The Solomon Asch Conformity Experiment shows an extreme example of this. Asch wanted to prove that people trust herd mentality even when making the wrong decision.
He showed a single line to multiple groups of eight people. They then had to compare that line to three other lines of varying lengths and choose which one was the same length as the original line. However, there was a catch. Only one person in each group was actually being monitored.
The other seven were planted by Asch and told beforehand what their answers would be. The correct answer was always obvious and the people who were really being monitored always went last.
There were 18 trials and the insiders were told to give a wrong answer in 12 of them. During those 12 tests, 75 percent of the people being monitored went along with the group and chose the wrong answer at least once. In the remaining trials where the insiders gave the correct answer, the people being monitored chose the wrong answer less than 1 percent of the time.
When the unknowing participants were asked why they conformed, Asch found that people follow social proof for one of two reasons:
Selling through a network can be a powerful way to leverage the influence of your buyer’s relationships. In fact, people who have been referred by a friend are four times more likely to buy than someone who hasn’t.
One particularly effective way to grow your network through existing customers is to adopt a social selling approach (using social media to engage with online communities). This can boost your visibility to secondhand connections.