Building Your Reputation With Testimonials And User 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? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that generating new business can be 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 web-based economy, ignoring what your customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
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 don’t promote the positive things your clients say about your services, solutions, client training, support, etc. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content marketing.
In this article, you will learn ways to achieve better results online using profit-boosting user testimonials.
Client Reviews
Legendary American businessman and showman P.T. Barnum is often quoted as having stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Using social proof as content is a powerful and effective way of getting your business promoted. Reviews from satisfied clients are far more persuasive when it comes to attracting new customers than anything you can say about your own products or services.
There is clearly an untapped source of business growth potential that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … customer testimonials and reviews!
Reviews and testimonials are terrific for building credibility for your business.
Studies conducted by many leading firms all point to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials eliminate doubts potential customers may have about buying products, help users select products and increases the number of sales.
Below are just some of the stats available to support this:
- According to a study by eVoc Insights, an organization known for researching and measuring 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 user reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- 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 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 Testimonials And Reviews – Managing Online Reputation
Clearly, you should be adding great reviews from delighted 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 negatively and positively.
People may not be saying bad things about your services directly to your face, but they could post updates on a discussion group about a bad experience they’ve just had using your products and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes a vital aspect of your online business success.
Misconceptions about managing your reputation online, 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 hurting your business without you even being aware of this.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective WordPress plugin that can help you avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your business, products or services through effective customer review management:
Tips On Improving Your Sales With Testimonials
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be included in your content marketing strategy. When you quote your own client responses in your content, you:
- Show others exactly what problems and pains your products and services can help to solve for them and how easily this can be done.
- Help prospects identify and address their objections.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate moving them further along the sales process.
Below are some useful tips on improving your conversions with captivating testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: You should try using your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
- Use photos: Images of people’s faces draw attention on a web page. Adding photos of your clients 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 far more effective and memorable than just providing facts and statistics. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a far longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than using generic statements about excellent support and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: It’s good to add testimonials to your site copy where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help sell your point. Think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before presenting the benefits of your products, or testimonials where customers are genuinely ecstatic about your customer service before offering guarantees or providing content that helps your readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would find more powerful… “XYZ solution was directly responsible for helping us grow our revenue by $44,641 in the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ product 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 profits or reduce their costs by 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, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Vary the testimonials throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult if you are just starting out or have very few clients, it’s best to avoid displaying the same testimonial repeatedly 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 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 ideal customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to is an extremely 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 across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your solution, ask them for permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
- Only use real client testimonials. Many people can tell if you are employing copy writers to write your content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your potential clients need to believe that the testimonials provided on your site are real. Don’t destroy your reputation with a ”made up” testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials From Your Customers
Ask
Getting a testimonial from a happy client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful guidelines for soliciting testimonials:
- Make it a part of your business processes to contact clients after 90 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after performing a service.
- Add a field for testimonials in all your client satisfaction surveys.
- Pull out your phone when you next meet with a client or hand over a finished job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a short video testimonial/feedback interview. While recording the video, explain to viewers what you have done for the client and record their positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy and write it for them. When a client sends 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 help them save time and let them know they are completely free to change what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link To Their Site
Offer to post a link to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients providing a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.
Add A Testimonial Request To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a list of subscribers, include requests for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced newsletter broadcast. This should be done after your customers have had a chance to experience your products. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking subscribers to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to request testimonials from other members for your profile. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (once again, you can offer to publish a link back to their website or profile in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Section On Your Site
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more client testimonials …” link pointing to this page throughout your site.
Practical Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of testimonials 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 understanding what visitors are doing on your pages.
We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your sites to measure visitor behaviour here:
Using Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If your site or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add forms to your pages where users can submit reviews 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 then send customers to your “Testimonials” page.
Below are some WordPress testimonial plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WP plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into a Page or Post using a shortcode. The plugin also lets you publish 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, their logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also comes with a “pro” version with additional features and plugin support.
To download this plugin, go here:
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 website. You can insert testimonials using a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.
Testimonials Widget has plenty more features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and technical support.
To download the plugin, go here:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium WP plugin that provides a range of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for displaying 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 on top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colors, font types and more.
Go here to download and use the plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Customer reviews and testimonials are great 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 existing clients or customers, and start publishing these on your website or blog.
Additional Info
For additional information about creating engaging users 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 regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
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