Building Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain customers, only to get the exact same results? As most business owners know, that generating new business can be extremely hard. Just trying to stay in business takes up a lot of your time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s digital, mobile and social media-driven economy, ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Don’t ignore what your clients may be saying online about your business!
You could be doing your business a disservice if you don’t promote the positive things your customers are saying about your products or services. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content marketing.
In this article, you’ll learn how to improve your sales conversions using effective user testimonials.
Testimonials And Client Reviews
P.T. Barnum, legendary American showman and successful promoter, once stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-driven content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Genuine reviews quoted directly from satisfied users are far more persuasive for attracting new customers, clients or users than anything you can 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 … testimonials and reviews from their users!
Testimonials and reviews are great for building credibility for your products or services.
Studies conducted by leading firms all point to the same conclusion: adding customer testimonials and user reviews to your site decreases doubts potential customers may have about certain products or services, helps with product selection and helps increase the number of product sales.
Here are just some statistics that support this:
- According to research findings 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 site if it has ratings and consumer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, customer reviews produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can result in a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Web 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 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).
(The figures above were sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Customer Reviews And Testimonials – Managing Online Reputation
Adding reviews to your website from delighted clients is essential for growing your business.
Testimonials and consumer reviews, however, can work both ways and affect your business both negatively or positively.
People may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could post disparaging remarks on Facebook, or a forum or discussion thread about an unpleasant encounter they’ve just had with you or your business and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes a vital aspect of your online success.
Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need it) could be seriously hurting your business without you even being aware of this.
See this article to learn more about a simple WordPress plugin that allows you to legally and ethically manage user feedback:
Tips For Creating Awesome Testimonials
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of marketing your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content. When you quote responses from customers in your content, you:
- Show prospects exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help site visitors identify their objections and address these.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and this facilitates moving them further along the sales process.
Here are some useful tips on creating user testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: Try using the actual words used by your customers as much as possible. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
- Use photos of real people: Marketing studies show that using images of people’s faces will draw the most attention of visitors on a web page. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews can help increase visitor engagement with your content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are so much more effective and captivating than simply providing statistical facts. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a far more lasting impression on those reading your content than using generalized statements about how “excellent” the support was and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: It’s good to add testimonials in your site copy where it makes the most sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help sell your point. Think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s mind if you were to present a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution retails for before posting pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your products, or testimonials where customers are truly thrilled about your customer service before offering guarantees or addressing objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful: “Since installing XYZ software, our profits grew by $19,416 in the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ software helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable data, like how much your solution helped to increase their market share 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 in a recent financial quarter, 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 or don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your site. Depending on the nature of your business, you could try to obtain more user testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special launch 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 ideal customers.
- Reprint content across different platforms. If you get fantastic feedback on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, send them a message asking for permission to reprint the content on your blog.
- Only use genuine testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to create their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to see that the testimonials displayed on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your reputation with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Testimonials From Customers
Ask For Testimonials
Getting a testimonial from a happy customer can be as simple as just asking for it.
Here are some useful guidelines for soliciting testimonials from clients:
- Make a point of contacting clients after 90 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after performing a service.
- Include a text box for entering testimonials in all client satisfaction surveys.
- Pull out your phone when you next meet with clients or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a short video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording the video, describe to your viewers what you have done for the client and capture your client’s positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy for them. Whenever clients send you a positive email thanking you for a great job 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 use it. 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 To The Source
Offer to post a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive for clients to provide 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 list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in a scheduled email broadcast. Preferably, this should be done as soon as your clients have had a chance to measure the impact of using your products or services. Use words like “I need your help” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking customers for feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you request testimonials for your profile. 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 recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your website (tip: offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Client Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “read more client testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials section wherever you are displaying new testimonials on your site.
Useful Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of your user testimonials by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. A great tool for monitoring what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about a heatmap analytics software you can add to your site to predict visitor behaviour here:
Useful Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If you use 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 (make sure to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is send clients to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add client testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into a Page or Post using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin also lets you add a list of all your 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 company logo, etc.
The plugin also provides a “pro” version that has additional features and technical support.
Visit this site to download the plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images on your posts and pages. You can insert testimonials content using a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.
The plugin offers added features via a premium version, including built-in options for improved search engine results and technical support.
Visit this site for more information about the plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium plugin that offers many 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. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customized font and background colours, font types and more.
To download this plugin, go here:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
User reviews and client testimonials are powerful sources of content that can help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for testimonials, reviews, and feedback from your customers or clients, and start publishing these on your web site.
Additional Info
The articles below provide useful information about creating effective customer testimonials and were helpful in providing research and 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 actionable information and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!
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