Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And 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 generating new customers can be confusing, frustrating and very difficult. 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 clients 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 aren’t publishing the positive things your clients say about your products, solutions, user support, training, etc. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.
In this article, you’ll learn how to improve your visitor-to-lead conversions with engaging user testimonials.
Customer Reviews
Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum, legendary showman and businessman, once said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Using social proof as content is a powerful and effective way of getting your business promoted. Reviews quoted directly from existing customers are far more persuasive for attracting new customers than anything you have to say about your own products or services.
There is an untapped source of business growth potential that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … client reviews!
Testimonials and customer reviews are a terrific way to build credibility for your products or services.
Studies conducted by leading research firms all point to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews decrease doubts potential customers may have about buying your products, help users select products and increases conversions of visitors into sales.
Below are just some findings that support this:
- According to research findings 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 customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, user reviews play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more consumer reviews per product can translate into a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Website visitors who interact with both customer 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).
(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Client Testimonials And Reviews – Online Reputation Management
Adding reviews to your site from customers who are thrilled with the results they’ve obtained by using your products or services is important for growing your business and creating a solid online reputation.
Testimonials and user reviews, however, can work both ways and affect your business both in a negative or positive way.
People may not be saying bad things about your services directly to you, but they could post negative comments on Facebook about an unpleasant 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 business success.
Misconceptions about managing your reputation online, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need to worry about it) may be seriously hurting your business without you even realizing it.
See this article to learn more about a WordPress plugin that lets you legally and ethically manage your customer reviews:
How To Create Client Testimonials – Useful Tips
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be used in your content marketing strategy. When you quote your own customer 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 and address their objections.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate moving them closer to a decision to purchase.
Below are some useful tips on how to create user testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: Try using your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leaving grammatical errors and misspelt words in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
- Use photos: It’s a proven fact that using images of people’s faces will draw the attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Tell a story: Stories are far more effective and memorable than providing mere statistical facts. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a far longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about excellent service and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: Add testimonials in your web content where it makes the most sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help sell your point. Think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s perception by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before presenting the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are genuinely ecstatic about your customer service before offering a money-back guarantee or providing content designed to help your readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would find more powerful… “Since using your XYZ services, we have seen an additional net profit growth of $16,732 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ product helped us grow our business?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable results, like how much your solution helped to increase their market share 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 or 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 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 ideal customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects aspire to become can be an extremely powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials targeted to your best audience demographic.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get fantastic feedback on your Facebook page praising your business, send them a message asking for their permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
- Only use real client testimonials. Many people can see through sites that employ copywriters to write their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but prospective clients need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your credibility or reputation with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Client Testimonials
Ask
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful tips for soliciting testimonials from your customers:
- Make a point of contacting customers after 60 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 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 quick video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording the video, explain to your viewers what you have done for the client and make sure to capture your client’s positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy for them. Whenever a client sends 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 given you – don’t put words into their mouth), and use these to create 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 modify what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link To The Source
Offer to publish 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 real 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 autoresponder mailouts. Preferably, this should be done after your customers have had a chance to assess the results of using your product, service or solution. Use words like “I need your help” in the subject of your email 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 request testimonials for 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 profile in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and place a “more customer testimonials …” link to your main testimonials page wherever you plan to display single testimonials on your content sections.
Tip: You can measure how effective testimonials are by how long visitors stay on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. A great tool for observing visitor behavior on your pages are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your site to observe visitor behaviour here:
Using Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If your website or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages inviting users to submit reviews and testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), all you have to do is refer customers to your “Testimonials” section.
Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WP plugin that lets you add testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed them into your pages and posts using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you insert a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which can be used to add a photo of the testimonial author, their company logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also provides a “pro” version that has additional features and plugin support.
To download and use the plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images on your posts and pages. 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 comes with additional features via a premium version, including built-in options for better search engine results and technical support.
To download this plugin, go here:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium plugin offers a range of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for displaying correctly on any device or browser.
- Display options for your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, list layout, grid layout, etc. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.
Visit this site to download and use the plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Testimonials and user reviews 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, and start publishing these on your web site.
Resources
The articles below provide useful information on creating engaging 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 a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content that will add value to your 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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