Building Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews

Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain new customers, and getting the exact same results? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that finding new ways of generating new customers can be confusing, frustrating and difficult. 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 media-driven economy, it’s foolish to ignore the effect of what potential customers are doing online, especially if they are posting negative comments about your business.

Ignoring what users 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 publish the positive things your clients say about your products, services, user support, training, etc. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be included throughout your content.

In this article, we’ll show you how to improve your conversions using effective customer testimonials.

Customer Reviews And Testimonials

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

P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-driven content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Quoting testimonials and reviews from satisfied clients is existing clients are far more persuasive for attracting 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 … testimonials and reviews from their satisfied customers!

Testimonials and reviews are a fantastic way to build credibility for your products or services.

Marketing studies conducted by leading firms all seem to lead to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials decrease doubts potential customers may have about purchasing products or solutions that you are trying to sell, help users select products and help increase the number of product sales.

Below are just some of the stats available to support this:

• According to research 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 web site if it has ratings and reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more consumer reviews per product can mean 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).
• 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 User Reviews And Testimonials – Managing Online Reputation

Clearly, you should be adding positive reviews from delighted clients who have experienced positive results with your business to your website.

User reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and impact your business both in a negative or positive manner.

People may not be saying bad things about your services directly to you, but they could post unhelpful feedback on Facebook or a user 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 vitally important to your online success.

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

See this article to learn more about a WordPress plugin that allows you to legally and ethically manage customer reviews:

• Learn How To Easily Manage Negative User Feedback In WordPress With Power Online Reviews

Tips For Creating Client Testimonials

Testimonials, user reviews, 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 strategy. When you include responses from clients in your content, you:

• Show potential customers exactly what problems and pains your products and services can help solve for them and how easily it can do this.
• Help site visitors identify their objections and address these.
• Help prospects connect with their aspirations and motivations and facilitate moving them further along the sales process.

Here are some practical tips on how to create sales boosting user testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: Try to use your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelt words in the content helps keep your testimonials sounding authentic.
• 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 story: Stories are far more effective and memorable than simply 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 generic statements about excellent support and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
• Use it in context: It’s good to add testimonials in your site copy where it best makes sense to place them, and where you believe these 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 sells for before posting your product 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 before offering guarantees or addressing objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful: “Since installing XYZ solution, we have noticed a net profit growth of $53,911 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ solution has helped us grow our sales?” If possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable data, 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 a little difficult when you are just starting out or don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your site. Depending on the nature of your business, you could try to obtain more 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 choose 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 aspire to become 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 speak directly to your ideal customers.
• Reprint across different platforms. If someone publishes a great comment on your Facebook page praising your customer service, ask them permission to reprint the content on your blog.
• Only use real client testimonials. Prospective customers 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

Always Ask For Testimonials

If you have just completed performing a service, 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:

• Make it a part of your business processes to contact clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 14 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after performing a service.
• Include a field for testimonials in client surveys.
• Pull out your phone when you next visit a client or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a very brief video testimonial/feedback interview. When recording your video, explain to your viewers what you have done for your client and try to capture the client’s positive reactions and feedback.
• Make it easy 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 written – never put words into their mouth), and use these to create a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to use it. 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 see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Post A Link Back To The Source Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial

Offer to post a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive for clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.

Add Testimonial Requests To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages

If you have a list of subscribers, include requests for a testimonial in one of your newsletter broadcasts. This should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to experience your products. Use words like “I need your help” in the subject of your message and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking subscribers to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to request testimonials from other members that become part of your account. 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 recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your website (and offer to add a link back to their profile in exchange).

Create A Testimonials Section

Create a new page for client testimonials and place a “read more client testimonials …” link to your main testimonials page whenever you plan to display new testimonials on your site.

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

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

• Spy On Your WordPress Site Visitors Using Heatmapping Software – HeatMap Tracker Review

Using Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If you use 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 testimonials.

Once your plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you then send clients to your “Testimonials” page.

Here are some great testimonial plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use free plugin that lets you add testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into posts and pages using a shortcode. The plugin also lets you publish 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, their company logo, etc.

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

To download the plugin, go here:

• Easy Testimonials – WordPress Plugin

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with images or videos on your blog. You can insert client testimonials via a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and have multiple display options such as random or specific ordering.

The Testimonials Widget plugin comes with a range of additional features via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and developer support.

For more information about using this plugin, visit this site:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium WP plugin offers a range of great features right out of the box, including:

• Responsive design that resizes to display correctly on any device or browser.
• Display options for your testimonials in a widget or as sliders, slideshows, grid layout, list layout, etc. using a shortcode
• Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customize font and background colours, font types and more.

Go here to learn more about using this plugin:

• Testimonials WordPress Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Conclusion …

User reviews and client 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 customers or clients, and start publishing these on your website or blog.

Resources

For additional resources about creating engaging customer testimonials see these useful articles:

• 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 teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your site 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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