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 customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that generating new customers can be confusing, time-consuming and hard. Just trying to remain in business takes a lot of time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s digital economy, ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Don’t ignore what consumers may be saying online about your business!
By the same token, you may also be doing your business a great disservice if you don’t publish the positive things your customers are saying about your services or products. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content.
In this article, you will learn how to achieve better results online using awesome user testimonials.
Testimonials And Customer Reviews
Legendary American showman Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum once stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-based content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Reviews quoted directly from existing clients are far more persuasive when it comes to attracting new clients than anything you say about your own products or services.
There is an untapped source of business growth potential that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … reviews from your customers!
Testimonials and reviews are terrific for building credibility for your products and services.
Studies conducted by many marketing research companies all seem to lead to the same inevitable conclusion: user reviews and testimonials help reduce doubts potential customers may have about products or solutions that you are trying to sell, help with product selection and help increase sales conversions.
Below are just some of the statistics available to support this:
- According to a study 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 reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews are responsible for producing an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more consumer 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).
(The figures above were sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Consumer Testimonials And Reviews – Managing Online Reputation
Adding positive reviews and testimonials to your site from customers who are delighted with the results they’ve obtained by using your products or services is essential for creating a solid online business reputation.
Consumer reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and affect your business both in a positive and negative way.
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 group or forum about a bad experience they’ve just had with your business and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes important to 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 just don’t need to worry about it) could be causing damage to your business without you even being aware of it.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective plugin for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage customer feedback:
How To Create Effective Customer Testimonials – Useful Tips
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be used in your content. When you include your own client responses 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 visitors identify and address their objections.
- Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and facilitate moving them further along the sales process.
Here are some practical tips on how to create testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try using the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leaving grammatical errors and misspellings in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
- Use photos of real people: Images of people’s faces draw the most attention to your content. 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 powerful story: Stories are so much more effective and memorable than simply providing statistical facts. Being able 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 service and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Use it in context: Add testimonials to your site copy where it makes the most 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 perception by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before discussing the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are truly thrilled about your customer service when offering a money-back guarantee or providing content that helps your readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would consider to be more powerful… “As a direct result of using your services, we were able to increase our profits by $70,577 during the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ software has helped us grow our business?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable data, like how much your solution helped to increase their market share or reduce their costs 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 client testimonials on your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out or have very few clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your web pages. Depending on the nature of your business, you could try to obtain more customer 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 best customer: 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 aspire to become is a really 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 best audience demographic.
- Reprint across different platforms. If someone publishes fantastic feedback on your Facebook page praising your solution, send them a message asking for their permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
- Never use fake client testimonials. Most people can tell if you are employing copy writers to produce your content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your potential customers need to see that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your credibility with a ”made up” testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials From Clients
Just Ask
Getting a testimonial from a happy client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Here are some tips for requesting testimonials:
- Make a point of contacting clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 90 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after performing a service.
- Add a field for entering testimonials in all your client surveys.
- Pull out your phone next time you visit clients or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a very brief video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording your video, describe to viewers what you have done for the client and try to record the client’s positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. If a client sends you positive written feedback 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 use these to create a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have already prepared something 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 Back To The Source
Offer to add a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients to provide you with a testimonial. It also makes an 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 autoresponder messages. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to measure the effect of using your services. Use words like “I need your help” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking users for feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to solicit testimonials from other members that become part of your account. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite 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 (and offer to add a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Section
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 the effectiveness of 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 visitor behavior on your pages.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your website to understand visitor behavior here:
Useful Testimonial Plugins
If your site or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages inviting users to submit testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you can then send users to your “Testimonials” section.
Check out the testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use 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 testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which you can use to add a photo of the testimonial author, their company logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also comes with a “pro” version that has additional features and technical support.
For more information about using this plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your website. 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.
Testimonials Widget offers additional features via a premium version, including built-in functions for improved search engine results and developer support.
For more information about using this plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium plugin offers many 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. by adding a shortcode
- Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colours, 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 …
User reviews and testimonials are great 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 feedback, reviews, and testimonials from your clients, and publish positive content about your business on your site.
Resources
For additional resources on creating effective customer testimonials see 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 and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
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