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, and getting the exact same results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that trying to generate new customers can be extremely difficult. Just trying to keep your business afloat 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 media-driven economy, you just can’t ignore the significance of online consumer behavior, especially if they are talking about your business.

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

You could be doing your business a great disservice if you don’t spread the positive things your clients say about your products, solutions, client support, training, etc. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content.

In this article, you’ll discover how to turn more visitors into qualified prospects with more effective client testimonials.

Customer Reviews And Testimonials

P.T. Barnum, legendary American businessman and showman, 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”. Social proof-based content is a powerful and effective way of promoting your business. Quoting testimonials from your existing users is existing users are far more persuasive for attracting new customers, clients or users than anything you can 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 from their customers!

Reviews and testimonials are terrific for building credibility for your products and services.

Studies conducted by many leading marketing companies all point to the same conclusion: adding user reviews and testimonials to your sales information pages reduces doubts potential customers may have about purchasing your product, helps users select products and helps increase sales conversions.

Below are just some findings that 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 site if it has ratings and reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, customer reviews produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more user reviews per product can translate into 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 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 Testimonials And Reviews – Online Reputation Management

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

Customer testimonials and consumer reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can affect your business both in a positive and negative way.

People may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to your face, but they could be posting disparaging remarks on Facebook or a forum about a bad experience they’ve just had with your services 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 significant part of your business and content marketing strategy.

Misconceptions about engaging in online reputation management practices, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need it) could be causing damage to your business without you even being aware of it.

See this article to learn more about a simple plugin for WordPress users that lets you legally and ethically manage user feedback:

• Now You Can Easily Manage Bad Customer Reviews In WordPress With Power Online Reviews

Tips On How To Create Testimonials

Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be used in your content. When you include your own customer responses in your content, you:

• Show other users exactly what pains and problems your products and services can solve for them and how easily it can do this.
• Help prospects identify their objections and address these.
• Help potential customers connect with their motivations and this facilitates the sales process.

Here are some practical tips on creating awesome testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: You should try using the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leaving grammatical errors and misspelt words in the content helps preserve the authenticity of your testimonials.
• Use photos of real people: Images of people’s faces draw the most attention to your content. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews can help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
• Use the power of storytelling: Stories are far more effective and memorable than providing mere facts and statistics. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a far longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than using generalized statements about how “excellent” your customer service has been and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
• Use it in context: Add testimonials to your site copy where it makes the most sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help to sell your point. Think about the impact you can create 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 your clients solve before presenting the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are genuinely thrilled about your support when offering guarantees or providing content designed to help readers overcome their objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would find more powerful… “As a direct result of using your services, we were able to increase our bottom line by $10,732 during the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ software has 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 during a specific financial period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
• Avoid using the same client testimonial repeatedly throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid displaying the same testimonial everywhere on your site’s 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 clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you decide to use it.
• Appeal to your best customer: 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 can relate to is 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 best audience demographic.
• Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If someone posts a great comment on your Facebook wall 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. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to create their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to see that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your integrity with false testimonials.

How To Get Customer Testimonials

Ask

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

Follow these useful guidelines for requesting testimonials:

• Contact your clients after 90 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one after completing your service.
• Add a text box for testimonials in all client satisfaction surveys.
• Take out your phone when you next meet with a client or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a short video testimonial/feedback interview. When recording your video, describe to your viewers what you have done for your client and capture their positive reactions and feedback.
• Make it easy for them. When a client sends you a positive email thanking you for a great job that contains snippets of useful testimonial material interspersed with the rest of their message, grab the juiciest sections (only use what they have written – don’t put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact your client and ask them for permission to quote them on your site. Explain that you have already prepared something to save them time and invite them to change what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Post A Link Back To Their Site Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial

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

If you have a subscriber list, include requests for a testimonial in one of your newsletter messages. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to experience your services. Use words like “I need your help” 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.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you request testimonials that become part of your account. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation gets a link to their profile. If you get a recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your website (you can offer to publish a link back to their profile in exchange).

Create A Client Testimonials Section

Create a “Testimonials” page and place a “read more customer testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials page wherever you display single testimonials on your content sections.

Useful Tip: You can measure how useful testimonials are by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. A great tool for understanding what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.

We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your sites to measure visitor behaviour here:

• How To Understand User Behaviour On Your WordPress Site With Heatmapping Software – Heat Map Tracker Review

Useful WordPress Testimonial Plugins

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

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

Here are a few useful plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free WordPress plugin that lets you add client 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 testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which you can use for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their company logo, etc.

The plugin also provides users with a “pro” version with additional features and technical support.

To download and use this plugin, go here:

• Easy Testimonials – WordPress Testimonials Plugin

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with images or videos on your 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 Testimonials Widget plugin provides additional features via a premium version, including built-in options for better search engine results and plugin support.

To download and use the plugin, visit this site:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This is a premium WordPress plugin that provides a range 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 sliders, slideshows, grid layout, list layout, etc. using a shortcode
• Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customized font and background colours, font types and more.

For more information about using this plugin, visit this site:

• Testimonials Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Conclusion …

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

Resources

The articles below provide useful information on creating engaging testimonials and were also helpful in providing research and information for sections of this article:

• 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 show exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

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