Lessons from my local restaurant

When eye care professionals (ECPs) are looking for ideas about how to reduce patient anxiety or ways of generating new customers, it's unlikely they'll turn to their local restaurant for advice. But maybe they should. Did you know for example that there is strategy employed by some restaurants that significantly increases the number of customers who will order a dessert?

The strategy is simply this. They honestly point out their most popular dessert on their menus. Instantly that dessert not only becomes more popular, but more customers who may not have ordered a dessert now order it too. But why? The answer lies something called 'social proof'. When people are told what others like them are doing there is a tendency to follow the crowd and do it too. If you have ever joined a queue and not really been sure if it's the right one, or been drawn to towards the street performer with the biggest crowd around them, you are experiencing the persuasive power of social proof.