Endorsements have been around for a million years, usually reserved for athletes, celebrities and rock stars, for years we were lead to believe that flawless celebs achieved their looks with drugstore cosmetics and home hair colouring kits and that a pair of sneakers made MJ dunk more points.

Deep down we all know that these products don’t achieve these results but we buy them anyway. Why? Because we trust them. Yeah, thats right, we trust a person we have never met (although who we feel like we know) to tell us which products and services to buy. Weird huh? Yeah, totally.

One of the best things to come out of social media is that it allows us to share recommendations and opinions which as business owners we need to leverage more of. If our customers are happy and they are willing to share their experience of our brand with the world, why wouldn’t we ask them formally to do so?

There are a few different options you can use depending on your business however a review or “testimonial” is one of the quickest and most effective ways to show social proof.

Testimonials work well for service based biz but what about product based businesses? How do you show social proof? Well… duh, it’s the same thing. Its called a review.

Reviews can help customers make better decisions on how our product fits, washes, performs. It’s not just about a glowing % star review, it’s about HELPING another customer make a decision on purchasing your product that will make life easier/take the pain out of hitting “buy”

Think back to the last time you booked a hotel, did you ask someone for a recommendation? Did you have a quick look on Trip Advisor to see what others were saying? Of course you did! There is no difference when buying physical products, Amazon has built a whole business on this.

Remeber….asking for a customer testimonial or review doesn’t need to feel pushy