How To Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews
Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract new customers, only to get the exact same results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that finding new ways of generating new customers can be hard. Just trying to survive in business takes a lot of time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s digital, mobile and social-driven economy, ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Ignoring what consumers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
You could be doing your business a disservice if you are not promoting the positive things your clients are saying about your products, services, customer support, training, etc. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.
In this article, you will learn how to get better results online using knockout client testimonials.
Testimonials And Consumer Reviews
Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum, legendary American businessman and showman, once said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Using social proof as content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Testimonials quoted directly from satisfied users are far more persuasive for attracting new clients, customers or users than anything you have to say about your own products or services.
There is clearly an untapped source of opportunities for generating new business that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … testimonials and reviews from your customers!
Reviews and customer testimonials are a fantastic way to build credibility for your products or services.
Tests conducted by leading research firms all point to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials decrease doubts potential customers may have about purchasing your products, help users select products and increases the number of sales.
Below are just some statistics that support this:
- According to research by eVoc Insights, a company known for researching and measuring user experience, “In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a web site if it has ratings and customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, reviews play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more consumer reviews per product can translate into a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Site visitors who interact with both user reviews and customer questions and answers are 105% more likely to purchase while visiting and spend 11% more than visitors who don’t interact with UGC. (Bazaarvoice, Conversation Index, Q2 2011).
- Customer reviews are significantly more trusted (nearly 12 times more) than descriptions that come from manufacturers, according to a survey of US internet users by online video review site EXPO. (eMarketer, February 2010).
(The figures above were sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Consumer Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management
Adding great reviews to your website from clients who are thrilled with the results they’ve obtained by using your services is important for helping you grow your business and creating a solid online reputation.
Reviews and testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both in a negative and positive way.
People may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could post negative comments on Facebook or a discussion thread about a bad encounter they’ve just had with you or your business and this could be doing far more damage to your business than all the good work you’ve been putting into building it.
This is where online reputation management becomes an important aspect of your online business success.
Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need it) could be hurting your business without you even realizing it.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective WordPress plugin that can help you avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your products through effective customer review management:
Improving Your Sales With User Testimonials – Useful Tips
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be included as part of your content marketing. When you quote responses from users in your content, you:
- Show prospects exactly what pains and problems your products and services can solve for them and how easily it can do this.
- Help site visitors identify their objections and address these.
- Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and this facilitates the sales process.
Below are some tips on how to create customer testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: Try to use your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps to keep things ‘real’.
- Use real photos: Research shows that using images of people’s faces will draw the most attention of visitors on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Tell a powerful story: Stories are far more powerful and captivating than providing mere statistical facts. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generic statements about excellent customer support and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Use it in context: It’s good to add testimonials in your site copy where it makes the most sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help to sell your point. For example, think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution retails for before posting your product pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are genuinely thrilled about your customer service when offering a money-back guarantee or providing content that helps your readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful… “XYZ solution was directly responsible for increasing our profits by $88,657 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ software definitely helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable data, like how much your solution helped to increase their sales or reduce their costs by in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours of work they have saved, how many new leads or new clients they were able to generate, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Avoid using the same customer testimonial repeatedly throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult when you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your website. Depending on the type of business you run, you could try to obtain more testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special discount for clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you decide to use it.
- Appeal to your target audience: As every infomercial featuring a celebrity endorsement, subject expert or “busy mom” knows, if you know who your target audience is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to is a very powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials targeted to your best audience demographic.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If someone posts a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your solution, ask them permission to reprint the content on your blog.
- Don’t use fake client testimonials. Your potential customers need to see that the testimonials displayed on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your credibility or reputation with a ”made up” testimonial.
How To Get Client Testimonials
Ask
If you have just completed performing a service, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.
Follow these useful tips for soliciting testimonials from your clients:
- Make it a part of your business processes to contact clients after 14 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you have not obtained one after performing a service.
- Add a field for testimonials in your client surveys.
- Pull out your phone next time you visit a client or hand over a finished job and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a brief video testimonial/feedback interview. During your video, explain to your viewers what you have done for the client and capture their positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy and write it for them. When clients send you positive written feedback that contains snippets of useful testimonial material interspersed with the rest of their message, grab the juiciest sections (only use what they have written – never put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact your client and ask them for permission to quote them on your site. Explain that you have done this to save them time and invite them to change what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link Back To The Source Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial
Offer to add a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients providing you with a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.
Add A Testimonial Request To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include requests for a testimonial in one of your autoresponder mailouts. This should be done after your customers have had a chance to use your products or services. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking them for feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to obtain testimonials that become part of your account. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation gets a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your site (you can offer to add a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Section
Create a “Testimonials” page and place a “read more client testimonials …” link to your main testimonials section whenever you have displayed blocks of testimonials on your content sections.
Practical Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of client testimonials by how long visitors stay on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. A great tool for observing what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your website to analyze visitor behaviour here:
Testimonial Plugins
If your website or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add a form to your pages inviting users to submit reviews and testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you can then refer users to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use free plugin that lets you add user testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into your pages and posts using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin also lets you add a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include an image with each testimonial, which can be used for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their business logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also provides users with a “pro” version with additional features and plugin support.
Go here to download and use this plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your WordPress site. You can insert testimonials content via a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.
The Testimonials Widget plugin has loads more features available via a premium version, including built-in functions SEO functionality and developer support.
For more information about using this plugin, go here:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium WordPress plugin that offers a range of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes to display correctly on any device or browser.
- Options to display your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, grid layout, list layout, etc. by adding a shortcode
- Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.
To learn more about using this plugin, visit this site:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Client testimonials and user reviews are great sources of content that help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for testimonials, reviews, and feedback from existing customers or clients, and start publishing these on your website or blog.
Additional Info
For additional information about creating engaging customer testimonials read the articles below:
- Ecommerce Consumer Reviews: Why You Need Them And How To Use Them
- How To Create Captivating Customer Testimonials
- 5 Tips For Knockout Testimonials
- Make Customer Testimonials Meaningful
- 7 Simple But Powerful Customer Testimonial Examples You Can Steal
- Your 5-Minute Guide To Writing an Amazing LinkedIn Recommendation
- How To Get Great LinkedIn Recommendations
We also recommend subscribing to our Free Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!
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