On Social Proof Part Two: Reviews

We’ve previously discussed ‘The Testimonial’ and how it relates to social proof. This article will discuss the related concept of ‘The Review’.

You could argue that all testimonials are a review, but not all reviews are a testimonial. Testimonials are an endorsement the marketer elicits from satisfied customers. A review can endorse, but they can negative as well.

If reviews are sought out passively, there are far fewer and they are disproportionately negative (people like to vent). Amazon, however, asks directly for the review. And from that, we see a different trend that arises.

Amazon gives an average one-to-five score for every product right up front.

For the readers interested in a surface level check, this gives them everything they need to know. If you’re in a hurry, or you don’t like shopping, you might just buy items with an average review of four or five stars and be done with it. Social proof does all the thinking for you.

For those that want to go into further depth, you can read the reviews and their comments.

Click on the score and you can do deep into a rabbit hole of reviews. Amazon breaks down metrics of how many reviews give a particular score and the customer can scour the responses.

I suspect that the ratings that get the most attention are the five stars, and the one stars.

It’s entirely possible that you can be swayed to buy something because of a negative review. The person giving the negative review will give their reason, and sometimes the reader will react negatively to the negative review.

Read that one again if you have to.

Usually we think of social proof in the as agreeing with people we find agreeable. But it works the other way too. People also disagree with people we find disagreeable.

The prospective customer may agree with the negative reviewer, or may have a gut-level distrust of the person from the words they wrote. They may sound like the the sort of person we’re used to disagreeing with. It’s also entirely possible that the qualities the review dislikes about the product may be qualities the prospective customer is actually seeking.

The best Testimonials align with the customers preferences. The best reviews do the same thing, but they work in both directions.

For those old enough to remember the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books, it may be dawning on you that Amazon let you ‘Choose Your Own Sales Funnel’. They give you the opportunity to go as deep or shallow as you need to go before you pull out your credit card and buy something.

Social proof in the form of reviews is no doubt the keystone that has been converting customers who would have otherwise walked into a brick and mortar store to make a purchase. Even if you pass on a product completely and select a competitor, you’re still making the purchase through Amazon. Therefore they still makes their cut of the revenues.