Build Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain new customers, only to get the exact same results? As most business owners know, that generating new business can be quite difficult. Just trying to keep your business afloat requires a lot of time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s web-based and social-driven economy, you cannot afford to ignore the effect of online consumer behavior, especially if they are posting negative comments about your business.
Ignoring what customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
By the same token, you may also be doing your business a disservice if you are not spreading the positive things your customers say about your services and products. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of 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 improve your visitor-to-lead conversions using powerful client testimonials.
Customer Reviews And Testimonials
P.T. Barnum, the great American showman and businessman, is often quoted as having 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. Quoting genuine reviews and testimonials directly from existing customers is existing customers are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new customers than anything you have to say about your own products or services.
There is a source of untapped business growth potential that most businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … reviews from your users!
Customer testimonials and reviews are a great way to build credibility for your products and services.
Studies conducted by many leading research companies all seem to point to the same conclusion: adding testimonials and reviews to your sales pages reduces doubts potential customers may have about buying products or services that you are trying to sell, helps users select products and increases conversions of visitors into sales.
Here are just some statistics that support this:
- According to a study by eVoc Insights, a company that researches and measures user experience, “In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has ratings and customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can translate into a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Website visitors who interact with both customer 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 Customer Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management
Adding testimonials and reviews to your site from customers who are thrilled with your products or services is essential for creating a solid online business reputation.
Customer testimonials and customer reviews, however, can work both ways and affect your business both in a negative as well as positive manner.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business directly to you, but they could post negative comments on Facebook, or a discussion thread or forum about an unpleasant experience they’ve just had with your services and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes important to your success.
Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need to worry about it) could be seriously hurting your business without you even being aware of this.
See this article to learn more about a simple plugin for WordPress users that can help you avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your products through effective user review management:
Creating Standout Testimonials – Useful Tips
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be used in your content marketing. When you include responses from customers in your content, you:
- Show prospects exactly with similar problems and pains how your products and services can help them.
- Help site visitors identify and address their objections.
- Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and this facilitates moving them closer to a decision to purchase.
Below are some practical tips on creating client testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: You should try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps preserve your testimonials’ authenticity.
- Use photos of real people: It’s a proven fact that using images of people’s faces will draw the attention of visitors on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help increase visitor engagement with your content.
- Tell a story: Stories are far more powerful and memorable than just providing statistical facts. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about how “excellent” your service has been 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 customer testimonials to your site copy where it makes the most sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help sell your point. For example, think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s perception by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before presenting the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are genuinely ecstatic about your support before offering a money-back guarantee or providing content that helps readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful… “XYZ solution was directly responsible for helping to increase our sales by $73,182 in the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ software helped us grow our business?” If possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, like how much your solution helped to increase their profits or reduce their costs in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours of work you have helped them save, how many new leads or new clients they were able to generate in a recent business quarter, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Use different client testimonials throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat 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 customer testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special 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 best customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to can be a powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials targeted to your ideal customers.
- Reprint across different platforms. If someone posts great feedback on your Facebook wall praising your solution, send them a message asking permission to reprint the content on your blog.
- Never use fake client testimonials. Most people can tell if you are employing professional writers to write your content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your integrity with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Customer Testimonials
Just Ask
If you have just completed a service for someone, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.
Follow these tips for requesting testimonials from your customers:
- Make it a part of your business processes to contact customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 30 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one after performing a service.
- Add a text box for entering testimonials in all your client surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you visit a client or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they would be happy to record a brief video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording the video, describe to your viewers what you have done for the client and try to capture your client’s positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy and write it for them. When 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 given you – 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 already prepared something to help them save 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 Their Site Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial
Offer to add a link back to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients to provide you with a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.
Include Testimonial Requests In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include requests for a testimonial in one of your autoresponder mailouts. Preferably, this should be done after your customers have had a chance to use your products. Use words like “I need your help” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking them to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature lets you obtain testimonials that become part of your account. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation receives 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 website or profile in exchange).
Create A Client Testimonials Section
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more client testimonials …” link to this section throughout your site.
Useful Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of your client testimonials by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to measuring visitor behaviour on your site.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your website to measure visitor behavior here:
Testimonial Plugins
If your site or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add forms to your pages where users can submit testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (make sure to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you can then refer clients to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use free plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into a Page or Post using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you add a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also can be upgraded to a “pro” version with additional features and technical support.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your blog. You can insert client testimonials via a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and have multiple display options such as random or specific ordering.
Testimonials Widget comes with added features via a premium version, including built-in options for better search engine results and technical support.
To download and use this plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium plugin that offers a range of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for displaying correctly on any device or browser.
- Display options for your testimonials in a widget or as sliders, slideshows, list layout, grid layout, etc. using 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 download and use the plugin, visit this site:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
Testimonials and customer reviews are powerful sources of content that can help your business in terms of adding credibility, building authority, improving online reputation, and growing your sales funnel. Always ask for feedback, reviews, and testimonials from your clients or customers, and publish positive content about your business on your site.
Additional Info
For additional information on creating effective testimonials read these articles:
- 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
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