Using social proof to ask questions that shoppers will answer
- No social proof — respondents don't know if this is a common experience or an embarrassing admission
- "...that you want to ask an expert but cannot find one" implies inadequacy, pushing people toward "No"
- The question is 34 words doing the work of 12
- "Many people" normalizes the experience — respondents realize this isn't a personal failing
- Removes the "can't find an expert" framing that implied inferiority
- Social proof isn't bias — it's the psychological lever that unlocks honest answers
Here’s an example of why ignoring the decree "Don't bias the participant" is sometimes exactly what you should do.
A few weeks ago, I wrote the following question for a client’s survey, which I then tested with a sample of about 15 people.
Q1: Do you have a significant question or concern about your personal finances that you want to ask an expert but have not because you cannot find one?
• Yes
• No
Not a single person selected “Yes.”
That was a problem. We knew that most people have unaddressed financial concerns.
The challenge was prompting people to reveal their concerns, not confirming their existence.
For the next test, I removed the phrase “... that you want to ask an expert…” and added “many people have at least one significant question or concern….”
It looked like this:
Q1: Many people have at least one significant question or concern about their personal finances that they need to address. Do you have such a question or concern for you or your household?
• Yes
• No
This version worked. Nearly half the respondents selected “Yes,” which allowed us to learning more about people’s financial concerns.
The key to the edit was social proof.
The phrase “many people'' signalled to respondents that we were addressing a common experience. (Removing the phrase “... that you want to ask an expert because you can not find one,” also removed any sense of inferiority.)
It’s a good example of how understanding and leveraging human psychology — instead of adhering to strict survey design rules — can be crucial to uncovering deeper and more actionable responses.
For me, that’s the whole point of my Survey Roasts: finding and pulling the right psychological levers.
If that’s something you’ve struggled with – either while designing or managing a survey – then consider booking a Roast.
Just click on the link below.
I’d love to help.
Cheers,
Sam