Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract customers, only to get the exact same results? As most business owners know, that trying to generate new customers can be very hard and confusing. 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 digital and social media-driven economy, ignoring what your clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Ignoring what customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
By the same token, you are also doing your business a disservice if you don’t promote the positive things your clients say about your products and services. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content marketing.
In this article, you’ll learn ways to improve your conversions using highly effective client testimonials.
Testimonials And Customer Reviews
Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum, legendary showman and successful promoter, 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 way of getting your business promoted effectively. Quoting genuine reviews and testimonials from existing users is satisfied clients are far more persuasive when it comes to attracting new clients, customers or users than anything you have to say about your own products or services.
There is an untapped source of opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … user reviews!
Customer reviews and testimonials are a great way to build credibility for your business.
Tests conducted by leading research firms all lead to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials help decrease doubts potential customers may have about buying your products or services, help with product selection and help increase conversions of visitors into sales.
Here are just some statistics that 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 consumer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more user reviews per product can mean 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 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 Testimonials And Reviews – Online Reputation Management
Adding reviews and testimonials to your website from customers who are thrilled with your products or services is essential for growing your business.
Reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and affect your business both negative and positive ways.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could have posted disparaging remarks on Facebook or a forum about an unpleasant encounter they’ve just had with you or your business and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes vitally important to your online 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 hurting your business without you even realizing it.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective plugin for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage your customer reviews:
Tips On How To Create Sales Boosting Client Testimonials
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content marketing strategy. When you quote responses from users in your content, you:
- Show others exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help prospects identify their objections and address these.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and facilitate moving them closer to a decision to purchase.
Below are some useful tips on how to create compelling user testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try using the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leaving grammatical errors and misspelt words in the content helps preserve the authenticity of your testimonials.
- Use photos of real people: Images of people’s faces draw attention to your content. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews can help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your content.
- Tell a story: Stories are much more effective and memorable than simply 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 using generic statements about excellent customer support and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Use it in context: Add customer testimonials in your site copy where it best makes 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 mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution retails for before posting your product pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are genuinely thrilled about your support before offering a risk-free guarantee or providing content that helps readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “XYZ solution was directly responsible for increasing our sales by $84,162 during the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ software 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 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 in a recent period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Vary the customer testimonials throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult if you are just starting out or don’t have many clients, try to avoid displaying the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your website. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special launch discount for clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you decide to use it.
- Appeal to your best customer: 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 aspire to become is 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 someone publishes 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 blog.
- Only use real testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to produce their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but prospective customers need to believe that the testimonials published on your site are real. Don’t destroy your reputation with a ”made up” testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials From Clients
Ask For Testimonials
Getting a testimonial from a happy customer can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful guidelines for requesting testimonials:
- Contact customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 60 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after completing a service.
- Include a field for testimonials in client satisfaction surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you meet with clients or hand over a finished 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. If they agree, while recording the video, describe to viewers what you have done for the client and record their positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy for them. When 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 – never put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have already prepared something to help them save time and let them know they are completely free to modify what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link Back To Their Site
Offer to post a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive for clients to provide you with a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.
Include Testimonial Requests In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a list of subscribers, include requests for a testimonial in one of your newsletter messages. This should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to experience your products or services. 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 clients for feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to request testimonials from other members that become part of your account. With LinkedIn, 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 recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your site (once again, you can offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “read more testimonials …” link to your main testimonials page whenever you are displaying single testimonials on your site.
Practical Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of testimonials 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 visitor behaviour on your pages are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your website to analyze visitor behaviour 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 a form to your pages inviting users to submit testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (make sure to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is send clients to your “Testimonials” section.
Check out the testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WP plugin that lets you add testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed them into your pages and posts using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you publish 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, their logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also can be upgraded to a “pro” version that offers additional features and developer support.
Visit this site to download and use this plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with images or videos on your website. You can insert testimonials using a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.
Testimonials Widget comes with extra features via a premium version, including built-in options for better search engine results and plugin support.
Go here to download this plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium plugin provides plenty of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for displaying correctly on any device or browser.
- Display options for your testimonials in a widget or as sliders, slideshows, grid layout, list layout, etc. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colours, font types and more.
To download this plugin, go here:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
Client testimonials and customer reviews 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 feedback, reviews, and testimonials from your clients, and publish positive content about your business on your website.
Resources
The articles below provide useful information on creating engaging 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
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 teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
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