Building Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract new customers, only to get the exact same results? As most business owners know, that generating new customers can be extremely difficult. Just trying to stay in business takes a lot of time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s digital and social-driven economy, ignoring what consumers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Ignoring what customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
You could be doing your business a great disservice if you don’t promote the positive things your customers say about your solutions, client support, training, etc. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be added to your content.
In this article, you will learn tips for creating better results online using profit-boosting customer testimonials.
Testimonials And Consumer Reviews
Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum, the great, legendary businessman and showman, once stated 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 way of getting your business promoted effectively. Testimonials and reviews from existing customers are far more persuasive for attracting new customers 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 small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … user testimonials and reviews!
Testimonials and user reviews are terrific for building credibility for your services and products.
Studies conducted by leading firms all seem to lead to the same inevitable conclusion: adding testimonials and reviews to your sales information pages reduces doubts potential customers may have about purchasing certain products, helps with product selection and helps increase the number of sales.
Below are just some statistics that support this:
- According to a study by eVoc Insights, a company that researches and measures 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, user reviews produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can translate into 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 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 Consumer Reviews And Testimonials – Managing Online Reputation
Adding reviews and testimonials to your website from clients who are thrilled with your services is important for growing your business and creating a solid online reputation.
Customer testimonials and reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can affect your business both positively or negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your services directly to you, but they could have posted updates on Facebook or a user thread about a bad experience they’ve just had with your services and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes a vitally important aspect of your online success.
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) may be causing damage to your business without you even being aware of it.
See this article to learn more about a simple tool for WordPress users that can help you avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your business, products or services through effective user review management:
Creating Testimonials – Useful Tips
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective when it comes to helping you market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content marketing. When you quote 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 this can be done.
- Help prospects identify and address their objections.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate moving them further along the sales process.
Below are some tips on how to create testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try using the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leave grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps to keep it ‘real’.
- Use photos: Research shows that using images of people’s faces draws the most attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews will help increase visitor engagement with your site’s content.
- Tell a powerful story: Stories are so much more effective and memorable than simply 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 using generalized statements about how “excellent” your service has been and giving “two thumbs up” product 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 makes the most sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s perception if you were to insert a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting your product pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before discussing the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are genuinely ecstatic about your customer service when offering guarantees or addressing objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would find more powerful: “As a direct result of implementing your XYZ solution, our net profits have grown by an additional $70,703 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ solution helped us grow our business?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable data, like how much your solution helped to increase their market share or reduce their costs in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours they have saved, 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.
- Vary the testimonials throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out and have very few clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your website. 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 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 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 can relate to can be a powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials targeted to your ideal customers.
- Reprint content across different platforms. If someone posts a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your customer service, ask them permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
- Only use genuine testimonials. Your prospects need to believe that the testimonials provided on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your integrity with a false testimonial.
How To Get Client Testimonials
Ask
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Here are some useful guidelines for requesting testimonials:
- Make a point of contacting customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 90 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after completing your service.
- Include a field for testimonials in client surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you visit 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 very brief video testimonial/feedback interview. During your video, describe to viewers what you have done for the client and capture their positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy 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 given you – never 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 done this to help them save time and let them know they are completely free to change what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link Back To The Source Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial
Offer to add a link back to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive for clients to provide you with a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.
Add Testimonial Requests To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include requests for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced newsletter message. This should be timed to reach subscribers just after your clients have had a chance to use your product, service or solution. 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 feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you solicit testimonials from other members that become part of your account. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation gets a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your site (once again, you can offer to publish a link back to their profile in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and place a “read more client testimonials …” link to your main testimonials page throughout your content sections.
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 measuring what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about a heatmap technology you can add to your sites to analyze visitor behavior here:
Using Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages inviting users to submit feedback and testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you then refer customers to your “Testimonials” page.
Below are some great plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use free plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into a Page or Post using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you publish a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which you can use for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also comes with a “pro” version with additional features and technical support.
Visit this site to learn more about using the plugin:
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 pages and posts. You can insert testimonials 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 makes loads of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in options for better search engine results and technical support.
Go here to download and use this plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium WP plugin that offers 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 sliders, slideshows, list layout, grid layout, etc. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customized font and background colours, font types and more.
Go here for more information about the plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Customer 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 your clients or customers, and start publishing these on your site.
Resources
For additional information on creating effective testimonials refer to these 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 a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content for your site 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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