In cognitive philosophy “a scholar is just a library’s way of making another library“. Libraries need scholars to replicate. In a similar way, in social commerce “a customer is just a business’s way of making another customer”. Customers replicate and businesses expand through a customer-get-customer mechanic.
From this social stance, the value of a customer lies primarily in their referral value; so rather than simply sell to an individual customer, you sell socially to a customer and their friends. Network thinking not population thinking.
Monday morning memes and replicator theory aside, the value of social selling (selling to people and their friends) has been underscored by a new Social Impact Study study from Social Labs, .
- 56% of online shoppers have clicked on Like buttons related to Products
- 38% of online shoppers have shared comments with friends about products they have purchased
- 62% of online shoppers have read product comments shared by their friends on Facebook
- 75% of the people who read these comments have clicked on the product image, linking them to the retailer’s site
- 53% of those who went to the retailer’s site have purchased the product when they got there
- This “Share-to-Purchase” funnel has resulted in 25% of all online shoppers purchasing a product via shoal sharing
- 38% of online shoppers are sharing product comments with friends on Facebook
- 62% of online shoppers are reading product comments shared by their friends on Facebook
- Causing 47% of all shoppers to click over from these comments and visit retailer sites
- And 25% of all shoppers to purchase on those sites
- 81% of these “Social Buyers” are “Social Sharers” too, turning the share-to-purchase-funnel into a viral sales loop
Bottom line, customers beget customers so sell socially by selling not just to an individual but to the individual and their friends. “A customer is just a business’s way of making another customer“.
Network thinking not population thinking.