How To Build Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews

Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain new customers, only to get the exact same results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that finding effective ways of generating new customers can be quite difficult. 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 economy, ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

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

By the same token, you could be doing your business a great 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 powerful when it comes to helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be added throughout your content.

In this article, we’ll show you ways to improve your visitor-to-lead conversions using effective customer testimonials.

Testimonials And Consumer Reviews

The great American businessman and showman P.T. Barnum is often quoted as having said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”

P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-based content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Quoting testimonials and reviews from existing users is existing customers are far more persuasive for attracting new clients than anything you have to 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 … reviews and testimonials from their satisfied users!

Reviews and testimonials are a terrific way to build credibility for your services and products.

Research conducted by leading marketing companies all lead to the same inevitable conclusion: adding customer testimonials and reviews to your sales pages helps decrease doubts potential customers may have about purchasing products or services, helps users select products and helps increase sales conversions.

Here are just some statistics that support this:

• According to research by eVoc Insights, a company that researches and measures user experience, “In general, 63% of users indicate they are more likely to purchase from a web site if it has ratings and consumer reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, consumer 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 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 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 User Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management

Adding positive testimonials and reviews to your website from delighted customers is important for helping you grow your business online and creating a solid online reputation.

Customer reviews and customer testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both negative and positive ways.

You see, people may not be saying bad things about your services directly to your face, but they could have posted disparaging remarks on Facebook or a forum thread about a bad experience they’ve just had with your business and this could be costing you business.

This is where online reputation management becomes an important part of your online success strategy.

Misconceptions about engaging in online reputation management practices, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need to worry about it) may be seriously harming your business without you even realizing it.

See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective WordPress plugin that can help to avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your services through effective customer review management:

• Manage Bad Customer Feedback With Power Online Reviews

Tips For Creating Client Testimonials

Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective when it comes to helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be included in your content marketing. When you quote responses from customers in your content, you:

• Show other users exactly what problems and pains your products and services can help to solve for them and how easily this can be done.
• Help site visitors identify and address their objections.
• Help prospects connect with their aspirations and motivations and this facilitates moving them closer to a decision to purchase.

Here are some useful tips on creating standout testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: You should try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelt words in the content helps preserve the authenticity of your testimonials.
• Use real photos: It’s a proven fact that using images of people’s faces draws the attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews will help increase visitor engagement with your content.
• Tell a story: Stories are so much more powerful and captivating than providing mere facts and statistics. 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” the service has been 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 in your web content where it makes the most sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help to sell your point. For example, think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s mind if you were to insert a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before presenting the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are genuinely ecstatic about your customer service when offering guarantees or providing content designed to help your readers overcome their objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful… “Since using XYZ solution, we increased our revenue by an additional $15,739 in the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution has helped us grow our sales?” If 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 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.
• Use different testimonials on your site: Although this can be a little difficult when you are just starting out or have very few clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your site. 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 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 target audience is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to 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 appeal directly to your best audience demographic.
• Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get great feedback on your Facebook page praising your business, ask them permission to reprint the content on your site.
• Only use real testimonials. Most people can tell if you are employing professional writers to create your content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are real. Don’t destroy your credibility with a false testimonial.

How To Get Testimonials From Your Clients

Always Ask For Testimonials

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

Here are some useful guidelines for soliciting testimonials:

• Make a point of contacting customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 30 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after completing your service.
• Add a field for entering testimonials in all client surveys.
• Take out your phone when you next visit a client or hand over a completed project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they would be happy to record a very quick video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording the video, explain to your viewers what you have done for your client and capture the client’s positive reactions and responses.
• Make it easy and write it for them. When 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 written – never put words into their mouth), and use these to create a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have already prepared something to help them save time and invite them to modify what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.

Offer To Publish A Link Back To The Source Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial

Offer to post a link to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great 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 A Testimonial Request To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages

If you have a subscriber list, include requests for a testimonial in a scheduled newsletter broadcast. This should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to experience your products or services. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking customers to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a review.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to obtain testimonials from other members for your account. With LinkedIn, 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 for permission to reprint it on your site (tip: offer to publish a link back to their profile in exchange).

Create A Client Testimonials Section

Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more customer testimonials …” link to this section wherever you have displayed single testimonials on your site.

Useful Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of your user testimonials by how long visitors stay on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to monitoring visitor behaviour on your site.

We have written an article about a heatmap analytics technology you can add to your site to observe visitor behavior here:

• How To Measure Visitor Behaviour On Your WordPress Site With Heat Map Tools – HeatMapTracker Review

Useful Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If your site or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add forms to your pages inviting users to submit reviews and testimonials.

Once your plugin is installed and set up (make sure to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is send users to your “Testimonials” section.

Here are some 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 your pages and posts using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin also lets you add 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 can be upgraded to a “pro” version that offers additional features and developer support.

To download this plugin, go here:

• Easy Testimonials

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images on your WordPress site. You can insert user testimonials via 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 more features available via a premium version, including built-in functions for better search engine results and developer support.

For more information about the plugin, visit this site:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium plugin offers a range of great features right out of the box, including:

• Responsive design that resizes for displaying 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 at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colors, font types and more.

Go here to download and use the plugin:

• Testimonials WordPress Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Conclusion …

Customer reviews and testimonials are powerful 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 your clients or customers, and publish positive content about your business on your site.

Additional Info

For additional sources of information and resources on creating effective users testimonials see 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 actionable information that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for 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!

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