Building Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain customers, and getting the exact same results? As most business owners know, that generating new customers can be extremely hard. 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-driven economy, ignoring what consumers 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 great disservice if you don’t spread the positive things your clients are saying about your solutions, user support, training, etc. 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, you’ll learn how to get better results online with compelling user testimonials.
Consumer Reviews And Testimonials
Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum, legendary businessman and showman, once said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-based content is a powerful and effective way of getting your business promoted. Reviews from existing customers are far more persuasive when it comes to attracting new customers than anything you have to say about your own products or services.
There is clearly an untapped source of business growth potential that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … user reviews and testimonials!
Customer testimonials and reviews are a great way to build credibility for your business.
Studies conducted by leading marketing research companies all seem to lead to the same conclusion: adding customer testimonials and reviews to your site reduces doubts potential customers may have about your products, helps users select products and helps increase conversions of visitors into sales.
Below are just some statistics 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, consumer reviews can result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more 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 user-generated content (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 Consumer Reviews – Managing Online Reputation
You should be adding great reviews from really happy clients to your website.
Customer testimonials and customer reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both in a positive as well as negative manner.
People may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to your face, but they could have posted negative comments on Facebook or a discussion thread 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 a vitally important aspect of your online business success.
Misconceptions about managing your reputation online, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need it) could be harming your business without you even being aware of it.
See this article to learn more about a tool for WordPress users that can help to avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your business, products or services through effective user review management:
Improving Your Conversions With Meaningful Testimonials – Useful Tips
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective when it comes to helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be included as part of your content. When you include responses from clients in your content, you:
- Show others exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help potential customers identify their objections and address these.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and this facilitates moving them closer to a buying decision.
Here are some practical tips on creating client testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try using your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelt words in the content helps preserve your testimonials’ authenticity.
- Use photos of real people: Images of people’s faces draw attention 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.
- 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 came to the rescue will make a longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about how “excellent” your customer support has been and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: Add customer testimonials in your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help to sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s perception by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting your product or service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are genuinely thrilled about your customer service before offering a risk-free guarantee or addressing objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would consider to be more powerful… “XYZ solution was directly responsible for increasing our net profit by $93,994 during the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution helped us grow our sales?” 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 they have saved, how many new leads or new clients they were able to generate in a recent period, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Avoid using the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult if you are just starting out and have very few clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your site. Depending on the type of business you run, you could try to obtain more customer 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 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 best customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to can be a very 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 content across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, send them a message asking permission to reprint the content on your site.
- Never use fake client testimonials. Your prospects need to believe that the testimonials published on your site are real. Don’t compromise your credibility or reputation with a false testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials
Always Ask For Testimonials
When you complete performing a service, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.
Follow these useful tips for requesting testimonials from your customers:
- Contact customers after 90 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after completing a service.
- Add a text box for testimonials in your client satisfaction surveys.
- Pull 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 short video testimonial/feedback interview. During your video, explain to your viewers what you have done for your client and make sure to record their positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy and write it for them. When clients send 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 given you – don’t put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have done this to help them save time and let them know they are completely free to edit what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link To The Source Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial
Offer to post a link back to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients providing you with 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 a request for a testimonial in one of your newsletter mailouts. This should be done as soon as your customers have had a chance to use your products or services. 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 subscribers to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you request testimonials for your account. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is 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 new section for customer testimonials and place a “more testimonials …” link pointing to this page throughout your content sections.
Useful 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 the testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to monitoring what visitors are doing on your site.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your sites to observe visitor behavior here:
Using WordPress Testimonial Plugins
If your website or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add forms to your pages inviting users to submit testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you can then refer clients to your “Testimonials” page.
Below are a few useful plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WordPress plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into posts and pages using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin also lets you add a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their company logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also can be upgraded to a “pro” version that has additional features and developer support.
Go here to download and use this plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your web site. You can insert testimonials content 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 offers added features via a premium version, including built-in functions SEO functionality and technical support.
For more information about the plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium WordPress plugin provides many 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 slideshows, sliders, grid layout, list layout, etc. using a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize font and background colors, font types and more.
To download and use the plugin, visit this site:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
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 existing clients, and start publishing these on your website.
Resources
The articles below are a great source of information about creating effective customer 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 actionable information that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content for your site 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 completely FREE!
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