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 and retain customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? As most business owners know, that finding new ways of generating new customers can be hard. Just trying to keep your business afloat takes a lot of your time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s online economy, you simply can’t afford to ignore the significance of what your potential customers are doing online, especially if they are posting comments about your business.
Don’t ignore what users may be saying online about your business!
By the same token, you may also be doing your business a great disservice if you are not spreading the positive things your clients say about your services or products. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content.
In this article, we’ll show you how to achieve better results online with standout client testimonials.
Client Reviews
P.T. Barnum, the great, legendary showman and successful promoter, once said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-based content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Reviews and testimonials from your existing users are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new clients, customers or users than anything you can say about your own products or services.
There is clearly a source of untapped opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … user testimonials and reviews!
Customer testimonials and reviews are fantastic for building credibility for your products or services.
Studies conducted by leading marketing research companies all lead to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials help to eliminate doubts potential customers may have about your products, help users select products and increases conversions of visitors into sales.
Below are just some of the statistics available to support this:
- According to a study by eVoc Insights, an organization that researches and measures user experience, “In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a web site if it has ratings and user reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, customer reviews result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Web site visitors who interact with both consumer 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 user-generated content (UGC). (Bazaarvoice, Conversation Index, Q2 2011).
- Consumer 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).
(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Customer Reviews – Managing Online Reputation
Adding positive reviews and testimonials to your site from customers who are thrilled with your services is essential for creating a solid online business reputation.
Reviews and testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can affect your business both negatively and positively.
People may not be saying bad things about your services directly to you, but they could post updates on Facebook about an unpleasant encounter they’ve just had with one of your employees and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes a vitally important aspect of your business success.
Misconceptions about engaging in online reputation management practices, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need it) may be harming your business without you even realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective tool for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage your customer reviews:
Tips On How To Create Captivating Client Testimonials
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be included as part of your content. When you quote your own customer responses in your content, you:
- Show others exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help potential customers identify their objections and address these.
- Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and this facilitates moving them closer to a buying decision.
Below are some tips on improving your sales with customer testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: Try to use the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leave grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps to keep it ‘real’.
- Use real photos: Images of people’s faces draw attention to your content. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are far more effective and captivating than just providing facts and statistics. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a far longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than using generic statements about excellent customer service and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Use it in context: Add customer testimonials to your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s perception if you were to add a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution retails for before posting price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are truly ecstatic about your support when offering guarantees or providing content designed to help readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would find more powerful: “Since installing XYZ product, we have seen our revenue increase by $35,149 during the last financial quarter,” or “XYZ software helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, like how much your solution helped to increase their profits 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 during a specific period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Use different customer testimonials on your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out or don’t have many clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your site. 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 launch discount for existing clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you choose 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 ideal customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects aspire to become is a really 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 across different platforms. If someone publishes a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your customer service, ask them permission to reprint the content on your site.
- Don’t use fake testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to write their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but prospective clients need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your integrity or reputation with a ”made up” testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials From Your Clients
Just Ask
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful tips for soliciting testimonials:
- Make a point of contacting customers after 60 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after completing a service.
- Include a field for testimonials in all your client surveys.
- Take out your phone when you next meet with a client or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a very short video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording your video, explain to viewers what you have done for your client and make sure to record the client’s positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy and write it for them. If a client sends you a positive email thanking you for a great service that contains snippets of useful testimonial material interspersed with the rest of their message, grab the best sections (only use what they have written – don’t put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to quote them on your site. Explain that you have already prepared something to save them time and let them know they are completely free to modify what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Publish A Link Back To The Source Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial
Offer to publish a link back to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients providing you with a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake 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 a scheduled auto responder broadcast. This should be timed to reach subscribers just after your clients have had a chance to measure the impact of using your services. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in the subject of your email and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking clients to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to request testimonials that become part of your profile. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite simple and user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (and offer to publish a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “read more client testimonials …” link pointing to this page throughout your content sections.
Useful Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of testimonials by how long visitors stay on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to measuring visitor behavior on your pages.
We have written an article about a heatmap technology you can add to your site to predict visitor behavior here:
Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If your website or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages inviting users to submit feedback 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 send users to your “Testimonials” page.
Here are some great plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add user testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into a Page or Post using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you publish a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include an image with each testimonial, which you can use for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a company logo, etc.
The plugin also comes with a “pro” version that offers additional features and plugin support.
Visit this site to download the plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with images or videos on your WordPress site. You can insert user testimonials via a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and have multiple display options such as random or specific ordering.
The plugin has plenty more features available via a premium version, including built-in options for improved search engine results and developer support.
To learn more about using the plugin, go here:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium WordPress plugin provides plenty of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for displaying correctly on any device or browser.
- Display your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, list layout, grid layout, etc. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colours, font types and more.
Visit this site to download and use the plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
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, and publish positive content about your business on your site.
Additional Info
The articles below provide useful information about creating engaging users testimonials and were used when researching information for sections of this article:
- 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 a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
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