Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews

Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract new customers, only to get the exact same results? As most small business owners know, that trying to generate new business can be extremely hard. Just trying to keep your business afloat 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 digital, mobile and social-driven economy, you cannot afford to ignore the impact of what potential customers are doing online, especially if they are posting negative comments about your business.

Ignoring what customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

You could be doing your business a great disservice if you don’t promote the positive things your customers are saying about your services and products. 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 used in your content.

In this article, we’ll show you tips for turning more visitors into qualified prospects using knockout client testimonials.

Testimonials And User Reviews

P.T. Barnum, legendary businessman and showman, once said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”

P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-driven content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Genuine testimonials from existing customers are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new clients than anything you have to say about your own products or services.

There is clearly a source of untapped business growth potential that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … reviews and testimonials from your users!

Customer testimonials and reviews are a terrific way to build credibility for your products or services.

Tests conducted by leading companies all point to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews decrease doubts potential customers may have about purchasing your product, help users select products and help increase conversions of visitors into sales.

Below are just some statistics that 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 site if it has ratings and consumer reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, reviews produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more reviews per product can translate into a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
• Web site 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).

(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)

Adding Consumer Reviews – Managing Online Reputation

Adding positive reviews to your site from clients who are thrilled with the results they’ve obtained by using your products or services is essential for creating a solid online reputation.

Consumer reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and impact your business both positive and negative ways.

People may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could be posting negative comments on Facebook, or a forum or discussion thread about an unpleasant experience they’ve just had with your services 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 a vital aspect of your business success.

Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need to worry about it) could be seriously harming your business without you even being aware of it.

See this article to learn more about a simple plugin for WordPress users that can help to avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your business through effective user review management:

• Manage Bad Customer Reviews Easily With Power Online Reviews

Creating User Testimonials – Useful Tips

User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be included as part of your content. When you include your own customer responses in your content, you:

• Show prospects exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
• Help prospects 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.

Below are some tips on how to create testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: You should try to use your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leaving grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
• Use photos of real people: Research shows that using images of people’s faces draws the 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.
• Tell a story: Stories are so much more effective and captivating than providing mere facts and statistics. 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 presenting generalized statements about how “excellent” your service has been 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 testimonials to your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help to sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have 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 price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before discussing the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are truly thrilled about your support when offering guarantees or addressing objections.
• Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful: “XYZ solution was directly responsible for growing our bottom line by $47,308 during the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ software helped us grow our sales?” Whenever 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 testimonial throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult when you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid displaying the same testimonial everywhere on your web pages. 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 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 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 targeted to your best audience demographic.
• Reprint content across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, contact them privately asking for their permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
• Only use real testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to create their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your potential clients need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your reputation with a false testimonial.

How To Get Testimonials From Clients

Always Ask For Testimonials

When you complete a service for someone, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.

Follow these useful guidelines for requesting testimonials from clients:

• Make a point of contacting clients after 30 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 your client surveys.
• Pull out your phone when you next visit clients or hand over a completed project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they would be happy to record a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. While recording the video, explain to viewers what you have done for your client and capture their positive reactions and responses.
• Make it easy and write it for them. If clients send you positive written feedback that contains snippets of useful testimonial material interspersed with the rest of their message, grab the juiciest sections (only use what they have given you – never put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact your client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have done this to save them time and let them know they are completely free to edit what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Publish A Link Back To Their Site

Offer to add a link back to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive for clients to provide you with a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake 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 a scheduled email message. This should be done as soon as your customers have had a chance to assess the results of using your products. Use words like “I need your help” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking customers to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you solicit testimonials for your profile. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation gets a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your site (and offer to publish a link back to their website or profile in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Page

Create a new section on your site for testimonials and place a “more customer testimonials …” link pointing to this page throughout your content sections.

Tip: You can measure how useful testimonials are by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to understanding visitor behavior on your pages.

We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your site to observe visitor behavior here:

• How To Measure User Behaviour On Your WordPress Site With HeatMap Tools – HeatMapTracker Review

Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If your website or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to 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 using the testimonials submission form – if available), all you have to do is send users 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 client testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into a Page or Post using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you add a list of all 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, their company logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also provides users with a “pro” version with additional features and plugin support.

To download the plugin, visit this site:

• Easy Testimonials – WordPress Plugin

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with images or videos on your posts and pages. You can insert testimonials via 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 this plugin, go here:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium plugin 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, grid layout, list 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 colours, font types and more.

To learn more about this plugin, go here:

• Testimonials WordPress Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Conclusion …

Testimonials and user reviews 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 publish positive content about your business on your website or blog.

Resources

The articles below are a great source of information on creating effective testimonials and were 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 actionable information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content for your site 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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