How the bandwagon effect influences consumer decisions

There are several cognitive biases that cause people to become influenced by the attitudes and behaviors of others, and some of them can affect the way that consumers make buying decisions. In this article, you’ll learn about these cognitive biases, in particular at how you can utilize social proof to cultivate and/or control a bandwagon effect to the advantage of your business.

What is a bandwagon effect?

A bandwagon effect is when people adopt the attitudes and behaviors of other people just because it’s popular to do so, even if those attitudes/behaviors are unethical or irrational.

In the context of consumer buying behavior though, a bandwagon effect is when consumers primarily adopt a product because it’s popular (remember fidget spinners?).

What causes a bandwagon effect?

People can “jump on the bandwagon” for multiple reasons.

One reason can be that they don’t want to feel left out. Instead, having the product that everybody else has makes them feel part of that social group, regardless of whether they truly want it or not.

Conformism can make people feel as if they have to jump on the bandwagon. Conformism is a cognitive bias towards the attitudes and behaviors held by a group that you’re a part of, where having a different mentality (or product in this case) could lead to a lower social standing within that group, regardless of whether that’s actually true or not.

And of course, many people simply enjoy being associated with the positive connotations that come with popular products (e.g., cool, edgy, wealthy, whatever).

Another reason can be that they don’t want to stand out by being the only person that doesn’t have a product. People like this don’t necessarily want to conform, be part of a particular social group, or be associated with the positive connotations, but dislike attention or at least the attention that comes with going against the norm.

Additionally, there are a few cognitive biases that can enhance a bandwagon effect. The first one is confirmation bias, which in the context of consumer buying behavior is when a consumer believes that they should buy something before other consumers buying it (for rational or irrational reasons) confirms their belief even more.

The second one is affinity bias/similar-to-me bias, which makes consumers more likely to buy something if people similar to them (by any measure) have also bought it.

And finally, people can be biased against their own values and beliefs (i.e., self-doubt), making them more prone to any of the above effects or cognitive biases.

Ultimately, these effects and cognitive biases are caused by a type of thinking called herd mentality, and you can leverage this mentality to make products sell better and perhaps even cultivate a bandwagon effect (or control one that’s already in motion). The best way to do this is to display social proof.

How to leverage herd mentality in product marketing using social proof

Put simply, social proof is the public display of the (positive) things that people say about a product. You can use it, directly or indirectly, to nudge those with a herd mentality towards a product and perhaps even create a bandwagon effect.

The good thing is that social proof is useful for all kinds of consumers regardless of their buying habits (except contrarians of course). For example, social proof is just as effective for impulse buyers and trend seekers as it is for analytical buyers and nonconformists respectively. This doesn’t mean that social proof is for those with low price sensitivity, just that everyone uses it to make purchasing decisions in different ways.

Display reviews/testimonials

Reviews/testimonials are types of direct social proof. They’re the least biased type of social proof, especially if they can be submitted anonymously, which makes them the most useful to other consumers. They’re also the best type of social proof if the product rates well and the worst if it doesn’t, so it goes without saying that you really don’t want to drop the ball when it comes to creating a quality product.

Using Trustpilot (or at least the Trustpilot methodology) to collect reviews is a great approach. That is, collect reviews from all verified customers (not just those you expect to leave a good review) so people know that they’re safely following a legit crowd. It’s also worth noting that legit reviews also provide solid reasoning for choosing non-mainstream products, which is ideal if a rival product is already capitalizing on a bandwagon effect.

The best way to collect reviews/testimonials is simply to ask customers post-purchase. Both reviews and testimonials should strive to include as much of a person’s identity as possible — their name, photo, anything that shows that they’re a real person — it’s difficult to leverage confirmation bias otherwise.

If you’re selling on your own website, it can be difficult to measure the impact that reviews and testimonials have. The best approach is to track conversions that originate from a call-to-action on your reviews/testimonials page/section. Otherwise, you can track conversions that originate from external services such as Trustpilot.

The best way to get reviews and testimonials is simply to ask for them. Drop your customers an email after their purchase (and after they’ve had enough time to use the product properly) asking them to review their experience, and then showcase what they said.

Leverage social media

Organic social proof via social media is essentially the positive things that real customers say about your product on social media, which of course you should absolutely share and comment on.

Paid social proof via social media is essentially sponsorships — paying public figures/influencers to endorse or review your product (honestly, hopefully). The opinion of a product held by a public figure/influencer can hold a significant amount of weight.

Measuring the impact of social proof on social media can be done in the same way as reviews/testimonials — referral tracking.

Extreme marketing

Reviews and testimonials are great, but how do you get your product out there in the first place?

The fastest way to do this (although perhaps the loudest and most expensive way too) is to market a lot and market everywhere. I’m surprised that there’s no buzzword for this, so let’s call it “extreme marketing” for now (not to be confused with aggressive marketing, which is more in-your-face). The reason this works is because consumers associate huge marketing spends with huge customer bases, and why would customers be paying if the product wasn’t good (wink)?

To give just a couple of examples from the tech industry that you’re likely to be familiar with, think about how many times you’ve seen ads or sponsored mentions for InVision or Monday.com.

Build small communities around your products

Communities, clubs, and hashtag campaigns — whatever you want to call them or however you want to brand them — are a great way to build safe spaces for people interested in your product or the activity that it revolves around. An incredible example of this is AEW Heels, an inclusive community for women interested in professional wrestling, where the wider ungoverned community can often be quite toxic, particularly towards women.

This is something even better than social proof, it’s social acceptance.

As an added bonus, communities make the products that they’re related to seem more exclusive to those outside of the community, which in turn makes them more enticing (this is called the VIP effect). Spotify Wrapped, a personalized and shareable recap of the music that people listened to on Spotify throughout the year, is a great example of this.

Build inclusive products

Building inclusive products (products that are a fit on a personal level, not just on a practical level) opens the door for more customers. Products that are a fit on a personal level are those that allow customers to express their individuality via colors, themes, accessories, and so on, and have a much easier time becoming popular due to increased likeliness of finding a version that represents them.

This approach can even make products that are already popular more accessible to those that would otherwise describe them as “just not for me” (or jump on the bandwagon, so to speak).

This isn’t to say that anybody can become a customer of your product if you try hard enough. However, sometimes the barrier is small enough that it can be removed by being just a little bit more inclusive.

Is the bandwagon effect ethical?

The bandwagon effect is everywhere. Of course people can choose to be ambivalent or contrarian, but today’s society doesn’t always make it comfortable to be. With some products (and topics in general), it can seem like we must choose one or the other, sometimes a third or fourth option isn’t acceptable, sometimes any choice is unacceptable to those that made a different choice (no-win situation).

However, utilizing the bandwagon effect isn’t about pressuring consumers to pick a side/product or capitalizing on consumers’ anxiety about what is and isn’t cool. To lean into the bandwagon effect, just focus on the authentic social proof that customers who love the product submit, build safe communities for people interested in the product and the interest/hobby it relates to, build inclusive products that consumers might describe as “for them,” and if you’re feeling confident, market the hell out of it because nothing screams popular like seeing it everywhere.

Summary

To summarize, social proof can be used to shape consumers’ decisions. If you choose not to use social proof, the bandwagon effect can end up working in favor of your competitors. It only takes one viral social media post for your target market to decide that a rival product is the best option out there because everyone’s using it (or so it seems!).

But it’s never too late to flip the scales, or better yet, don’t give your competitors the chance by singing your own praises as they happen — on social media, on your website, wherever. Happy customers are the ultimate flex, brag about it!

Featured image source: IconScout