How To Build 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 business owners don’t need to be told that trying to generate new customers can be confusing, frustrating and quite difficult. Just trying to remain in business 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-driven economy, ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Don’t ignore what your 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 promote the positive things your customers are saying about your products or services. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective ways of 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 improve your sales with engaging customer testimonials.
Consumer Reviews
P.T. Barnum, legendary showman and businessman, 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 and effective way of getting your business promoted. Testimonials and reviews from existing customers are far more persuasive for attracting new customers, clients or users than anything you have to say about your own products or services.
There is clearly a source of untapped business growth potential that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … reviews and testimonials from previous clients!
Consumer reviews and testimonials are terrific for building credibility for your business.
Research conducted by many marketing research companies all point to the same conclusion: adding reviews and testimonials to your sales information pages helps reduce doubts potential customers may have about buying some products or services, helps with product selection and increases the number of product sales.
Here are just some findings that support this:
- According to research findings by eVoc Insights, an organization known for researching and measuring user experience, “In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has ratings and reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews can result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Website visitors who interact with both 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).
(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Customer Reviews – Managing Online Reputation
Clearly, you should be adding positive reviews and testimonials from happy customers to your website.
Customer testimonials and customer reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both positively and negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business directly to you, but they could be posting unhelpful words on Facebook or a discussion thread about a bad encounter they’ve just had with one of your staff members and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes an important part of your business and content marketing strategy.
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) may be causing damage to your business without you even realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a simple tool for WordPress users that can help to avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your products through effective customer review management:
How To Create Sales Boosting Testimonials – Useful Tips
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be included as part of your content marketing strategy. When you include responses from users in your content, you:
- Show other users exactly what problems and pains your products and services can solve for them and how easily this can be done.
- Help prospects identify and address their objections.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and this facilitates moving them closer to a decision to purchase.
Below are some practical tips on how to create effective testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: Try using the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspellings in the content helps preserve your testimonials’ authenticity.
- Use photos of real people: Marketing studies show that using images of people’s faces draws the attention of visitors on a web page. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews can help increase visitor engagement with your site’s content.
- Tell a powerful story: Stories are so much more powerful and memorable than simply providing statistical facts. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about how “excellent” your support was and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that everyone has 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 you believe these can most effectively help you sell your point. For example, think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s perception if you were to present a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution retails for before posting your product or service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are truly thrilled about your customer service when offering a money-back guarantee or providing content that helps your readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful… “As a direct result of using your XYZ solution, our net profits grew by an additional $58,604 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ product definitely helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable data, 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, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Avoid using the same client testimonial repeatedly throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult if you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial throughout your website. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more client 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 ideal customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to can be an extremely 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 publishes a great comment on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, ask them permission to reprint the content on your site.
- Never use fake testimonials. Many people can tell if you are employing professional writers to create your content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to see that the testimonials you provide on your site are real. Don’t compromise your integrity with a ”made up” testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials
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.
Follow these useful tips for requesting testimonials:
- Contact your clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 30 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after completing a service.
- Add a field for entering testimonials in client surveys.
- Take out your phone when you next 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 quick video testimonial/feedback interview. While recording your video, explain to viewers what you have done for your client and capture your client’s positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy and write it for them. Whenever a client sends you positive written feedback 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 – don’t 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 done this to save them time and invite them to edit what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Publish A Link Back To The Source
Offer to post a link back to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients to provide you with 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 list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced auto responder broadcast. This should be timed to reach subscribers just 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 users to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to request 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 who provides the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (tip: offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Client Testimonials Section On Your Site
Create a new page on your website or blog for testimonials and place a “more client testimonials …” link pointing to this page whenever you plan to add new testimonials on your site.
Useful Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of your testimonials by how long visitors remain 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 heatmaps to your website to monitor visitor behaviour here:
Useful Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If your site or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add forms 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 clients to your “Testimonials” section.
Check out the plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add client testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into posts and pages using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you insert a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include an image with each testimonial, which is great to add a photo of the testimonial author, their logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also provides users with a “pro” version that has additional features and developer support.
Visit this site to download and use this plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WordPress plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with images or videos on your posts and pages. You can insert testimonials content using 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 loads of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and plugin support.
Visit this site to download this plugin:
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 options for your testimonials in a widget or as sliders, slideshows, list layout, grid layout, etc. using a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customize 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 Summary …
Testimonials and customer reviews are great sources of content that can 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 existing customers, and start publishing these on your website.
Resources
The articles below provide useful information on creating effective clients testimonials and were also helpful in providing research and 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 site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!
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