Social proof is one of the big motivators that a lot of internet marketers use. If you're not familiar with the term, it basically means when a bunch of other people have bought something, had good results with something, or some other type of consistent results, it's a powerful motivator for new prospects.

In other words, telling someone that all these other people have already bought Product X helps convince them to buy. After all, if all these people are buying, it must be good, right?

It's a bit of a double-edged sword though. It's a powerful tool to use in your marketing, but you need to be careful that you're not falling for it yourself when someone uses it to market to you.

I received an email today from a well-known marketer (who shall remain nameless here) promoting a product that was launched and then taken off the market when it sold out. Today's email is selling the last few spots that came open after the initial launch (refunds and whatnot).

One of the selling points was that the product sold over 600 copies in a little over 2 hours on launch day so "you know this is a Hot Product".

Notice it doesn't say it's a good product, just that it's "hot". Many people reading that email wouldn't make that distinction, and would just see that 600 other people bought it, so therefore it must be good.

Now if you happen to have received that email as well, please understand that I'm not saying it's a bad product. I haven't bought it and I don't know anything about it. I'm only commenting on the way the email was worded and why.

Studying the way the big-names market can have advantages, but if you want to watch over their shoulder, make sure you read the emails for academic reasons. Don't let yourself get sucked into the marketing, just watch how they do it so you can implement those same techniques in your own internet business.

If you'd like to learn more about how social proof works, along with a lot of other psychological triggers you can use in your marketing, pick up a copy of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini.

It's not written specifically for marketers, but it's got a ton of useful information for us.