How social proof can get you more patients
At my talk at Aesthetic Medicine London in March, I discussed using social proof on your website as a way of killing scepticism and telling visitors that they are in the right place for the information or treatment they seek.
Social proof is a psychological and cultural concept that people follow the masses. It isn’t a new concept – experiments in conformity have been going on for hundreds of years. It’s the idea that a large number of people in agreement must be right. In marketing, social proof is basically means borrowing authority. It works for the restaurant that you can never get a table at and the blockbuster movies that sell out screenings way in advance, and it can also work for service businesses such as aesthetic clinics. Social proof puts peoples’ minds at rest and moves them along the treatment booking process. After all, Allergan claims it takes a patient on average two years from awareness of aesthetics to undergoing treatment.
In 1955, McDonald’s franchisee Ray Kroc posted a famous sign outside his Illinois restaurant, referring to the humble hamburger: “Over one million served.” Nowadays, McDonald’s simply has to claim “billions and billions” have been served, after surpassing 100 billion in 1994. This is one famous example of social proof. The psychology of such a vast number suggests to consumers that one million people can’t be wrong; “That hamburger must be delicious, I’ll give it a go”.
Buying habits have changed; choice is larger than ever, so social shopping has become more and more prevalent, and as medical aesthetics continues to grow, it’s a buyer’s market with plenty of choice for people. Setting yourself apart from other clinics in your area could come down to your use of social proof.
Examples of social proof
Social proof can be interpreted in many different ways; it could be through recommendations of friends or strangers, data, ratings, celebrities, experts and personas made to seem “just like you”. Netflix utilises reviews and highlights trending programmes and films in order to guide people to choose what they want to watch among a sea of thousands of hours of streaming.
Social proof could already be in action and influencing your aesthetics business. For example, maybe you signed up to demo a device with a manufacturer because a respected doctor with a large following is already using it in their clinic. The authority figure that you respect has swayed this decision. This could apply to clinic purchase decisions, from injectables to consumables and even clinic software.
Award wins
There are many articles discussing the benefits of winning awards, be it industry-specific or locality-specific. The process of entering awards focuses you on recognising your strengths (something that the humble British aren’t always great at), which allows you to extract social proof to display. Then, if you are good enough to win, that validation in itself is great social proof. You have been recognised by a credible third party when compared against peers. The bigger and more recognisable the award source, the more value it holds.
Influencer marketing
Although questionable in the industry, influencer marketing shot up in popularity in 2016 and looks like it’s here to stay. While more nuanced clinics aren’t hunting down and giving free facials to every person they find with 1m Instagram followers, utilising already high-profile clients (if they are keen to share) can really help boost your online reach.
Companies that are “blowing up” with the use of influencers are now also turning to micro-influencers; people with as little as 3,000 followers online, that seem more accessible and connected with their following. The return on investment can really be worth it, but as with any marketing campaign, it’s vital that you accurately track the work of the influencer, ensure it isn’t harmful to your brand, and calculate the benefits before investing more.
It’s really important to find the right influencer for you. Retaining the authenticity of your brand-influencer marketing relies massively on trust and seeing if the patients they could attract to your clinic are the kind you want. If your foray into influencer marketing doesn’t deliver on these points, simply don’t invest.
In practice: five types of social proof your clinic should use
With vast amounts of potential social proof to share, how do you know which to use? These are the five pieces of social proof that we at Web Marketing Clinic believe are integral to clinic success:
1. Online reviews: Obvious. The words and stars that a product or service receive are third-party validation that we almost automatically seek out these days. Studies conducted by marketing software BrightLocal have shown that 88% of consumers look to reviews before buying a product or booking a service. People often hunt around for bad reviews, too. So, responding well to bad reviews shows a business that cares (see the April 2020 issue of Aesthetic Medicine for advice on this).
2. Video testimonials: The camera doesn’t lie. A video testimonial is considered more believable than words or images in an industry where patient advocacy is integral. A professionally-shot video of a former patient speaking about their experience in their own words, which goes in-depth into the case, can hold a lot of power, especially when it follows the patient’s journey. Make sure you also include before and after shots in the film.
3. Professional affiliations: While laypeople may not know who the BACN, BCAM, BAAPS, BAPRAS, BAHRS, Save Face, ACE Group, etc. are, showcasing these logos demonstrates your set up as a professional and trustworthy business, which is part of something larger. The same applies for logos of well-known and trusted brands, such as products, training companies and insurers.
4. Media: Appeared in the press? Stating, “as seen in” is a classic marketing application of social proof. Your affiliations may not be recognised, but organisations such as Channel 4, The Times, Tatler, Vogue and of course, Aesthetic Medicine, certainly are.
5. Numbers: Linking back to the McDonald’s example of social proof, big numbers look impressive. Estimate how many patients you have treated over the years, or how many toxin injections you have administered in your career. But don’t over exaggerate. Inflated numbers might look impressive to the general public, but you’ll get caught out by peers who can calculate these numbers from your career path, so don’t lie.
Look out for more on social proof in the second part of Alex's article in the June issue of AM.
Alex Bugg works for Web Marketing Clinic, a family-run digital agency, which specialises in medical aesthetics. They build websites and deliver award-winning marketing campaigns for doctors, nurses, dentists, distributors and aesthetic brands. Contact her on [email protected] or follow her on Instagram: @webmarketingclinic