Building Your Reputation With Testimonials And User 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 trying to generate new business can be confusing, time-consuming and really difficult. Just trying to keep your business afloat takes up 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, ignoring what clients 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 disservice if you don’t publish the positive things your clients are saying about your solutions, user support, training, etc. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of marketing your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content marketing.
In this article, you’ll learn ways to improve your conversions using effective user testimonials.
Consumer Reviews And Testimonials
Legendary American showman and businessman Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum once 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 promoting your business. Genuine reviews and testimonials from satisfied users are far more persuasive for drawing new customers than anything you can say about your own products or services.
There is clearly a source of untapped business growth potential that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … consumer testimonials and reviews!
Customer testimonials and customer reviews are a great way to build credibility for your products or services.
Marketing studies conducted by many leading companies all lead to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials help decrease doubts potential customers may have about buying your product, help with product selection and increases conversions of visitors into sales.
Here are just some statistics that support this:
- According to research 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 web site if it has ratings and customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews produce 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 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 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 – Managing Online Reputation
Adding reviews and testimonials to your website from clients who are delighted with the results they’ve obtained by using your products or services is important for helping you grow your business online and creating a solid online reputation.
Testimonials and reviews, however, can work both ways and affect your business both negatively and positively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could post negative comments on Facebook about an unpleasant encounter they’ve just had with one of your team members and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes an integral part of your online business success strategy.
Misconceptions about managing your reputation online, 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 realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective tool for WordPress users that can help you avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your business through effective user review management:
How To Create Testimonials – Useful Tips
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be included in your content marketing. When you include responses from users in your content, you:
- Show potential customers exactly what problems and pains 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 closer to a buying decision.
Here are some tips on creating knockout testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: Try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
- Use photos: Images of people’s faces draw attention 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 story: Stories are far more powerful and captivating than providing mere facts and statistics. 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 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: Add customer testimonials in your web content where it makes the most sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help 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 retails for before posting your price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are truly thrilled about your customer service when offering a money-back guarantee or addressing objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements is more powerful… “As a direct result of using your services, our profits have grown by $49,464 in the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ product has 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 profits 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, 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 have very few clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your web 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 existing clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you decide 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 target audience is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to is 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 ideal customers.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get great feedback on your Facebook page praising your products or services, ask them for permission to reprint the content on your blog.
- Don’t use fake client testimonials. Prospective customers need to see that the testimonials displayed on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your credibility with a ”made up” testimonial.
How To Get Customer Testimonials
Just Ask
If you have just completed performing a service, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.
Follow these useful guidelines for requesting testimonials:
- Make a point of contacting customers after 30 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you have not obtained one after performing a service.
- Include a text box for testimonials in all client satisfaction surveys.
- Pull out your phone next time you visit clients or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they would be happy to record a short video testimonial/feedback interview. During the video, explain to your viewers what you have done for the client and make sure to record your client’s positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy for them. When a client sends you positive written feedback that contains snippets of useful testimonial material interspersed with the rest of their message, grab the best 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 quote them on your site. Explain that you have done this 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 The Source
Offer to post a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.
Add A Testimonial Request To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include a request for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced email message. This should be done as soon as your clients have had a chance to experience your services. Use words like “I need your help” in the subject of your message and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking clients for feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you obtain testimonials that become part of your account. With LinkedIn, 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 site (tip: offer to add a link back to their website or profile in exchange).
Create A Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “read more testimonials …” link to this section wherever you have added single testimonials on your content sections.
Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of testimonials by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to observing what visitors are doing on your pages.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your sites to monitor visitor behavior here:
Testimonial Plugins
If your website or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add forms to your pages where users can submit testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (make sure to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), you can then send customers to your “Testimonials” section.
Below are some great plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into your pages and posts using a shortcode. The plugin also lets you publish a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their business logo, etc.
The plugin also provides users with a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.
Go here for more information about using the plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WordPress plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images 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 makes loads more features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and technical support.
Visit this site to download this plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium plugin provides 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 slideshows, sliders, list layout, grid layout, etc. using a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customize font and background colors, font types and more.
For more information about the plugin, go here:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Client testimonials and customer reviews are great 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 start publishing these on your web site.
Additional Info
The articles below provide useful information about creating engaging customer 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 regular training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, 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 completely FREE!
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