Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews

Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? As most small business owners know, that finding new ways of generating new business can be very hard, time consuming and frustrating. Just trying to keep your business afloat 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 media-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.

Don’t ignore what users may be saying online about your business!

You are also doing your business a disservice if you are not promoting the positive things your customers say about your services and products. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you market your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.

In this article, we’ll show you how to get better results online with standout client testimonials.

Testimonials And Consumer Reviews

Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum, the great American showman and successful promoter, is often quoted as having stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”

P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-driven content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Genuine testimonials and reviews from existing customers are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new customers than anything you say about your own products or services.

There is clearly an untapped source of business growth potential that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … reviews and testimonials from your users!

Customer reviews and testimonials are fantastic for building credibility for your services or products.

Studies conducted by leading companies all lead to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews help to eliminate doubts potential customers may have about buying some products or services, help users select products and increases the number of sales.

Here are just some of the stats 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 consumer reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, user reviews produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more user reviews per product can mean 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 user-generated content (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).

(The figures above were sourced from eConsultancy.com)

Adding Consumer Reviews – Online Reputation Management

You should be adding great testimonials and reviews from very happy clients who have experienced positive results with your business to your site.

Customer testimonials and consumer reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can affect your business both in a positive or negative way.

People may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could have posted negative comments on Facebook 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 an important aspect of your business success.

Misconceptions about managing your reputation online, such as 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 being aware of this.

See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective plugin for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage customer reviews:

• Easily Manage Poor Client Reviews On WordPress With Power Online Reviews Plugin

How To Create Testimonials – Useful Tips

User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content marketing. When you include responses from users in your content, you:

• Show other users exactly what problems and pains your products and services can help solve for them and how easily it can do this.
• Help your visitors identify and address their objections.
• Help prospects connect with their aspirations and motivations and facilitate the sales process.

Below are some practical tips on improving your sales conversions with testimonials:

• Avoid over-editing: Try to use your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps preserve your testimonials’ authenticity.
• Use photos: Research shows that using images of people’s faces will draw the most attention of visitors on a web page. 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 so much more effective and memorable than providing mere 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 presenting generalized statements about excellent service and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
• Keep it in context: It’s good to add testimonials to your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help you sell your point. Think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s mind if you were to display a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting your service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your products, or testimonials where customers are truly ecstatic about your customer service before offering a risk-free guarantee or providing content that helps readers overcome their objections.
• Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful… “Since using your XYZ services, we have seen our net profit increase by $48,404 in the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ product 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 financial period, 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 somewhat difficult when you are just starting out and have very few clients, it’s best to avoid displaying the same testimonial throughout your web pages. Depending on the nature of your business, you could try to obtain more 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 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 is a powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials that speak directly to your best audience demographic.
• Reprint content across different platforms. If someone publishes fantastic feedback on your Facebook page praising your products or services, ask them permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
• Only use genuine client testimonials. Many people can see through sites that employ copywriters to create content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to believe that the testimonials provided on your site are real. Don’t compromise your credibility with a false testimonial.

How To Get Testimonials

Just Ask

Getting a testimonial from a happy client can be as simple as just asking for it.

Follow these useful tips for requesting testimonials from your customers:

• Make it a part of your business processes to contact clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 30 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after performing a service.
• Add a text box for entering testimonials in client surveys.
• Take out your phone next time you meet with clients or hand over a finished project 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, explain to viewers what you have done for your client and try to record your client’s positive reactions and responses.
• Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. If clients send 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 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 let them know they are completely free to edit what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Post A Link To The Source

Offer to post a link to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive for clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.

Add A Testimonial Request To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages

If you have a subscriber list, include a request for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced auto responder broadcast. This should be done as soon as your clients have had a chance to use your products. Use words like “I need a quick favor” 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.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature lets you obtain testimonials from other members that become part of your account. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite 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 site (tip: offer to add a link back to their website in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Page On Your Site

Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more testimonials …” link to your main testimonials section throughout your content sections.

Tip: You can measure how effective 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 observing what visitors are doing on your pages.

We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your website to understand visitor behaviour here:

• How To Measure User Behaviour On Your WordPress Site Using HeatMap Software – HeatMap Tracker Review

Useful Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If your site or blog is powered by 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 (with instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is refer users to your “Testimonials” section.

Below are some great testimonial plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free WP plugin that lets you add client testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into your pages and posts using a shortcode. The plugin also lets you add a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also provides a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.

To download this plugin, go here:

• Easy Testimonials – WordPress Plugin

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 website. You can insert client testimonials via a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.

The plugin has plenty more features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and developer support.

To download the plugin, go here:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium WP plugin offers plenty of great features right out of the box, including:

• Responsive design that resizes to display correctly on any device or browser.
• Display your testimonials in a widget or as sliders, slideshows, list layout, grid layout, etc. using a shortcode
• Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.

Go here for more information about using this plugin:

• Testimonials Plugin

To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Summary …

User 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 clients, and start publishing these on your web site.

Additional Info

The articles below are a great source of information on creating effective 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 and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content that will add value to 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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