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 new customers, only to get the exact same results? As most small business owners know, that finding new ways of generating new business can be quite difficult. Just trying to stay in business requires 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, it’s a mistake to ignore the significance of what potential customers are doing online, especially if they are posting negative comments about your business.
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 don’t promote the positive things your clients say about your products or services. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be used in your content marketing.
In this article, you will learn how to achieve better results online using profit-boosting customer testimonials.
Customer Reviews And Testimonials
Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum, the great American showman and successful promoter, once stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-based content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Quoting genuine reviews and testimonials directly from existing users is existing users are far more persuasive for attracting new customers, clients or users than anything you say about your own products or services.
There is clearly a source of untapped opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … testimonials and reviews from their clients!
Testimonials and consumer reviews are effective for building credibility for your services or products.
Studies conducted by marketing research firms all point to the same inevitable conclusion: testimonials and user reviews help to eliminate doubts potential customers may have about buying a product or service, help with product selection and increases sales.
Here are just some findings that support this:
- According to research 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 web site if it has ratings and customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews play a significant role in creating 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).
- 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 Customer Testimonials And Reviews – Online Reputation Management
Adding reviews to your website from customers who are thrilled with your products or services is important for growing your business and creating a solid online reputation.
Reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and affect your business both positively and negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business directly to you, but they could have posted updates on Facebook or a discussion group about a bad encounter they’ve just had with one of your sales or customer support representatives 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 vitally important to your online success.
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) may be hurting your business without you even realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a plugin for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage customer feedback:
Tips On Improving Your Sales With Testimonials
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be added to your content. When you quote responses from users in your content, you:
- Show others exactly what problems and pains your products and services can help solve for them and how easily it can do this.
- Help potential customers identify their objections and address these.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and this facilitates the sales process.
Here are some practical tips on improving your sales conversions with awesome testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try using your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leave grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps to keep things ‘real’.
- Use photos of real people: Images of people’s faces draw the most attention to your content. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help increase visitor engagement with your content.
- Tell a story: Stories are much more effective and captivating than just providing statistical facts. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a far longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generic statements about how “excellent” your support has been and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: Add customer testimonials in your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help to sell your point. Think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s mind if you were to present a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting product pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are truly ecstatic about your customer service before offering guarantees or providing content designed to help readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful: “XYZ solution was directly responsible for growing our net profit by $14,189 in the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution 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 sales or reduce their costs by 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 period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Vary the client testimonials throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult when you are just starting out or have very few clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your site’s pages. Depending on the type of business you run, 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 choose to use it.
- Appeal to your ideal customer: 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 can be 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 content across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your products or services, ask them permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
- Only use real testimonials. Your potential customers need to see that the testimonials displayed on your site are real. Don’t compromise your integrity or reputation with a false testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials From Clients
Ask For Testimonials
When you complete 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 clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 14 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one after completing a service.
- Add a text box for testimonials in all your client satisfaction surveys.
- Pull out your phone next time you visit a client or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they would be happy to record a brief video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording the video, describe to viewers what you have done for the client and capture the 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 juiciest sections (only use what they have written – never put words into their mouth), and use these to create a testimonial, then contact your client and ask them for permission to quote them on your site. Explain that you have done this 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 Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial
Offer to publish a link back to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an 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.
Add Testimonial Requests To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include requests for a testimonial in one of your newsletter mailouts. Preferably, this should be done as soon as your clients have had a chance to experience your solution. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking users for feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you obtain testimonials from other members that become part of your profile. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is simple and user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (once again, you can offer to add a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Testimonials Section
Create a new page for customer testimonials and place a “read more client testimonials …” link to your main testimonials page throughout your site.
Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of testimonials by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. A great tool for measuring what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your website to predict visitor behaviour here:
Useful Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add 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 (remember to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you then send users to your “Testimonials” section.
Here are some testimonial plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use 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 publish 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, a company logo, etc.
The plugin also can be upgraded to a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.
Visit this site for more information about the plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WordPress plugin that lets you randomly slide or list 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 comes with extra features via a premium version, including built-in functions for improved search engine results and developer support.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium WordPress plugin that offers plenty of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for displaying correctly on any device or browser.
- Options to display your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, grid layout, list layout, etc. using 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 colors, font types and more.
To download and use the plugin, go here:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Testimonials and user 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 customers, and start publishing these on your website or blog.
Additional Info
For additional sources of information and resources on creating engaging testimonials read 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 that will teach you 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 marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
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