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 customers, and getting the exact same disappointing results? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that finding effective ways of generating new business can be confusing, frustrating and quite hard. Just trying to keep your business afloat takes 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-driven economy, ignoring what users may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Don’t ignore what users may be saying online about your business!
You may also be doing your business a disservice if you are not promoting the positive things your clients say about your products and services. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective ways of marketing your products and services online and should be added to your content.
In this article, we’ll show you how to achieve better results online with meaningful user testimonials.
Client Reviews And Testimonials
Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum, the great American showman and successful promoter, is often quoted as having said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-driven content is a powerful and effective way of getting your business promoted. Quoting reviews and testimonials from satisfied users is existing customers are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new clients than anything you say about your own products or services.
There is a source of untapped opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … reviews from customers!
Reviews and testimonials are great for building credibility for your business.
Marketing studies conducted by many leading firms all point to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews eliminate doubts potential customers may have about a specific product or service, help users select products and help increase the number of product sales.
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 web site if it has ratings and user reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, user reviews can result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more reviews per product can translate into a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- 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).
(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding User Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management
You should be adding great reviews and testimonials from happy clients who have experienced positive results with your business to your website.
Customer testimonials and reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can affect your business both in a negative or positive manner.
People may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could have posted negative comments on a discussion thread about a bad encounter they’ve just had with one of your representatives and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes an important aspect of your online business success.
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) could be harming your business without you even being aware of this.
See this article to learn more about a WordPress plugin that allows you to legally and ethically manage customer feedback:
Tips On Improving Your Conversions With Compelling Client Testimonials
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content marketing. 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 and address their objections.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and aspirations and this facilitates moving them closer to a decision to purchase.
Here are some tips on improving your sales with customer testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: Try using your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps keep your testimonials ‘real’.
- Use photos: 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 site’s content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are much more effective and captivating than simply providing statistical facts. The ability 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 generic statements about excellent customer service and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Use it in context: It’s good to add customer testimonials in your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help you sell your point. For example, 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 clients solve before discussing the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are genuinely thrilled about your support before offering a risk-free guarantee or providing content that helps your readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful… “Since installing XYZ solution, we have noticed a profit increase of $57,697 in the last financial quarter,” or “XYZ software definitely helped us grow our business?” Whenever possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, 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 during a specific period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Use different customer testimonials throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult if you are just starting out or have very few clients, it’s best to avoid displaying 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 existing 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 ideal customer 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 that appeal directly to your best audience demographic.
- Reprint content across different platforms. If you get great feedback on your Facebook page praising your business, contact them privately asking for their permission to reprint the content on your site.
- Only use real client testimonials. Your potential customers need to see that the testimonials published on your site are real. Don’t compromise your credibility with a ”made up” testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials From Your Clients
Just Ask
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied customer can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful guidelines for requesting testimonials from your clients:
- Contact clients after 14 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after completing your service.
- Include a text box for testimonials in all client surveys.
- Pull out your phone next time you meet with clients or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a short video testimonial/feedback interview. When recording your video, describe to viewers what you have done for your client and make sure to capture the client’s positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy for them. When clients send you a positive email thanking you for a great service that contains snippets of useful testimonial material interspersed with the rest of their message, grab the juiciest sections (only use what they have given you – don’t 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 already prepared something to save them time and invite them to edit what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Publish A Link To Their Site Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial
Offer to add a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive for clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes an 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 list of subscribers, include requests for a testimonial in a scheduled newsletter message. This should be done as soon as your customers have had a chance to assess the effect of using your services. Use words like “I need your help” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking them to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to request testimonials for your profile. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is simple and user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation gets a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your website (once again, you can offer to add a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page
Create a new page on your website or blog for client testimonials and add a “more testimonials …” link to this page throughout your content sections.
Useful Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of client 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 understanding visitor behaviour on your pages are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your sites to observe visitor behaviour here:
Using Testimonial Plugins
If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add a form to your pages inviting users to submit testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), all you have to do is refer users to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use free plugin that lets you add customer testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them 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 an image with each testimonial, which is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also provides a “pro” version that offers additional features and developer support.
For more information about this plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WordPress plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with images or videos on your WordPress 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 has loads more features available via a premium version, including built-in functions SEO functionality and plugin support.
Visit this site to download and use this plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium WordPress plugin offers plenty of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for correct display on any device or browser.
- Options to display your testimonials in a widget or as sliders, slideshows, list layout, grid layout, etc. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.
Go here to download and use this plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Testimonials and user reviews are powerful 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 testimonials, reviews, and feedback from your clients or customers, and publish positive content about your business on your website.
Resources
The articles below are a great source of information on creating engaging users testimonials and were also used when researching 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 a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content that will add value to your site 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!
***
***
"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum