The 'APPLE' way of social proofing

Have you seen elevator experiments of conformity, where people just compare their actions with others and will change to conform to what the majority in the elevator do.

Or have you ever realized that when you watch shows like ‘Friends’ or ‘How I Met Your Mother’, you are more likely to laugh because of the background laugh tracks, irrespective of whether its funny of not. These are some really good examples of social proof in action.

Apple uses this same psychological persuasion principle, and we just aren’t aware of it

Lets deep dive a little further!

Given this context, lets now look at four examples of how social proofing is done by Apple and how it impacts the consumer’s behaviors’:

#1 The Apple store itself

Apple has ensured to make us feel exciting when we visit the apple store. Its not a place to just buy a apple product, but rather a place where we can ‘experience’ the apple ecosystem.

This makes a big difference!

The Apple store is like a town square, people can walk in and spend as much time they want with the products, ask questions, and also learn how to use an iPhone, Macbook etc. They also call the store reps as “Apple Geniuses”, which just psychologically elevates our perception on the people who work there. This gives them a boost to give their best too! There are no billing counters or queues too.

Hearing all of this is just exciting right! I mean its completely different from a normal store, and given how much people value experiences since it provokes more satisfaction and happiness.

Apple simply has capitalized on this experience and created a community around the ecosystem.

All of this combined, makes people visit the Apple store and gets them excited when a new product is launched.

#2 Photos of the ‘BIG’ queue outside of Apple stores

• All of this will have happy and exhausted ‘Apple tribe’ fans, some even staying overnight to get a chance to purchase the long awaited new iPhone.

• Every year, reporters also wait patiently to get that perfect shot of a exciting customer coming out of the Apple store after the long wait!

So for someone who hasn’t used Apple products, they will start perceiving things differently after hearing about this. See the comment below of my friend on what his raw thoughts were after seeing the above image.

“Whoa, that’s a big line. Why are people waiting like this just to purchase an iPhone?! Apple must launches amazing products for people to be waiting in line. Maybe I should also go visit there and try it out. My phone is also 5 years old, so should I plan to update it?”

This simple picture worked as a social proof for a non-apple user to get him into thinking of purchasing an iPhone.

Social Proofing creates this form of gentle persuasion.

#3 The Mac vs. PC ad war

This one is a little old, so lets travel back to 2006, where Apple launched a new campaign “Get a Mac”.

Here two people named as Mac and PC, talk about what they both are really good at. These were the two guys:

And from looking at the ad, we can see how PC projected themselves to be more work oriented since it was good at spreadsheets, whereas Mac projected them to be someone who is lifestyle oriented(movies, music, pictures etc.).

This gave the consumers to perceive Mac to be ‘more nicer’ than PC, and was also reflected in the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, where Macs were constantly rated higher than PCs in customer satisfaction.

So in this ad, when we saw Mac’s opinion on PC and vice versa, we are subtly pushed to choose Mac as our next computer, since the figurative conversation based on the people embodied as Mac and PC made us to feel that it is the better choice.

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#4 Testimonials: the OG of social proofing

Nothing works better than the good old reviews.

Before purchasing an iPhone, the least we do is go to YouTube and search for reviews from top tech YTbers to get an idea before purchasing the product.

Apple partners with these YTbers/Influencers to create YT videos like first impressions video, full review etc. that shows Apple products in our day-to-day use. They also allowed them to create content by letting go of their brand voice, making them be brand advocates using their own unique style. This creates a sense of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) among users, that drives a huge traffic to their online & offline stores.

Also if we are purchasing a product from Amazon/Flipkart or any other ecommerce store, then chances are we look at the text reviews there as well!

Since Apple creates “quality” products and it is confident in themselves that consumers are bound to like it and leave a good review. Of course there are people who complain about not having all the android level customization on iOS, but that doesn’t stop anyone from purchasing a iPhone.

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