Greek philosophy will improve your social proof

Hi there 👋,

Have you ever tried to convince a team member of an idea only to have it fall flat?

Whenever I get excited about an idea, I turn to sharing the data. As growth people, we love data; if the data says so, we are convinced. Isn’t everyone?

So I’d go to a founder and be like:

“Ta da here is evidence that we should focus on improving retention [cue lots of cohorts, user insights and churn statistics]."

Only to have the founders say:

“Currently acquisition should be the priority.”

I’d be left feeling confused and, ok… maybe a tiny bit frustrated 😡.

That was until I learnt about Ethos, Pathos and Logos, [cue 💡 moment] and realised data isn’t everyone's language of persuasion.

Meet Ethos, Pathos and Logos

Whilst badly named (I am constantly get the three confused), the idea is that there are three categories of persuasion according to the Greek Philosopher, Aristotle:

1. Ethos - Appeals to ethics through the credibility and trust of the persuader

2. Pathos - Appeals to emotions and tries to create an emotional response

3. Logos - Appeals to logic and reason to convince

Some founders just have a different mode of persuasion to me, so using data (logos) isn’t the right method.

For example, many rely heavily on external credibility (ethos): What are the fastest growing brands doing and why?

With the retention example: The minute one of their investors would say that we should focus on retention based on the current growth phase, they were immediately convinced.

Your customers are the same, they might have a different mode of persuasion.

Too often, we get caught up in using customer reviews or trying to get featured in publications without critically understanding what persuades our customers.

Social Proof meets Greek Philosophy

Let’s look at how social proof can differ depending on whether your audience is Ethos, Pathos or Logos driven:

Start to understand what social proof resonates the most with your audience by understanding what persuades them.

A great way to do this is A/B test different forms of social proof or conduct qualitative research to understand:

1. Where do they look for a new product

2. Who do they ask / look to when looking for a new product

3. What convinces them to try out a product

For example, if they ask friends or family, they are likely to be ethos driven, vs if they tend to buy products based on podcast recommendations.

Not everyone is one or the other; some customers are a mix of two or even all three.

But if you don’t know what works for your customers, you might end up either not resonating or spend a fortune becoming B Corp or gathering video testimonials when that isn’t what matters to your target audience.

Appealing to all three can also be a powerful social-proof punch

Now you can use all three to up your social proof game, just like Aristotle did in speeches to persuade his listeners.

Take Balance Coffee; they pack a triple punch on their homepage:

• Customer reviews and human imagery (pathos)

• Features in publications (ethos)

• Show their products are tested for mould and mycotoxins (logos/ethos)

This appeals to different persuasion methods in one go without being too overwhelming.

As Balance Coffee learn which type matters more to their audience, they could lean heavier on that form of social proof.

For example, if it is logos showing in more depth the organisations that test their product and the statistics on the level of mould & mycotoxins in other coffees.

Become a Socratic master of social proof

Socrates was great at asking questions and digging deeper into the underlying why. So take his approach and start challenging your social proof today:

1. Review all forms of social proof you use and group them according to ethos/pathos/logos

2. Decide whether to use A/B testing or conduct user research to find out what social proof works for you

3. Based on your learnings, improve your social proof mix accordingly

Bonus: Try to understand your team’s mode of persuasion to improve how you convince them of new experiments and focus areas around social proof.

Recommendation

In every newsletter, I also share a related book, individual or newsletter to check out related to the week's topic.

I’m going to recommend something completely different this week.

If you loved the greek philosophy this week, but are not ready to go through some of the heavier greek philosophy books (confession: I still haven’t finished Meditations by Marcus Aurelius).

Instead I would recommend The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday. It is everyday a bite-size pieces of greek philosophy applied to daily life.

I read it every day for three years and found that a lot of the lessons were helpful for how I approached growth.

Daphne

P.S. Two weeks ago I announced that I will be speaking at Growth Marketing Summit in Frankfurt on 28th June. The team has kindly given me an exclusive discount for my newsletter: DAPHNE50 for €50 off.

With the current line up and planned attendees there are going to be many incredible talks and conversations about growth marketing. I always get so energised and inspired from attending these types of conferences, so I hope you will too.