How To Build Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract new customers, and getting the exact same disappointing results? As most business owners know, that finding effective ways of generating new customers can be very hard, confusing and frustrating. Just trying to survive in business takes up a lot of time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s online and social-driven economy, it’s foolish to ignore the effect of what your potential customers are doing online, especially if they are posting negative comments about your business.
Ignoring what your clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
By the same token, you are also doing your business a great disservice if you don’t promote the positive things your customers say about your products or services. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are persuasive when it comes to 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 discover how to turn more visitors into prospects using highly effective user 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 way of getting your business promoted effectively. Genuine reviews and testimonials from satisfied users are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new clients, customers or users than anything you say about your own products or services.
There is an untapped source of business growth potential that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … reviews and testimonials from their clients!
Reviews and customer testimonials are effective for building credibility for your business.
Studies conducted by many leading research firms all point to the same inevitable conclusion: testimonials and user reviews reduce doubts potential customers may have about buying your product, help with product selection and help increase sales conversions.
Below are just some of the stats available to support this:
- According to research 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, reviews result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more user reviews per product can mean 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 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).
(Source: eConsultancy.com)
Adding Customer Reviews – Online Reputation Management
Adding positive testimonials and reviews to your site from delighted customers is essential for creating a solid online business reputation.
User reviews and customer testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can affect your business both positively and negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your products directly to you, but they could post unhelpful words on Facebook, or a forum or discussion thread about an unpleasant experience they’ve just had using your products and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes an important aspect of your business success.
Misconceptions about managing your reputation online, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need it) may be causing damage to your business without you even realizing it.
See this article to learn more about a tool for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage user feedback:
How To Create Testimonials – Useful Tips
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are persuasive when it comes to helping you market your products and services online and should be added to your content marketing strategy. When you quote responses from clients in your content, you:
- Show others exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help visitors identify their objections and address these.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and aspirations and this facilitates moving them closer to a decision to purchase.
Here are some tips on improving your sales conversions with testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: You should try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelt words in the content helps preserve your testimonials’ authenticity.
- 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 increase visitor engagement with your site’s content.
- Tell a story: Stories are so much more powerful and memorable than just providing statistical facts. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than using generalized statements about excellent customer support and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: Add testimonials to your web content where it best makes 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 mind if you were to display a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting your price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are truly ecstatic about your support before offering guarantees or providing content designed to help your readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would consider to be more powerful: “Since implementing your XYZ product, we have seen a profit increase of $69,648 in the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ product definitely helped us grow our business?” 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 you have helped them save, 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.
- Vary the testimonials on your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your website. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more 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 decide to use it.
- Appeal to your best customer: 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 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 content across different platforms. If someone posts a great comment on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, ask them for permission to reprint the content on your blog.
- Never use fake client testimonials. Many people can see through sites that employ copywriters to create content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to see that the testimonials published on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your credibility with false testimonials.
How To Get Testimonials From Your Customers
Just Ask
Getting a testimonial from a happy client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful tips for requesting testimonials:
- Contact clients after 60 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after performing a service.
- Include a field for testimonials in client satisfaction surveys.
- Pull out your phone next time you visit a client or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they would be happy to record a very quick video testimonial/feedback interview. During your video, explain to your viewers what you have done for your client and make sure to record your client’s positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy for them. When clients send 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 use these to create 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 invite them to edit what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Publish A Link To Their Site Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial
Offer to post a link back to their site 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.
Include A Testimonial Request In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include requests for a testimonial in one of your newsletter broadcasts. This should be timed to reach subscribers just after your clients have had a chance to measure the effect of using your products or 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 subscribers for honest feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to request testimonials from other members that become part of your profile. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is simple and user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation gets a link to their profile. If you get a recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (tip: offer to add a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Testimonials Section
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more customer testimonials …” link pointing to this section throughout your content sections.
Practical Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of your user testimonials by how long visitors stay on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to understanding what visitors are doing on your site.
We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your site to understand visitor behavior here:
Useful WordPress Plugins
If your site or blog is built using 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 plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you can then refer users to your “Testimonials” section.
Check out the testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into a Page or Post using a shortcode. The plugin also lets you add 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 Easy Testimonials plugin also comes with a “pro” version that offers additional features and developer support.
To download this plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with images or videos on your WordPress site. You can insert user 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 offers additional features via a premium version, including built-in options for better search engine results and technical support.
Visit this site to download and use the plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium plugin provides plenty of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes to display correctly on any device or browser.
- 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 testimonials, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customized font and background colours, font types and more.
To learn more about using the plugin, go here:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
User reviews and testimonials are great 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 publish positive content about your business on your site.
Additional Info
The articles below provide useful information on creating engaging clients 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
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