It's the age of the connected customer and people are now comfortable using technology to share —
privately or in public. Numerous studies have been conducted about the impact of reviews on buying behavior.

Instead of writing an explanation when someone
asks a question we're now more likely to include a link to more information. Links are the currency of the Web.

Thanks to the processors we carry in our pocket and can use to access, review, act upon, and share information, we're now starting to link online and offline experiences. Recent reports of the decline in people using the Internet shows that we don't consider our mobile behavior "surfing the Internet".

It is this moving line in buyer behavior that is driving the blurring of digital and in store commerce.

How social currency influences behavior

Social influences include peer pressure and social exchange. The latter is stronger than an economic motive.
 

Most human interactions consist of an exchange of value. From a
psychological standpoint, actions like sharing signal desire for self
expression, need for validation, and social status recognition, and also
simply altruism and affinity with a group or cause.

Both social influences are amplified in public settings.

Psychologist Robert Cialdini documented six principles of ethical
persuasion: social proof, authority, scarcity, affinity,
commitment/consistency, and reciprocity.

Social Proof

We are swayed by what the
crowd is doing, and social networks play a very important role in
providing evidence for our already predisposed herd mentality.

Authority

We've learned or are learning to search for customer reviews before hitting the "buy" button.
As many a sad story illustrates, when buying online, do your due
diligence, don't expect search engines to do all the work for you.

Scarcity

Early access, special treatment, exclusive offers and deals are all
levers marketers use to engage the inherent desire of wanting what is
rare.

Affinity

This heuristic deserves a post on its own, because as I've
highlighted on multiple occasions, social networks are blurring the line
between virtual familiarity — seeing someone's avatar across streams
— with real relationships.

The brain can't tell apart what is real from what is imagined.

Commitment/Consistency

We are easily manipulated by our desire to be and to appear to
be
consistent with our past actions and statements.

Reciprocity

We're being fair at the tune of tens of thousands of pieces of content shared daily.

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One ethical application of the
principles of persuasion is to provide outstanding products
and services that solve a problem, fill a need, respond to a want.

 

[images credit TabJuice]

[reposted from archives]

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Valeria is an experienced listener. She is also frequent speaker at
conferences and companies on a variety of topics. To book her for a
speaking engagement click here.