in doing so. Never add to or embellish a review.

5. More is better.

Group reviews together. A long list of reviews means more people will feel comfortable ‘doing what everyone else is doing’. Even if they’re not all the-best-of-the-best, multiple reviews send a message that your product or service suits a wide range of people.

6. Size does matter.

Shorter reviews should be given priority over one long glowing review, even if the shorter reviews aren’t as complimentary, however …

7. Don’t be scared of longer reviews.

Choose the most appropriate location for them instead, such as under shorter reviews, or use only the end or beginning if you retain the same effect (keep in mind tip 4 above). If it’s long but powerful, such as reviews from an expert or highly-relevant customer, link to it as a ‘success story’ or highlight and move its location on the page.

8. “Don’t forget the quote marks.”

People are drawn to quotes. They instantly make a comment more real. Quote marks also help separate each review when you have a long list of them.

9. Images add relevance too.

Photos also act as reviews. Include ‘before and after’ photos. If a client emails you a photo of their dog wearing the coat they bought from you, include it on your site. Don’t use every photo you receive though. Use ones that reflect the usual product use or typical customer and only use the best quality photos.

10. Use better headlines.

Don’t just provide a link to your reviews called ‘reviews’ or ‘what others are saying’ - try something more attention grabbing and relevant. For example, rather than ‘What people think of the X30’ how about ‘Over 100 companies are using the X30 to solve their mailing problems’.

Turn your work mates into guinea pigs

Test the power of Social Proof right now. Get a colleague in on the experiment and both stare out the window at something imaginary.

While you giggle at the expense of your work-mates all trying to work out what you’re looking at, imagine the impact of harnessing the power of Social Proof for your website; and if your platform isn’t forward-thinking enough to allow you to easily attract and manage reviews, find an online supplier that does understand the power of an attractive blonde.