The Effects of Social Proof Marketing Tactics on Nudging Consumer Purchase

Abstract

A wide variety of marketing tactics can be used to nudge consumer purchases on e-commerce websites particularly through methods known as social proof, which stress the importance of conformity to the norms of a social group. Although many types of social proof-based messages are used in digital marketing – such as testimonials, influencer endorsements, and social media shares – the inclusion of positive product reviews and pop-up messages about product purchases by other buyers are common marketing tactics used to persuade shoppers to purchase advertised goods and services. Though studies on the impact of these tactics on adult consumers have been conducted, there is little to no information on impacts on adolescent consumers. What is also unclear is whether the impacts of these marketing tactics combined are greater than their impacts individually. Using a survey that displayed images of hypothetical products and various combinations of positive product reviews and pop-up messages, this study found that 1) positive product reviews significantly increased the likelihood of adolescent consumer purchasing, 2) pop-up messages had little to no effect, and 3) combining pop-up messages regarding the purchases of other buyers reduced the impact that positive product reviews had on nudging adolescent consumers to buy the marketed goods.