Building Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews
Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract new customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that generating new customers can be difficult, confusing and frustrating. 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-driven economy, ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
You are also doing your business a disservice if you are not spreading the positive things your clients are saying about your services and products. 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.
In this article, you’ll discover how to create better results online using knockout user testimonials.
Client Reviews
Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum, legendary showman and businessman, once 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 and effective way of promoting your business. Testimonials from existing users are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new clients than anything you can say about your own products or services.
There is an untapped source of opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … testimonials and reviews from their previous customers!
Testimonials and consumer reviews are effective for building credibility for your business.
Research conducted by many leading marketing research companies all point to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews help to eliminate doubts potential customers may have about buying products or services, help with product selection and help increase the number of product sales.
Below are just some statistics that support this:
- According to a study by eVoc Insights, a company known for researching and measuring user experience, “In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a web site if it has ratings and user reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, user reviews play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can translate into 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).
(Source: eConsultancy.com)
Adding Client Reviews And Testimonials – Managing Online Reputation
You should be adding great testimonials and reviews from customers to your site.
Customer testimonials and reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can affect your business both positive and negative ways.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could have posted updates on Facebook, or a discussion thread or forum about a bad experience they’ve just had with your services 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 a vital part of your business and content marketing strategy.
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) could be causing damage to your business without you even realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a simple WordPress plugin that can help you avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your products through effective user review management:
Tips On Improving Your Sales Conversions With Compelling Testimonials
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 included in your content marketing strategy. When you include responses from users in your content, you:
- Show potential customers exactly with similar problems and pains how your products and services can help them.
- Help prospects identify their objections and address these.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and aspirations and this facilitates moving them closer to a buying decision.
Below are some tips on how to create sales boosting client testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: Try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps to keep things ‘real’.
- Use real photos: Images of people’s faces draw the most attention to your content. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are so much more powerful and memorable than just providing statistical facts. The ability 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 customer testimonials to your site copy where it makes the most sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help sell your point. Think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased 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 customers are genuinely thrilled about your support when offering a risk-free guarantee or addressing objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “XYZ solution was directly responsible for increasing our net profit by $25,549 during the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ software helped us grow our sales?” 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 by in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours of work they have saved, 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.
- Avoid using the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult if you are just starting out or don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid displaying the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your web pages. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more client 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 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 targeted to your ideal customers.
- Reprint across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your solution, send them a message asking for permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
- Only use real testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to create their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but prospective customers need to believe that the testimonials displayed on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your credibility with false testimonials.
How To Get Testimonials From Customers
Always Ask For Testimonials
If you have just completed performing a service, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.
Here are some tips for soliciting testimonials from your clients:
- Make it a part of your business processes to contact customers after 30 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after completing a service.
- Add a field for testimonials in client surveys.
- Pull out your phone when you next meet with clients or hand over a completed project and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they would be happy to record 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 make sure to capture the client’s positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy and write it for them. If 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 – 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 already prepared something to help them save time and let them know they are completely free to change 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 back to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive to get clients providing you with a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.
Add Testimonial Requests To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include a request for a testimonial in a periodic newsletter message. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to assess the results of using your services. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in the subject of your message and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking subscribers to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature lets you obtain testimonials for your account. 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 positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your site (you can offer to publish a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page
Create a new section for customer testimonials and place a “read more customer testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials section wherever you have added new testimonials on your content sections.
Useful Tip: You can measure how useful testimonials are by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. A great tool for monitoring what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about a heatmap software you can add to your site to predict visitor behavior here:
Testimonial Plugins
If your site or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages where users can submit testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), you can then send customers to your “Testimonials” page.
Below are a few useful testimonial plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into your pages and posts 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 is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also comes with a “pro” version that has additional features and plugin support.
To download this 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 images or videos on your website. 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.
Testimonials Widget offers additional features via a premium version, including built-in options for improved search engine results and developer support.
To download this plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium plugin that provides a range of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for correct display on any device or browser.
- Display 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 testimonials, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customized font and background colours, font types and more.
Visit this site to download the plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
User reviews and client 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 feedback, reviews, and testimonials from existing customers or clients, and start publishing these on your website or blog.
Additional Info
For additional information on creating engaging clients testimonials refer to the articles below:
- 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 easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, 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 completely FREE!
***
***
"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)