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 results? Most small business owners don’t need to be told that trying to generate new business can be quite hard. 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 media-driven economy, ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

Ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

By the same token, you may also be doing your business a disservice if you aren’t publishing the positive things your customers are saying about your services and products. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content.

In this article, you’ll discover ways to achieve better results online using profit-boosting user testimonials.

Testimonials And Consumer Reviews

P.T. Barnum, legendary American showman and businessman, is often quoted as having stated 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 testimonials quoted directly from satisfied users are far more persuasive for attracting new customers than anything you can say about your own products or services.

There is an untapped source of business growth potential that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … client reviews!

Customer testimonials and reviews are a great way to build credibility for your services and products.

Studies conducted by many leading companies all seem to lead to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials reduce doubts potential customers may have about products that you are trying to sell, help users select products and increases sales.

Below are just some of the stats available to support this:

• According to a study by eVoc Insights, an organization 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 consumer reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, user reviews produce 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 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).

(Source: eConsultancy.com)

Adding User Testimonials And Reviews – Managing Online Reputation

Clearly, you should be adding great reviews and testimonials from very happy customers to your site.

Testimonials and reviews, however, can work both ways and affect your business both negatively or positively.

You see, people may not be saying bad things about your services directly to you, but they could be posting updates on a forum about an unpleasant experience they’ve just had with your services 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 vital aspect of your online 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 really don’t need to worry about it) could be seriously harming your business without you even realizing this.

See this article to learn more about a simple plugin for WordPress users that can help to avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your business through effective user review management:

• Now You Can Manage Bad User Feedback In WordPress With Power Online Reviews

Tips On How To Create Sales Boosting Testimonials

User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are persuasive when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be included in your content. When you quote responses from customers in your content, you:

• Show potential customers exactly with similar problems and pains how your products and services can help them.
• Help site visitors identify their objections and address these.
• Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate moving them closer to a buying decision.

Here are some practical tips on how to create user testimonials:

• Avoid over-editing: You should try to use your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leaving grammatical errors and misspellings in the content helps keep your testimonials sounding authentic.
• Use photos of real people: Marketing tests show that using images of people’s faces draws the most attention of visitors on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
• Tell a powerful story: Stories are much more effective and memorable than providing mere facts and statistics. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a far more lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about excellent support and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
• Use it in context: It’s good to add customer testimonials in your site copy where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help you sell your point. Think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s mind if you were to add 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 your clients solve before discussing the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are truly thrilled about your support before offering a risk-free guarantee or addressing objections.
• Quantify the information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “Since using your XYZ services, our sales grew by $37,818 during the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ product 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 of work 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 client testimonials on your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult if you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your website. 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 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 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 someone posts a great comment on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, ask them for permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
• Only use genuine testimonials. Most people can tell if you are employing professional writers to produce your content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to believe that the testimonials published on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your reputation with a false testimonial.

How To Get Testimonials From Your Clients

Always Ask For Testimonials

Getting a testimonial from a happy client can be as simple as just asking for it.

Here are some tips for soliciting testimonials:

• Make it a part of your business processes to contact clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 90 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after completing a service.
• Add a field for testimonials in all your client surveys.
• Take out your phone next time you visit clients or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording your video, explain to viewers what you have done for your client and record their positive reactions and feedback.
• Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. If 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 best sections (only use what they have written – never put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to use it. Explain that you have done this to help them save time and invite them to change what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Publish 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 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 a request for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced auto responder message. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to assess the results of using your products. Use words like “I need your help” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking clients to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a review.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to obtain testimonials from other members that become part of your account. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your website (tip: offer to publish a link back to their website or profile in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Page On Your Site

Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more client testimonials …” link to this section wherever you plan to display new testimonials on your content sections.

Practical Tip: You can measure how useful customer testimonials are by how long visitors stay 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 pages.

We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your sites to measure visitor behavior here:

• How To Track Visitor Behaviour On Your WordPress Site Using HeatMap Software – HeatMapTracker Review

Using Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If your site or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add forms to your pages where users can submit feedback and testimonials.

Once your plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is send users to your “Testimonials” page.

Below are some WordPress testimonial plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add client testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed them into posts and pages using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin also lets you insert a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include an image with each testimonial, which you can use to add a photo of the testimonial author, a logo, etc.

The plugin also provides a “pro” version with additional features and plugin support.

Visit this site to download and use the plugin:

• Easy Testimonials

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your web site. You can insert 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 plugin makes loads of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in options for better search engine results and technical support.

Visit this site to download the plugin:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This is a premium WordPress plugin that offers many great features right out of the box, including:

• Responsive design that resizes to display correctly on any device or browser.
• Display your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, list layout, grid layout, etc. using a shortcode
• Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customize font and background colours, font types and more.

Visit this site to download and use this plugin:

• Testimonials WordPress Plugin

To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Conclusion …

User reviews and testimonials are great sources of content that help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for feedback, reviews, and testimonials from existing customers or clients, and publish positive content about your business on your website.

Additional Info

The articles below provide useful information on creating engaging clients 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 and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to 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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