At Judge.me, we work hard to give our merchants the power to gather social proof effortlessly and then display it on their storefronts in a wide range of ways that are both visually powerful and work with their existing brand identity. But what is social proof, exactly? Though we hear it (and say it) everyday, it’s sometimes worth reminding ourselves what it really is – and why it matters so much in e-commerce.

Human beings like other human beings

Let’s start with the basics. We human beings are social creatures. We belong together. However self-sufficient we think ourselves to be, we rely heavily on other people to lead the kinds of lives we lead. Today, thanks to the awesome power of technology, we have more control over how we live than at any point in human history. But we still depend on others. We’re still part of a much bigger ecosystem. Online and offline, at work or school, with friends or family, we belong to communities.

Belonging to communities isn’t just about having some company as we make our way through the world. We can look out for each other. And we can also learn from others, and they can learn from us. If we want to know what to do in a situation, we don’t have to give ourselves a headache trying to work it out ourselves from first principles. We can just see what other people do, and copy them. It’s a handy shortcut. It means we can devote our energy to other things.

Social proof in action

This phenomenon applies in many different areas of life – online and offline. We adapt our behaviour to the behaviour we see. We learn from others. We’re more likely to follow someone on Twitter or Instagram if they already have a lot of followers, for example. We’re more likely to like something if it has a celebrity endorsement or a stamp of approval. We’re more likely to believe something if lots of people believe it already. And we’re more likely to believe an idea is right if other people think it is, we’re more likely to think a product is trustworthy if other people think the same thing.

None of this means that we just mindlessly go along with the crowd, by the way. We can still bring our own experience and judgement to bear on what we’re looking at whenever we shop. (In fact, we should do this.) But it does mean that we can take a mental shortcut. Social proof lets customers get from A to B more quickly.