Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews
Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract customers, only to get the exact same results? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that finding new ways of generating new business can be very 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 web-based and social-driven economy, ignoring what customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Ignoring what your customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
You are also doing your business a disservice if you don’t publish the positive things your customers say about your services and products. 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 added to your content marketing.
In this article, you will learn how to improve your visitor-to-sales conversions using meaningful customer testimonials.
Testimonials And Consumer Reviews
Legendary 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 and effective way of getting your business promoted. Quoting reviews and testimonials directly from satisfied clients is existing users are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new customers, clients or users than anything you can say about your own products or services.
There is clearly an untapped source of business growth potential that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … client reviews and testimonials!
Testimonials and reviews are a powerful way to build credibility for your products and services.
Studies conducted by marketing firms all seem to point to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials reduce doubts potential customers may have about purchasing your product, help users select products and help increase sales.
Here are just some of the findings available to support this:
- According to research 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 user reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews can result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more consumer 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 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).
(The figures above were sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Client Reviews – Online Reputation Management
Adding positive reviews and testimonials to your site from clients who are delighted with the results they’ve obtained by using your services is essential for helping you grow your business.
Reviews and testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both in a positive or negative way.
People may not be saying bad things about your products directly to you, but they could post unhelpful feedback on Facebook, or a forum or discussion thread about a bad encounter they’ve just had with one of your sales or customer support representatives and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes a vital part of your business 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 really don’t need it) may be harming your business without you even being aware of this.
See this article to learn more about a simple tool for WordPress users that can help to avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your business through effective user review management:
Tips On How To Create Engaging Client Testimonials
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective ways of helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be added to your content marketing. When you quote your own user responses in your content, you:
- Show others exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help prospects identify their objections and address these.
- Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and this facilitates the sales process.
Here are some practical tips on creating testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: You should try to use your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leave grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps keep your testimonials ‘real’.
- Use photos: Research shows that using images of people’s faces will draw the most attention of visitors on a web page. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews will help increase visitor engagement with your content.
- Tell a powerful story: Stories are much more effective and captivating than just providing facts and statistics. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a far more lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about excellent customer service and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: It’s good to add customer testimonials to your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help to sell your point. 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 your price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before discussing the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are truly thrilled about your customer service before offering a money-back guarantee or addressing objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful: “XYZ solution was directly responsible for helping to increase our profits by $42,637 in the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution 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 profits or reduce their costs by in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours 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.
- Vary the testimonials 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 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 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 is an extremely 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 ideal customers.
- Reprint content across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your solution, ask them for permission to reprint the content on your site.
- Only use real testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to write content. Outsourcing content is fine, but prospective customers need to believe that the testimonials displayed on your site are real. Don’t destroy your credibility with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Customer Testimonials
Always Ask For Testimonials
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Here are some useful guidelines for soliciting testimonials from customers:
- Contact clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 90 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after performing a service.
- Add a field for testimonials in all client surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you meet with clients or hand over a finished job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a very short video testimonial/feedback interview. When recording your video, describe to your viewers what you have done for the client and make sure to record the client’s positive reactions and responses.
- 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 juiciest sections (only use what they have given you – never put words into their mouth), and use these to create 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 let them know they are completely free to change what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link To The Source Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial
Offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive for clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.
Include A Testimonial Request In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include a request for a testimonial in one of your newsletter broadcasts. 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 a quick favor” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking users to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you request testimonials that become part of your profile. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite simple and 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 (and offer to add a link back to their website or profile in exchange).
Create A Testimonials Section
Create a “Testimonials” page and place a “read more testimonials …” link to your main testimonials section throughout your site.
Useful Tip: You can measure how effective user testimonials are by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to understanding visitor behavior on your site.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your site to monitor visitor behaviour here:
Using Testimonial Plugins
If your website or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to add 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 (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 your pages and posts using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you add a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which can be used for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also can be upgraded to a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.
To download and use this plugin, go here:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your posts and pages. You can insert user testimonials via 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 extra features via a premium version, including built-in functions SEO functionality and developer support.
Visit this site to download this plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium WordPress plugin that provides 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 slideshows, sliders, grid layout, list layout, etc. using a shortcode
- Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colours, font types and more.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
Customer reviews and client testimonials are great 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 start publishing these on your web site.
Additional Info
For additional sources of information and resources about creating engaging customer testimonials refer to 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 easy-to-digest information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content for your 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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