Selling furniture online is not easy. Beds, sofas, mattresses are high-consideration, high-ticket goods and shoppers can’t feel the fabric, test the comfort or see craftsmanship up close. Retailers and brands must provide shopping experiences that win trust and convert hesitant browsers into confident customers.
For smaller or emerging brands competing with large furniture retailers and marketplaces, the challenge is even bigger. Without widespread name recognition, they must reassure shoppers that they are a legit brand and that others are also buying their products.
This has been a challenge for PSCL Beds. The UK-based retailer offers stylish, made-to-order beds crafted in Yorkshire at a fair price. But as a less-known brand in a crowded category, PSCL Beds recognised a pattern familiar with many retailers and brands. Shoppers liked what they saw, but many hesitated at checkout.
The Trust Gap for High-Ticket Items
PSCL Beds knew that it needed to strengthen customer confidence. The team had seen social proof messaging on larger retailers’ websites and was impressed by how much reassurance real-time social proof data can offer.
What caught their attention was not just the concept of social proof, but the execution of the messages. Many social proof widgets on the market feel gimmicky or intrusive, but Taggstar’s messages were subtle, aligned with the brand and credible.
Bringing Enterprise-Level Tech to a Growing Furniture Brand
PSCL Beds became one of the first adopters of Taggstar’s Social Proof Pro Plan, a solution built for smaller retailers but powered by the same technology used by enterprise brands.
The team ran a nine-day A/B test across the full funnel—Product Listing Pages, Product Detail Pages, and the basket. Messages included real-time insights like:
- “In Demand! X sold in X days”
- “X people viewing right now”
- “Last sold X minutes ago”
- “X added to bag in X days”
For shoppers considering a big-ticket item, this type of messaging helps bridge the trust gap by showing them they’re not alone and that others are confidently buying the same products.
The Results: A Wake-Up Call for Furniture eCommerce
The impact was fast and significant:
For a smaller retailer with a carefully curated tech stack, these results exceeded expectations.
“We’re very careful about what technology we bring in,” a PSCL Beds spokesperson explains. “I was pretty certain we’d see an uplift, but it was surprisingly good.”
The success highlighted how powerful social proof can be for less-known brands selling high-value items online.
“When you’re spending £700 on a mattress, social proof is very reassuring. We’re not very well known, and not everyone clicks on Trustpilot. Taggstar complements our reviews perfectly.”
Why Social Proof Matters More Than Ever for Furniture Retailers
High-ticket eCommerce is fundamentally about confidence. Shoppers want reassurance that:
- The product is worth the price
- Other customers trust the brand
- They’re making a smart decision
- The retailer is legitimate and reliable
Social proof offers this validation at the exact moment it matters most when shoppers are deciding whether to buy.
Even major retailers rely on these cues. As PSCL Beds noted, “If big brands are using social proof, you know it definitely drives more conversion.”
Social Proof for Midsized and Specialty Brands and Retailers
Taggstar’s Social Proof Pro Plan delivers real-time, social proof messaging without the heavy technical lift and investment of a full enterprise integration. It is ideal for retailers and brands seeking to accelerate their online growth.
Social Proof Pro Plan is built for a wide range of eCommerce businesses, from niche and specialty retailers to mid-sized and fast-growing online brands. It is built to increase conversion rates quickly without committing to complex tech implementation projects.
Retailers typically begin to see uplift in conversion rates and engagement within just a few weeks of going live. Many experience measurable improvements almost immediately.
Learn more about how Taggstar’s Social Proof Pro Plan can help you accelerate online business growth.
