Building Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain customers, and getting the exact same results? As most small business owners know, that trying to generate new business can be hard. Just trying to remain in business 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 and social-driven economy, it’s a mistake to ignore the impact of what potential customers are doing online, especially if they are talking about your business.
Ignoring what customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
You are also doing your business a great disservice if you are not boosting the positive things your customers are saying about your services, solutions, customer training, support, etc. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be included in your content.
In this article, we’ll show you ways to improve your sales conversions using profit-boosting customer testimonials.
Consumer Reviews And Testimonials
Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum, legendary American showman, is often quoted as having said 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. Genuine reviews and testimonials quoted directly from existing users are far more persuasive when it comes to attracting new customers than anything you can say about your own products or services.
There is a source of untapped opportunities for generating new business that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … customer reviews and testimonials!
Testimonials and user reviews are fantastic for building credibility for your business.
Research conducted by many leading marketing research companies all point to the same inevitable conclusion: adding customer testimonials and reviews to your sales information pages decreases doubts potential customers may have about products that you are trying to sell, helps users select products and increases sales conversions.
Below are just some of the statistics available to support this:
- According to research by eVoc Insights, a company 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 customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, user reviews play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more consumer reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Site visitors who interact with both customer 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).
(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Client Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management
Adding positive reviews to your website from clients who are thrilled with your products or services is important for helping you grow your business online and creating a solid online reputation.
Reviews and customer testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both in a negative as well as positive manner.
People may not be saying bad things about your products directly to you, but they could be posting damaging words on Facebook or a forum about an unpleasant experience they’ve just had with your business and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes a vitally important aspect of 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 really don’t need to worry about it) could be seriously harming your business without you even realizing it.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective tool for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage user reviews:
Tips On Improving Your Conversions With Effective User Testimonials
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be included as part of your content marketing strategy. When you quote responses from users in your content, you:
- Show prospects exactly what problems and pains your products and services can solve for them and how easily this can be done.
- Help potential customers identify their objections and address these.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and this facilitates moving them closer to a decision to purchase.
Here are some practical tips on creating powerful client testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: Try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leave grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps to keep things ‘real’.
- Use real photos: Images of people’s faces draw attention to your content. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Tell a powerful story: Stories are much more effective and memorable than providing mere 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 excellent support and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Use it in context: Add testimonials to your web content where it makes the most sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help you 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 can be purchased for before posting product or service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before presenting the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are genuinely ecstatic about your customer service when offering guarantees or addressing objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “As a direct result of using XYZ solution, we grew our revenue by an additional $30,305 in the last financial quarter,” or “XYZ solution definitely helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable results, like how much your solution helped to increase their profits or reduce their costs in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours they have saved, how many new leads or new clients they were able to generate during a specific financial period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Avoid using the same client testimonial throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult when you are just starting out and have very few clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial throughout your web pages. 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 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 target audience: 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 can be a powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials targeted to your ideal customers.
- Reprint content across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your customer service, ask them for permission to reprint the content on your site.
- Only use genuine testimonials. Many people can see through sites that employ copywriters to write content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to believe that the testimonials published on your site are real. Don’t compromise your integrity or reputation with a false testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials
Ask
Getting a testimonial from a happy client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Here are some useful tips for soliciting testimonials:
- Make it a part of your business processes to contact customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 90 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after completing a service.
- Add a text box for testimonials in all your client satisfaction surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you visit clients or hand over a completed project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a very brief video testimonial/feedback interview. While recording the video, explain to your viewers what you have done for your client and try to record their positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. Whenever a client sends 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 – don’t 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 already prepared something to save them time and invite them 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 Publish Their Testimonial
Offer to post a link to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive to get clients providing you with 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 a request for a testimonial in one of your newsletter mailouts. This should be done after your clients have had a chance to assess the results of using your products or services. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in the subject of your email and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking them to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to obtain testimonials for your profile. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is 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 (tip: offer to add a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more testimonials …” link pointing to this page throughout your site.
Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of customer 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 measuring what visitors are doing on your site.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your site to monitor visitor behaviour here:
Useful WordPress Testimonial Plugins
If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add forms 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 can then send customers to your “Testimonials” section.
Check out the plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use free plugin that lets you add user testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into posts and pages using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you insert 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, a company logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also provides users with a “pro” version that offers additional features and technical support.
To download and use this plugin, go here:
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 blog. You can insert testimonials content using 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 provides additional features via a premium version, including built-in functions for better search engine results and technical support.
Go here for more information about the plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium plugin that offers a range of 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.
Visit this site to download this plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
Customer 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 testimonials, reviews, and feedback from existing clients or customers, and publish positive content about your business on your website.
Resources
The articles below provide useful information on creating engaging 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 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 marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!
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