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 and retain new customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that generating new business can be extremely difficult and frustrating. 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, mobile and social media-driven economy, ignoring what customers 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 may also be doing your business a disservice if you don’t publish the positive things your clients are saying about your products, solutions, client support, training, etc. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be included in your content.

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

Testimonials And Consumer Reviews

Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum, the great American showman and successful promoter, 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”. Using social proof as content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Reviews and testimonials quoted directly from satisfied clients are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new clients, customers or users 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 … customer testimonials and reviews!

Reviews and testimonials are fantastic for building credibility for your products or services.

Marketing studies conducted by many leading firms all point to the same conclusion: adding user reviews and testimonials to your sales information helps reduce doubts potential customers may have about your products or services, helps users select products and helps increase the number of sales.

Here are just some of the statistics available to support this:

• According to research findings 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 site if it has ratings and customer reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, customer reviews can produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more user reviews per product can result in a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
• Website 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).
• 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 Customer Testimonials And Reviews – Online Reputation Management

Clearly, you should be adding reviews and testimonials from existing clients to your site.

Testimonials and reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both in a positive as well as negative way.

You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business directly to your face, but they could be posting disparaging remarks on a discussion group about a bad encounter they’ve just had with one of your 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 vital to your 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 it) could be hurting your business without you even realizing this.

See this article to learn more about a tool for WordPress users that can help to avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your business, products or services through effective user review management:

• Now You Can Manage Negative Customer Feedback In WordPress With Power Online Reviews Plugin

Tips On Improving Your Sales Conversions With Profit Boosting 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 as part of your content marketing. When you include your own user responses in your content, you:

• Show prospects exactly what problems and pains your products and services can help to solve for them and how easily it can do this.
• Help your visitors identify and address their objections.
• Help prospects connect with their motivations and facilitate moving them closer to a buying decision.

Here are some tips on how to create testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: You should try using the actual words used by your customers as much as possible. Leave grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps keep your testimonials ‘real’.
• Use real photos: Marketing tests show that using images of people’s faces draws the most attention of visitors on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your content.
• Tell a powerful story: Stories are much more effective and memorable 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 excellent support and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
• Keep it in context: Add customer testimonials to your web content where it makes the most sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help you 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 sells for before posting your price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before presenting the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are truly ecstatic about your support when offering a money-back guarantee or providing content that helps your readers overcome their objections.
• Quantify the information: Which of the following statements is more powerful… “XYZ solution was directly responsible for helping to increase our net profit by $40,198 during the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution 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 sales or reduce their costs 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, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
• Avoid using the same testimonial 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 using the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your website. 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 launch 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 target audience is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects aspire to become can be a really 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 posts a great comment on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, ask them permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
• Only use genuine testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to write their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your potential customers need to see that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your integrity or reputation with a ”made up” testimonial.

How To Get Client Testimonials

Always 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.

Here are some tips for soliciting testimonials:

• Contact customers after 14 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after performing a service.
• Add a text box for entering testimonials in all client surveys.
• Take out your phone next time you visit 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 quick video testimonial/feedback interview. While recording the video, explain to 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. Whenever clients send 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 – never put words into their mouth), and use these to create a testimonial, then contact the 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 change what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Publish A Link To Their Site Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial

Offer to add a link 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 real 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 a periodic newsletter broadcast. This should be done after your clients have had a chance to use your solution. 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 users to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to obtain testimonials from other members that become part of your account. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite simple and user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation gets a link to their profile. If you get a recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your site (tip: offer to add a link back to their profile in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Section

Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “read more client testimonials …” link to this section whenever you plan to add new testimonials on your content sections.

Practical Tip: You can measure how useful testimonials are 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 pages.

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

• Understanding User Behaviour On Your WordPress Site Using Heat Mapping Software – HeatMap Tracker Review

Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

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

Once your plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), you can then send customers to your “Testimonials” page.

Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into a Page or Post using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin also lets you insert a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include an image with each testimonial, which can be used for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a business logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also can be upgraded to a “pro” version that has additional features and technical support.

To download and use the plugin, go here:

• Easy Testimonials – WordPress Testimonials Plugin

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free WordPress plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with images or videos on your web site. You can insert testimonials content using a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and have multiple display options such as random or specific ordering.

The plugin offers a range of additional features via a premium version, including built-in options for better search engine results and technical support.

To download and use the plugin, visit this site:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This is a premium plugin that offers many 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. by adding a shortcode
• Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colours, font types and more.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Testimonials Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Summary …

Client testimonials and user reviews are powerful sources of content that can help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for feedback, reviews, and testimonials from your clients, and publish positive content about your business on your web site.

Resources

For additional information about creating effective testimonials see these 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 a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful 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 100% FREE!

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