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 and retain new customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? As most business owners know, that generating new customers can be very hard. Just trying to keep your business afloat takes a lot of time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.

In today’s online economy, ignoring what your customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

Don’t ignore what your clients may be saying online about your business!

You are also doing your business a great disservice if you are not boosting the positive things your clients say about your services or products. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be used in your content.

In this article, you’ll learn how to improve your visitor-to-sales conversions with compelling customer testimonials.

Testimonials And Consumer Reviews

P.T. Barnum, the great, legendary showman and businessman, is often quoted as having 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. Reviews quoted directly from existing users are far more persuasive when it comes to attracting new customers, clients or users than anything you can say about your own products or services.

There is clearly an untapped source of opportunities for generating new business that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … client reviews!

Testimonials and reviews are effective for building credibility for your services and products.

Studies conducted by many marketing firms all seem to lead to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials help to eliminate doubts potential customers may have about purchasing your products or services, help with product selection and increases sales.

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

• According to a study by eVoc Insights, a company 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 play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
• Web site visitors who interact with both 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 Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management

Adding reviews and testimonials to your website from people who are delighted with the results they’ve obtained by using your products or services is important for helping you grow your business online and creating a solid online reputation.

Testimonials and consumer reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both negative and positive ways.

People may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to you, but they could be posting disparaging remarks on Facebook 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 important to your success.

Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need it) could be harming 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 customer reviews:

• Learn How To Manage Your Online Reputation On WordPress With Power Online Reviews

How To Create Client Testimonials – Useful Tips

Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be included in your content marketing strategy. When you include responses from clients in your content, you:

• Show prospects exactly what pains and problems your products and services can solve for them and how easily it can do this.
• Help your visitors identify and address their objections.
• Help prospects connect with their aspirations and motivations and facilitate moving them closer to a buying decision.

Below are some tips on improving your sales conversions with engaging testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: Try using the actual words used by your customers as much as possible. Leaving grammatical errors and misspellings in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
• Use real photos: Marketing studies show that using images of people’s faces will draw the most attention of visitors 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.
• Use the power of storytelling: Stories are so much more effective and memorable than just providing statistical facts. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about how “excellent” the customer support was and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
• Keep it in context: It’s good to add testimonials in your site copy where it makes the most 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 perception by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting your product or service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before discussing the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are truly 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: “As a direct result of installing your XYZ solution, we have noticed our net profit increase by $75,399 in the last financial quarter,” or “XYZ solution has helped us grow our business?” 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 in a recent financial period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
• Use different customer testimonials throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult when you are just starting out or don’t have many clients, try to avoid displaying the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your website. Depending on the type of business you run, 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 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 can relate to can be a really 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 across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your business, ask them permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
• Only use real testimonials. Your potential customers need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are real. Don’t compromise your credibility or reputation with a ”made up” testimonial.

How To Get Client Testimonials

Always Ask For Testimonials

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

Follow these tips for requesting testimonials:

• Contact your clients after 90 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after completing a service.
• Include a field for entering testimonials in your client surveys.
• Pull out your phone next time you meet with a client or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they would be happy to record a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. When recording the video, explain to your viewers what you have done for the client and try to record your client’s positive reactions and feedback.
• Make it easy for them. Whenever 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 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 quote them on your site. 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 like before replying with their approval.

Offer To Publish A Link To Their Site Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial

Offer to post a link to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes the 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 broadcast. 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 them for feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you obtain testimonials from other members for your profile. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is simple and user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (you can offer to publish a link back to their profile in exchange).

Create A Testimonials Page On Your Site

Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more client testimonials …” link to this section throughout your content sections.

Useful Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of your client 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 observing visitor behaviour on your pages.

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

• How To Understand Visitor Behavior On Your WordPress Site Using Analytics Software – HeatMap Tracker Review

WordPress Plugins

If your website or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add forms to your pages inviting users to submit testimonials.

Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is refer clients to your “Testimonials” section.

Below are some great plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use free plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into posts and pages 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 to add a photo of the testimonial author, a business logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also can be upgraded to a “pro” version that offers additional features and plugin support.

To download the plugin, go here:

• Easy Testimonials

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, 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 have multiple display options such as random or specific ordering.

The plugin comes with additional features via a premium version, including built-in functions SEO functionality and technical support.

Go here to download this plugin:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium WordPress plugin provides many great features right out of the box, including:

• Responsive design that resizes for correct display on any device or browser.
• Options to display your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, list layout, grid 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 colours, font types and more.

To learn more about the plugin, visit this site:

• Testimonials WordPress Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Conclusion …

Client testimonials and user reviews are powerful 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 customers or clients, and start publishing these on your web site.

Resources

For additional sources of information and resources on creating effective users testimonials read these 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 a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

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