How To Build Your Reputation With Testimonials And User 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 results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that finding effective ways of generating new customers can be extremely hard and frustrating. Just trying to remain in business requires a lot of time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s web-based and social media-driven economy, ignoring what users may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Don’t ignore what your customers may be saying online about your business!
You could be doing your business a great disservice if you aren’t publishing the positive things your clients are saying about your solutions, client training, support, etc. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.
In this article, you will learn tips for turning more visitors into prospects using profit-boosting customer testimonials.
Client Reviews And Testimonials
The great, legendary showman and businessman P.T. Barnum is often quoted as having said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Using social proof as content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Reviews and testimonials quoted directly from existing clients are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new customers than anything you have to say about your own products or services.
There is a source of untapped business growth potential that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … customer testimonials and reviews!
Customer testimonials and reviews are fantastic for building credibility for your services or products.
Research conducted by marketing firms all seem to point to the same conclusion: adding testimonials and user reviews to your sales information eliminates doubts potential customers may have about products that you are trying to sell, helps with product selection and increases sales.
Below are just some of the stats 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 site if it has ratings and user reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, customer reviews result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more reviews per product can result in a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Website 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 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 – Online Reputation Management
Clearly, you should be adding great reviews from customers to your website.
Customer testimonials and reviews, however, can work both ways and impact your business both positively or negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could be posting negative comments on a discussion group about a bad encounter they’ve just had with you or your business 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 vital to your online success.
Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need to worry about it) may be harming your business without you even being aware of this.
See this article to learn more about a plugin for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage your customer reviews:
Tips For Creating Standout Testimonials
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be included as part of your content marketing. When you include your own user responses in your content, you:
- Show potential customers exactly what pains and problems your products and services can solve for them and how easily this can be done.
- Help prospects identify and address their objections.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and facilitate the sales process.
Here are some useful tips on improving your sales conversions with testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: Try using the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps keep your testimonials ‘real’.
- Use photos: Images of people’s faces draw the most attention to your content. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Tell a story: Stories are far more effective and memorable than just providing facts and statistics. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a far more lasting impression on those reading your content than using generic statements about how “excellent” your support has been and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Use it in context: It’s good to add customer testimonials in your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help to sell your point. Think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s perception if you were to add a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are genuinely thrilled about your customer service when offering guarantees or addressing objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful… “As a direct result of installing XYZ solution, our profits grew by $85,967 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ solution has helped us grow our business?” If 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 in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours of work you have helped them save, how many new leads or new clients they were able to generate in a recent business quarter, 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 a little difficult if you are just starting out or have very few clients, it’s best to avoid displaying the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your website. Depending on the type of business you run, 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 target audience: As every infomercial featuring a celebrity endorsement, subject expert or “busy mom” knows, if you know who your ideal customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to is a very 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 testimonials across different platforms. If someone publishes fantastic feedback on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, contact them privately asking for their permission to reprint the content on your blog.
- Only use genuine testimonials. Your prospects need to see that the testimonials provided on your site are real. Don’t compromise your integrity or reputation with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Testimonials
Just Ask
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied customer can be as simple as just asking for it.
Here are some useful guidelines for soliciting testimonials from customers:
- Contact clients after 14 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after completing your service.
- Add a field for testimonials in all client surveys.
- Pull out your phone next time you meet with a client or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording the video, describe to your viewers what you have done for your client and try to record their positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy 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 given you – never put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to use it. Explain that you have done this to help them save time and invite them to edit what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link Back 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 providing a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.
Add A Testimonial Request To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a list of subscribers, include requests for a testimonial in one of your autoresponder broadcasts. This should be done after your clients have had a chance to assess the results of using your product, service or solution. Use words like “I need your help” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking them to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to obtain testimonials that become part of your account. 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 recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your website (tip: offer to add a link back to their website or profile in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page On Your Site
Create a “Testimonials” page and place a “more customer testimonials …” link pointing to this section throughout your site.
Practical Tip: You can measure how useful customer testimonials are by how long visitors stay on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. A great tool for measuring what visitors are doing on your pages are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about a heatmap technology you can add to your site to monitor visitor behaviour here:
Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and 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 (with instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you can then refer clients to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WordPress plugin that lets you add user testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into posts and pages using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin also lets you add a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include an image with each testimonial, which is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a company logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also provides a “pro” version that has additional features and developer support.
Go here to download and use the plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images on your web site. You can insert testimonials content 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 makes loads more features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and technical support.
For more information about the plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium plugin provides many 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 slideshows, sliders, list layout, grid layout, etc. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customized font and background colours, font types and more.
For more information about this plugin, go here:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
User reviews and testimonials are great sources of content that 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 your clients, and start publishing these on your site.
Resources
The articles below are a great source of information on creating engaging customer 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 regular training emails with actionable information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content for your site 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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