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? As most business owners know, that finding effective ways of generating new business can be very difficult. Just trying to keep your business afloat requires 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-driven economy, you simply can’t afford to ignore the impact of online consumer behavior, especially if they are posting negative comments about your business.
Ignoring what consumers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
By the same token, you may also be doing your business a great disservice if you are not promoting the positive things your clients are saying about your services and products. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content.
In this article, you will learn how to create better results online with effective user testimonials.
User Reviews And Testimonials
Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum, the great, legendary showman and businessman, is often quoted as having 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. Quoting reviews from satisfied customers is satisfied users are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new customers, clients or users than anything you can say about your own products or services.
There is an untapped source of opportunities for generating new business that most businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … client testimonials and reviews!
Customer testimonials and reviews are terrific for building credibility for your business.
Studies conducted by marketing firms all lead to the same conclusion: adding customer testimonials and consumer reviews to your sales information helps to eliminate doubts potential customers may have about purchasing some products, helps with product selection and increases the number of sales.
Here are just some findings that support this:
- According to research findings 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 reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, reviews result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more user reviews per product can translate into a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Website 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).
- 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).
(Source: eConsultancy.com)
Adding Client Reviews – Managing Online Reputation
Clearly, you should be adding great testimonials and reviews from extremely satisfied clients who have experienced positive results with your business to your website.
Testimonials and user reviews, however, can work both ways and affect your business both positively or negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could have posted negative comments on Facebook or a discussion thread about a bad encounter they’ve just had with one of your representatives and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes vitally important to 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 just don’t need to worry about it) may be harming your business without you even realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a simple tool for WordPress users that can help you avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your business through effective user review management:
Tips On Improving Your Conversions With User Testimonials
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective when it comes to helping you market your products and services online and should be included in your content marketing strategy. When you quote responses from clients in your content, you:
- Show other users exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help site visitors identify and address their objections.
- Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and this facilitates the sales process.
Below are some practical tips on how to create awesome customer testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try to use your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps keep your testimonials ‘real’.
- Use photos of real people: Images of people’s faces draw the most attention on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Tell a story: Stories are much more effective and memorable than providing mere facts and statistics. 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 using generalized statements about how “excellent” the customer service was and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Use it in context: It’s good to add testimonials in your web content where it best makes 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 if you were to display a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting your service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before presenting the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are truly thrilled about your support when offering guarantees or providing content designed to help readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful… “As a direct result of implementing XYZ software, we we were able to grow our revenue by $42,094 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ solution 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 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 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 a little difficult if you are just starting out or don’t have many clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial throughout your website. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more client 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 best customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to can be a very powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials that appeal directly to your ideal customers.
- Reprint content across different platforms. If you get fantastic feedback on your Facebook wall praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, send them a message asking permission to reprint the content on your site.
- Only use real testimonials. Your prospects need to see that the testimonials published on your site are real. Don’t compromise your credibility with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Testimonials
Ask
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful guidelines for requesting testimonials from your clients:
- Contact your clients after 60 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after completing your service.
- Include a text box for entering testimonials in all client surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you visit clients or hand over a completed project and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they would be happy to record a brief video testimonial/feedback interview. When recording the video, describe to your viewers what you have done for your client and try to record your client’s positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy and write it 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 given you – 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 help them save time and invite them to modify what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link Back To The Source
Offer to add a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive to get clients to provide you with a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.
Add Testimonial Requests To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced auto responder broadcast. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to measure the impact of using your product, service or solution. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in the subject of your message and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking users to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to solicit testimonials from other members that become part of your account. 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 positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (you can offer to publish a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page
Create a new page for testimonials and place a “more customer testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials page wherever you are displaying single testimonials on your content sections.
Tip: You can measure how useful client testimonials are 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 what visitors are doing on your site.
We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your website to measure visitor behavior here:
Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages where users can submit reviews and testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you can then refer users to your “Testimonials” page.
Here are some testimonial plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add client testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into a Page or Post using a shortcode. The plugin also lets you insert a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which you can use for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a company logo, etc.
The plugin also provides users with a “pro” version that offers additional features and plugin support.
For more information about the plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your web site. You can insert client testimonials 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 makes plenty of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in functions for better search engine results and technical support.
For more information about the plugin, go here:
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 correct display on any device or browser.
- Display your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, list layout, grid layout, etc. by adding 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 and use this plugin, visit this site:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Testimonials and user 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 testimonials, reviews, and feedback from existing clients, and start publishing these on your website.
Resources
For additional information about creating effective testimonials refer to 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 a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!
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