Building Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain customers, and getting the exact same results? As most business owners know, that trying to generate new customers can be difficult. Just trying to survive in business takes 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 economy, you just can’t ignore the significance of online consumer behavior, especially if they are posting comments about your business.
Ignoring what users may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
By the same token, you could be doing your business a great disservice if you are not spreading the positive things your clients are saying 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 tips for converting more visitors into qualified leads using standout customer testimonials.
Client Reviews
Legendary American showman and businessman P.T. Barnum is often quoted as having stated 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 attracting new customers than anything you 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 … reviews and testimonials from their customers!
Reviews and testimonials are effective for building credibility for your services or products.
Studies conducted by many leading research firms all point to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews help decrease doubts potential customers may have about your product, help with product selection and increases sales conversions.
Here are just some statistics that support this:
- According to research 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 web site if it has ratings and customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, customer reviews can produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can translate into a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Web 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).
(Source: eConsultancy.com)
Adding Customer Reviews – Online Reputation Management
Adding testimonials and reviews to your website from people who are thrilled with the results they’ve obtained by using your services is essential for growing your business online.
Customer testimonials and reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both negative and positive ways.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your services directly to your face, but they could have posted disparaging remarks on Facebook, or a forum or discussion group 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 vital to your business success.
Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need it) may be causing damage to your business without you even realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a WordPress plugin that can help to avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your business, products or services through effective customer review management:
Tips For Creating Customer Testimonials
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective ways of marketing your products and services online and should be added to your content marketing. When you quote responses from customers in your content, you:
- Show prospects exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help prospects identify their objections and address these.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate the sales process.
Below are some practical tips on creating client testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: You should 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 real photos: Images of people’s faces draw the most attention on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews will help increase visitor engagement with your site’s content.
- Tell a story: Stories are so much more effective and memorable than just providing facts and statistics. 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 using generic statements about excellent service and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Keep 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 you sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution retails for before posting pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are genuinely thrilled about your support when offering a money-back guarantee or addressing objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful… “Since implementing your XYZ solution, we have grown our net profit by $74,229 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ software definitely helped us grow our business?” If possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable data, like how much your solution helped to increase their sales 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.
- Avoid using the same customer testimonial repeatedly throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out and have very few 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 client 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 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 is 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 someone posts a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your customer service, contact them privately asking for their permission to reprint the content on your site.
- Only use genuine client testimonials. Most people can tell if you are employing copy writers to produce your content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your potential customers need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are real. Don’t compromise your integrity or reputation with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Customer Testimonials
Ask For Testimonials
Getting a testimonial from a happy client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Here are some tips for soliciting testimonials from customers:
- Contact clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 90 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after completing a service.
- Add a text box for testimonials in all client surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you meet with clients or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a short video testimonial/feedback interview. During your video, describe to your viewers what you have done for your client and make sure to capture their positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. If 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 best 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 use it. Explain that you have done this 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 Their Site
Offer to add a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive to get clients to provide you with a testimonial. It also makes an 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 a request for a testimonial in one of your autoresponder broadcasts. This should be done after your customers have had a chance to assess the results of using your solution. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking customers for feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you obtain testimonials that become part of your account. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation gets a link to their profile. If you get a recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (once again, you can offer to add a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page On Your Site
Create a new page for client testimonials and place a “more customer testimonials …” link to your main testimonials page throughout your content sections.
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 the testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to observing what visitors are doing on your site.
We have written an article about a heatmap analytics technology you can add to your site to predict visitor behavior here:
Using 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 where users can submit reviews and testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), you can then refer users to your “Testimonials” section.
Below are a few useful plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WP plugin that lets you add user testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into your pages and posts using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you insert a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which can be used 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 plugin support.
To download the plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your WordPress site. 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.
Testimonials Widget provides added features via a premium version, including built-in functions SEO functionality and technical support.
For more information about this plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium WP plugin that provides 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 slideshows, sliders, grid layout, list layout, etc. by adding a shortcode
- Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.
Visit this site to learn more about this plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Customer reviews and testimonials are powerful sources of content that can help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for feedback, reviews, and testimonials from your clients, and publish positive content about your business on your website or blog.
Additional Info
For additional information about creating effective users testimonials refer to 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 teach you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful 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 completely FREE!
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