How To Build Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract new customers, and getting the exact same results? As most business owners know, that generating new business can be confusing, time-consuming and very difficult. Just trying to survive in business takes up a lot of 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, ignoring what consumers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Don’t ignore what clients may be saying online about your business!
By the same token, you could be doing your business a great disservice if you don’t publish the positive things your clients are saying about your solutions, user support, training, etc. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be used in your content.
In this article, you will learn how to get better results online using powerful user testimonials.
Consumer Reviews And Testimonials
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”. Using social proof as content is a powerful and effective way of getting your business promoted. Genuine reviews and testimonials from your satisfied clients are far more persuasive for drawing new customers than anything you can say about your own products or services.
There is clearly a source of untapped opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … client testimonials and reviews!
Reviews and customer testimonials are a great way to build credibility for your products or services.
Studies conducted by many leading research firms all point to the same conclusion: adding reviews and customer testimonials to your point of sale pages decreases doubts potential customers may have about buying a product, helps with product selection and increases sales.
Below are just some of the statistics available to support this:
- According to research findings 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 site if it has ratings and customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, reviews play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more reviews per product can result in a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Site visitors who interact with both user 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).
(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Consumer Reviews – Managing Online Reputation
Adding great testimonials and reviews to your site from customers who are thrilled with your products or services is important for growing your business online and creating a solid online reputation.
Reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and impact your business both positive and negative ways.
People may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to you, but they could post unhelpful feedback on Facebook, or a discussion thread or forum 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 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 really don’t need it) could be seriously harming your business without you even realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective WordPress plugin that allows you to legally and ethically manage customer reviews:
Creating Testimonials – Useful Tips
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective when it comes to helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content. When you quote your own user responses in your content, you:
- Show prospects exactly what problems and pains your products and services can help to solve for them and how easily this can be done.
- Help prospects identify their objections and address these.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate moving them closer to a buying decision.
Here are some tips on improving your conversions with standout client testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps preserve the authenticity of your testimonials.
- Use photos of real people: Research shows that using images of people’s faces will draw the most attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help increase visitor engagement with your site’s content.
- Tell a powerful story: Stories are far more powerful and captivating than simply 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 longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about excellent customer service and giving “two thumbs up” service 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 makes the most sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help to sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s perception if you were to display a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting your price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your products, or testimonials where customers are truly thrilled about your support when offering guarantees or addressing objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would consider to be more powerful… “As a direct result of using your XYZ services, we grew our revenue by an additional $21,148 during the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ software has helped us grow our business?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable results, like how much your solution helped to increase their sales or reduce their costs by in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours they have saved, 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.
- Use different customer testimonials on 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 site’s pages. 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 discount for clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you choose 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 best customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to 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 best audience demographic.
- Reprint content across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, contact them privately asking for their permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
- Only use genuine client testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to write their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but prospective clients need to see that the testimonials published on your site are real. Don’t destroy your reputation with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Testimonials From Your Customers
Ask For Testimonials
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Here are some useful guidelines for requesting testimonials:
- Contact customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 14 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you have not obtained one after performing a service.
- Include a field for testimonials in all client satisfaction surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you visit a client or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they would be happy to record a very brief video testimonial/feedback interview. During the video, explain to your viewers what you have done for the client and make sure to capture the client’s positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy for them. When clients send you a positive email thanking you for a great job 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 publish it. Explain that you have done this to help them save time and invite them to modify what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link To The Source
Offer to publish a link to their site 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 real and can be verified.
Include Testimonial Requests In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in one of your newsletter broadcasts. This should be done after your clients have had a chance to experience 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 subscribers to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature lets you obtain testimonials from other members for your account. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your site (and offer to add a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Client Testimonials Page
Create a new section on your site for customer testimonials and add a “read more customer testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials section throughout your content sections.
Tip: You can measure how useful customer testimonials are by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to understanding what visitors are doing on your site.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your site to analyze visitor behaviour here:
WordPress Testimonial Plugins
If your site or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages inviting users to submit feedback and testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), all you have to do is refer users to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WordPress plugin that lets you add testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into a Page or Post 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 to add a photo of the testimonial author, a business logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also provides 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 add random or selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images on your WordPress site. 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 functions for better search engine results and technical support.
Visit this site for more information about the plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium WP plugin provides a range of 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 at the top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customize font and background colors, font types and more.
To download and use the plugin, go here:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
Customer reviews and testimonials are powerful sources of content that help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for testimonials, reviews, and feedback from existing customers or clients, and start publishing these on your web site.
Additional Info
The articles below are a great source of information about creating effective users testimonials and were also 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
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