Social proof: What Is It, And Why Is It Important for Your Funeral Home?
November 3rd, 2022In the age of social media, the standard of marketing is no longer a one-sided, curated presentation from your funeral home’s brand to your audience.
Your client families want to find you through other client families…period.
Nowadays, the reviews and testimonials you receive from client families truly mean everything.
This is called “social proof”, and today we’re going to dive into what social proof is, some reasons why it’s important for your funeral home, and ways to utilize social proof within your funeral home’s marketing.
First off, let’s start with the basics…
What is social proof?
According to Shopify, social proof is…
A psychological phenomenon, popularized by Dr. Robert Cialdini, that describes our tendency to rely on the opinions or actions of others to inform our own. Also known as informational social influence, it validates a shopper’s choice, saying that it’s worth their time, money, or interest by using other people as proof.
Sounds simple, right? Let’s dive into some examples of social proof to help you gain a deeper understanding.
Examples of social proof
Here is our first example of social proof, vintage style:
As you can see, this ad takes what women have to say about men’s shaving habits, and turns that into social proof for reasons to purchase this product, Barbasol.
Another example of social proof is the review websites you see everywhere like Google, Yelp, Facebook Reviews, Trust Pilot and more.
There are also website platforms that incorporate reviews into the website, capturing from the above mentioned review websites (which is genius and so helpful). Check out Restland Funeral Home’s testimonial page for an example of that.
It doesn’t stop there. Some other forms of social proof include:
- Case studies
- Social media likes and shares
- Trust signals like the Trustpilot logo and star rating or Google Seller Ratings
- Endorsements from other businesses or influencers in your community
- Client family testimonial videos
- Long form client family testimonials
Now that we’ve established what exactly social proof is, let’s dive into why it’s important for your funeral home.
5 reasons why social proof is important for your funeral home
If you’re needing some reasons why you should invest your time and energy into creating a social proof strategy at your funeral home, let’s look at these statistics below:
#1: Today, over 90% of consumers read online reviews, and 80% of shoppers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations (Source).
#2: Most people will read up to ten reviews before making a purchase decision, and 54% of respondents will visit a website after reading positive reviews (Source).
#3: 83% of consumers recommend a brand they follow on social media to friends and family (Source).
#4: 4 out of 5 of Americans ask for referrals and recommendations from family and friends before making any kind of purchase.
#5: 92% of consumers are more likely to trust non-paid recommendations than any other type of advertising (Source).
There you have it, some pretty solid reasons for why you could be incorporating social proof into your marketing strategy.
So now you might be asking yourself, “What does a social proof strategy look like”? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s dive into a simple social proof strategy that you can start with today.
Some ideas to help you get started with your social proof strategy at your funeral home
Instead of overwhelming you with multi-step strategies, we’ll give you some ideas that you can incorporate into your funeral marketing strategy easily. Let’s take a look!
- Choose one review website to focus on. Start simple and just choose one to not overwhelm yourself. You can always build on later. And once you’ve chosen it, take the time to fully fill out your profile with photos, updated information on your funeral home, your website, contact info, etc. so it’s inviting for client families to leave you reviews.
- Tastefully invite your client families to leave reviews. You can email client families an appropriate time after the service and gently ask them to leave you a review. Explain to them how their review can help more families get the support they need by finding you when they need you.
- Ask those who’ve had life changing experiences with you to complete a long form or video testimonial. We suggest offering them a gift card for their time they’ve offered. You can upload their review or video onto your website. And, you can even ask them to share their testimonial or video on their social media profile.
- Encourage families to tag you or mention you in their social posts. Some folks will share photos of a thank you card you’ve sent them, or the beautiful flower arrangements, or the beauty of the set-up of the services you’ve offered them. Share your social media handles with them on your business cards, emails, and marketing materials and make it easy for them to post about you and recommend your funeral home to their following.
- Create an anonymous feedback container. Beyond social proof, it’s always a good idea to get feedback from your client families so that you can better serve and support them in everything you do. Create a box or ceramic pot with a sign that invites families to share their experiences of what they enjoyed and offer constructive feedback to your funeral home. You can also do this online via Google Forms, and send an email asking for feedback some time after the service.
- Choose a website platform which automatically imports reviews from around the web into your website. It’s true that people trust reviews more from third-party review websites than your own testimonials, in general. So bridge that gap by offering them a chance to read reviews from around the web about your funeral home, right there on your funeral home website. (Psst, did you know the new f1Connect has this feature?!)
We hope this guide on social proof helped you understand its importance, and gave you some great ideas to get started on your journey with social proof marketing. Now go forth and begin!
What questions do you have for us on social proof? Tell us in the comments below!
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The new f1Connect website platform is launching soon and it’s got tons of new features that will supercharge funeral home’s marketing and bring your level of service to a whole new realm. To learn more about the leading funeral home website platform and get the latest version, click here to talk to one our funeral success specialists to discover the new f1Connect!
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I am the son and nephew of undertakers who were in business from 1930 through the 1980s. I enjoy keeping up with and learning more about the industry.