How To Build Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews
Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract customers, and getting the exact same disappointing results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that generating new business can be difficult, time consuming and frustrating. Just trying to keep your business afloat 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 media-driven economy, it’s foolish to ignore the impact of what potential customers are doing online, especially if they are posting negative comments about your business.
Don’t ignore what customers may be saying online about your business!
By the same token, you may also be doing your business a disservice if you don’t spread the positive things your clients say about your products and services. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective ways of marketing your products and services online and should be added to your content.
In this article, you will learn tips for converting more visitors into prospects using meaningful user testimonials.
Testimonials And Customer Reviews
The great, legendary showman 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. Genuine testimonials quoted directly from satisfied clients are far more persuasive for drawing new clients, customers or users than anything you say about your own products or services.
There is clearly an untapped source of opportunities for generating new business that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … reviews and testimonials from their happy clients!
Reviews and testimonials are fantastic for building credibility for your business.
Studies conducted by leading research companies all point to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews decrease doubts potential customers may have about your product, help users select products and help increase sales conversions.
Here are just some of the statistics available to 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 customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, user reviews can produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Web site visitors who interact with both customer 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 Reviews – Managing Online Reputation
You should be adding positive testimonials and reviews from very happy clients to your website.
Reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and impact your business both positively and negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to you, but they could post updates on Facebook or a discussion thread about a bad encounter they’ve just had with one of your employees 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 being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need it) may be harming your business without you even being aware of this.
See this article to learn more about a simple WordPress plugin that can help to avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your products through effective user review management:
Tips On How To Create Compelling User Testimonials
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of marketing your products and services online and should be added to your content. When you include your own client responses in your content, you:
- Show other users exactly with similar problems and pains how your products and services can help them.
- Help site visitors identify and address their objections.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and facilitate moving them closer to a decision to purchase.
Here are some tips on improving your sales conversions with testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try to use your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leave grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps keep your testimonials ‘real’.
- Use photos of real people: Research shows that using images of people’s faces will draw the most attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help increase visitor engagement with your site’s content.
- Tell a story: Stories are far more powerful and captivating than just providing statistical facts. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a more lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generic statements about how “excellent” your service has been and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: It’s good to add testimonials to your site copy where it makes the most sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s perception if you were to present a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are genuinely thrilled 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 your prospects would consider to be more powerful… “XYZ solution was directly responsible for growing our net profit by $35,287 during the last financial quarter,” or “XYZ product has helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, like how much your solution helped to increase their sales or reduce their costs 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.
- Vary the customer testimonials throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult if you are just starting out or have very few 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 testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special 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 aspire to become can be 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 ideal customers.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, send them a message asking for permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
- Never use fake client testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to write their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your potential clients need to believe that the testimonials provided on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your credibility with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Testimonials
Ask
If you have just completed a service for someone, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.
Follow these useful guidelines for soliciting testimonials:
- Make a point of contacting customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 14 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after completing a service.
- Include a text box for testimonials in all client surveys.
- Pull out your phone when you next meet with a client or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they would be happy to record a very short video testimonial/feedback interview. While recording the video, explain to your viewers what you have done for the client and record their positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy for them. When 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 given you – don’t put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to use it. Explain that you have already prepared something to save them 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 To The Source Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial
Offer to post a link back to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive for 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.
Include A Testimonial Request In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a list of subscribers, include requests for a testimonial in a scheduled email broadcast. This should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to use your services. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in the subject of your email and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking clients for honest feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to request testimonials for your account. With LinkedIn, 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 positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your site (once again, you can offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Client Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more customer testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials page throughout your site.
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 your testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to monitoring what visitors are doing on your pages.
We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your site to monitor visitor behavior here:
Testimonial Plugins
If your site or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add a form to your pages where users can submit testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (make sure to provide simple instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), you can then refer customers to your “Testimonials” page.
Here are some great WordPress testimonial plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use free plugin that lets you add user testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into a Page or Post 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 you can use for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a company logo, etc.
The plugin also provides a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.
Visit this site to download this 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 web site. You can insert customer 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 makes plenty of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in functions SEO functionality and technical support.
Go here to download the plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium WP plugin offers plenty of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for correct display on any device or browser.
- Options to 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 the testimonial, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customize font and background colours, font types and more.
Visit this site for more information about using the plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Customer 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 testimonials, reviews, and feedback from your customers, and publish positive content about your business on your website or blog.
Additional Info
For additional resources about creating effective testimonials refer to these useful 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 regular training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content for 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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