Building Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews

Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain customers, only to get the exact same results? As most small business owners know, that generating new business can be extremely hard. 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 web-based and social-driven economy, you simply can’t afford to ignore the effect of online consumer behavior, especially if they are talking about your business.

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

By the same token, you could be doing your business a disservice if you are not spreading the positive things your clients say about your products and services. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be added to your content.

In this article, we’ll show you ways to achieve better results online with engaging user testimonials.

Client Reviews And Testimonials

The great, legendary showman and businessman Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum once said 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 and effective way of getting your business promoted. Quoting reviews directly from satisfied users is existing customers are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new customers than anything you have to say about your own products or services.

There is a source of untapped business growth potential that most businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … reviews from your clients!

Reviews and customer testimonials are fantastic for building credibility for your business.

Studies conducted by leading marketing firms all point to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials help reduce doubts potential customers may have about buying products and services, help with product selection and increases sales.

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

• According to a study by eVoc Insights, an organization 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 reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, customer reviews are responsible for producing 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 consumer 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 Testimonials And Reviews – Online Reputation Management

Clearly, you should be adding positive testimonials and reviews from extremely satisfied customers to your site.

Reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and impact your business both negative and positive ways.

You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business directly to you, but they could have posted disparaging remarks on Facebook about a bad experience they’ve just had using your products 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 a vital aspect of 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 it) may be seriously harming your business without you even being aware of this.

See this article to learn more about a WordPress plugin that can help to avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your products through effective user review management:

• Manage Poor Client Feedback On WordPress With Power Online Reviews

How To Create Captivating Client Testimonials – Useful Tips

User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are persuasive when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be added to your content. When you include responses from users in your content, you:

• Show other users exactly with similar problems and pains how your products and services can help them.
• Help visitors identify their objections and address these.
• Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and facilitate moving them closer to a buying decision.

Below are some practical tips on creating user testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: Try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leave grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps to keep things ‘real’.
• Use photos: It’s a proven fact that using images of people’s faces draws the attention of visitors on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your content.
• Tell a powerful story: Stories are much more powerful and captivating than simply providing statistical facts. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about excellent service and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
• Keep it in context: Add testimonials in your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help you sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before talking about the benefits of your products, or testimonials where customers are genuinely ecstatic about your customer service before offering guarantees or addressing objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would find more powerful… “XYZ solution was directly responsible for helping to increase our revenue by $29,011 in the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ software helped us grow our business?” If possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable results, 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 in a recent financial quarter, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
• Avoid using the same customer testimonial throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult if you are just starting out or have very few clients, try to avoid displaying the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your web pages. Depending on the type of business you run, you could try to obtain more user 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 decide 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 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 posts fantastic feedback on your Facebook page praising your products or services, contact them privately asking for permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
• Only use genuine client testimonials. Many people can see through sites that employ copywriters to create their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but prospective clients need to believe that the testimonials published on your site are real. Don’t compromise your integrity with a ”made up” testimonial.

How To Get Testimonials

Just Ask

Getting a testimonial from a satisfied client can be as simple as just asking for it.

Follow these useful tips for soliciting testimonials from your clients:

• Make it a part of your business processes to contact customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 90 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after performing a service.
• Include a field for testimonials in all your client surveys.
• Pull out your phone next time you visit clients or hand over a finished job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they would be happy to record a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording your video, explain to your viewers what you have done for your client and capture the client’s positive reactions and feedback.
• Make it easy and write the testimonial 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 written – never put words into their mouth), and use these to create a testimonial, then contact your client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have done this to help them save time and invite them to modify what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.

Offer To Post A Link Back To Their Site

Offer to add a link to their website 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 real 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 one of your newsletter messages. Preferably, this should be done after your clients have had a chance to assess the effect of using your products. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in the subject of your message and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking them for honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to solicit testimonials for your profile. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your website (and offer to publish a link back to their profile in exchange).

Create A Testimonials Section

Create a new page for client testimonials and add a “more testimonials …” link to this page throughout your site.

Tip: You can measure how useful customer testimonials are 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 measuring what visitors are doing on your pages.

We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your site to understand visitor behaviour here:

• Spy On Your WordPress Site Users Using HeatMap Software – Heat Map Tracker Review

WordPress Plugins

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 inviting users to submit testimonials.

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

Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into your pages and posts using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you insert a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which can be used to add a photo of the testimonial author, their company logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also provides users with a “pro” version that has additional features and developer support.

Go here to download this plugin:

• Easy Testimonials

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 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.

The Testimonials Widget plugin makes loads of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in functions for better search engine results and developer support.

Visit this site to download this plugin:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium WP plugin provides plenty of 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 testimonials in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.

To learn more about this plugin, go here:

• Testimonials Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Conclusion …

User reviews and client testimonials 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 testimonials, reviews, and feedback from existing clients or customers, and start publishing these on your website.

Additional Info

For additional sources of information and resources on creating engaging testimonials see 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 easy-to-digest information that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

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