Exploit Social Validation

Attract recommendations. Showing the opinions of other people, even complete strangers, influences purchase decisions. Including recommendations in your online shop can increase the purchase volume by 20% or more. The inclusion of the fans profile photo can bolster this a further 10%. Free gifts trigger reciprocity: offer a free gift in exchange for recommendations and increase your sales turnover and loyal customers at the same time. Use social media to make it super easy for your customer to endorse your brand and share information at the same time.

Sara Fay is founder of Whitematter Marketing in the United Kingdom.