Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews

Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain new customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that trying to generate new business can be extremely difficult and confusing. Just trying to keep your business afloat 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-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 consumers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

By the same token, you could be doing your business a disservice if you aren’t publishing the positive things your customers say about your products or services. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you market your products and services online and should be added to your content.

In this article, you will learn how to improve your sales with more effective client testimonials.

Testimonials And Client Reviews

Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum, the great, legendary showman, is often quoted as having stated 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 and effective way of promoting your business. Quoting genuine reviews directly from existing users is existing customers are far more persuasive for attracting new customers 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 businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … testimonials and reviews from your users!

Customer testimonials and reviews are a great way to build credibility for your business.

Studies conducted by many leading marketing companies all lead to the same inevitable conclusion: adding customer testimonials and user reviews to your sales information pages reduces doubts potential customers may have about buying your product, helps with product selection and increases conversions of visitors into sales.

Below are just some of the findings available to 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 web site if it has ratings and customer reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, user reviews produce 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 Customer Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management

Adding reviews and testimonials to your website from satisfied customers is essential for creating a solid online reputation.

Customer testimonials and reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both negatively or positively.

People may not be saying bad things about your business directly to your face, but they could have posted unhelpful words on Facebook, or a discussion thread or forum 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 vitally important to your online success.

Misconceptions about engaging in online reputation management practices, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need it) could be seriously causing damage to your business without you even realizing this.

See this article to learn more about a simple WordPress plugin that allows you to legally and ethically manage user feedback:

• Now You Can Easily Manage Your Online Reputation On WordPress With Power Online Reviews

Creating User Testimonials – Useful Tips

Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you market your products and services online and should be included in 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 this can be done.
• Help prospects identify their objections and address these.
• Help potential customers connect with their motivations and facilitate the sales process.

Here are some practical tips on creating testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: You should try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps keep your testimonials ‘real’.
• Use real photos: Marketing tests show that using images of people’s faces draws the most attention of visitors browsing 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 so much more effective and memorable than just providing facts and statistics. Being able 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 presenting generalized statements about excellent customer service and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
• Use it in context: It’s good to add customer testimonials in your site copy where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help you sell your point. Think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s perception if you were to insert a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before talking about the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are genuinely ecstatic about your support when offering a money-back guarantee or addressing objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “Since implementing your XYZ product, our sales grew by an additional $45,563 in the last financial quarter,” or “XYZ software helped us grow our sales?” If possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, 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, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
• Avoid using the same client testimonial throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult if you are just starting out and have very few clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your site’s pages. Depending on the type of business you run, you could try to obtain more user 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 decide to use it.
• Appeal to your ideal customer: 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 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 content across different platforms. If someone publishes great feedback on your Facebook wall praising your solution, contact them privately asking for their permission to reprint the content on your blog.
• Only use real testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to write content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your potential clients need to believe that the testimonials provided on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your credibility or reputation with a ”made up” testimonial.

How To Get Testimonials From Clients

Ask For Testimonials

Getting a testimonial from a happy client can be as simple as just asking for it.

Here are some useful tips for soliciting testimonials:

• Make a point of contacting customers after 60 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after performing a service.
• Add a field for entering testimonials in all client surveys.
• Pull out your phone next time you visit clients or hand over a completed project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. During your video, explain to viewers what you have done for your client and make sure to record their positive reactions and feedback.
• Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. If 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 your client and ask them for permission to quote them on your site. Explain that you have done this 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 Post A Link Back To The Source

Offer to publish a link to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive for clients to provide 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 list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in one of your newsletter messages. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to use your product, service or solution. Use words like “I need your help” in the subject of your email and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking customers to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a review.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to solicit testimonials from other members that become part of your profile. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is 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 site (you can offer to add a link back to their profile in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Page

Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “read more client testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials page throughout your site.

Tip: You can measure how effective user testimonials are by how long visitors stay on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. A great tool for measuring what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.

We have written an article about a heatmap analytics technology you can add to your website to analyze visitor behavior here:

• Spy On Your WordPress Site Users Using Analytics Software – HeatMap Tracker Review

Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If your website or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add forms 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 clients to your “Testimonials” page.

Below are some WordPress testimonial plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add user testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them 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 images with testimonials, which you can use for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a business logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also comes with a “pro” version that has additional features and technical support.

For more information about the plugin, visit this site:

• Easy Testimonials – WordPress Testimonials Plugin

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images on your pages and posts. You can insert user testimonials via 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 a range of additional features via a premium version, including built-in options for better search engine results and plugin support.

Go here to download and use the plugin:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium WP plugin provides plenty 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 sliders, slideshows, list layout, grid layout, etc. using a shortcode
• Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colors, font types and more.

Visit this site to download and use this plugin:

• Testimonials Plugin

To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Summary …

User reviews and client testimonials are powerful sources of content that help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for feedback, reviews, and testimonials from your customers or clients, and start publishing these on your web site.

Additional Info

The articles below are a great source of information on creating effective customer testimonials and were also 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 show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content for your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

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