Build Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews

Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract new customers, and getting the exact same disappointing results? As most small business owners know, that finding effective ways of generating new business can be very hard. Just trying to survive in business 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, you simply can’t afford to ignore the significance of online consumer behavior, especially if they are posting negative comments about your business.

Don’t ignore what customers may be saying online about your business!

You are also doing your business a disservice if you don’t spread the positive things your clients are saying about your services or products. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.

In this article, we’ll show you how to improve your visitor-to-lead conversions with effective client testimonials.

Testimonials And Customer Reviews

P.T. Barnum, the great, legendary businessman and showman, once said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”

P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Using social proof as content is a powerful and effective way of promoting your business. Quoting testimonials and reviews from your existing customers is satisfied clients are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new customers, clients or users than anything you can 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 … consumer testimonials and reviews!

Reviews and testimonials are fantastic for building credibility for your services and products.

Studies conducted by marketing research companies all lead to the same inevitable conclusion: user reviews and testimonials help decrease doubts potential customers may have about purchasing your products, help with product selection and increases conversions of visitors into sales.

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

• According to research 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 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 reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
• Site 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).

(Source: eConsultancy.com)

Adding Client Reviews – Managing Online Reputation

Adding great reviews and testimonials to your website from people who are thrilled with your services is essential for creating a solid online reputation.

Customer testimonials and reviews, however, can work both ways and impact your business both positively and negatively.

You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to you, but they could post negative comments on Facebook or a forum 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 vitally important to 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 really don’t need to worry about it) could be seriously hurting your business without you even being aware of this.

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

• Manage Negative User Reviews In WordPress With Power Online Reviews Plugin

Tips For Creating Engaging Testimonials

User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be added to your content marketing strategy. When you include your own customer responses in your content, you:

• Show prospects exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
• Help site visitors identify and address their objections.
• Help prospects connect with their motivations and aspirations and this facilitates moving them closer to a buying decision.

Below are some practical tips on improving your sales with profit boosting testimonials:

• Avoid over-editing: Try to use the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
• Use photos: Images of people’s faces draw the most 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.
• Tell a powerful story: Stories are far more powerful and memorable than just providing statistical facts. The ability 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 support was and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
• Use it in context: Add testimonials in your web content where it makes the most 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 perception by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your products, or testimonials where customers are genuinely ecstatic about your customer service when offering guarantees or providing content designed to help readers overcome their objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “Since using your XYZ services, we have noticed our revenue increase by $96,633 in the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ software definitely 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 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.
• Use different client testimonials on your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out and have very few clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your site’s pages. Depending on the nature of 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 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 really 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 across different platforms. If you get fantastic feedback on your Facebook page praising your products or services, ask them for permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
• Never use fake testimonials. Your potential clients need to see that the testimonials provided on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your integrity with a false testimonial.

How To Get Testimonials

Always Ask For Testimonials

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

Here are some tips for soliciting testimonials from clients:

• Make it a part of your business processes to contact customers after 30 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after performing a service.
• Add a text box for testimonials in all your client satisfaction surveys.
• Pull out your phone when you next meet with clients or hand over a completed project and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they would be happy to record a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. While recording the video, describe to your viewers what you have done for your 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 job that contains snippets of useful testimonial material interspersed with the rest of their message, grab the juiciest sections (only use what they have written – 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 already prepared something to help them save time and let them know they are completely free to edit what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Post A Link To Their Site Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial

Offer to post a link to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive for clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.

Include A Testimonial Request In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages

If you have a list of subscribers, include requests for a testimonial in one of your autoresponder mailouts. Preferably, this should be done after your clients have had a chance to assess the results of using your solution. 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 customers to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to request testimonials from other members that become part of your profile. 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 positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (tip: offer to add a link back to their website or profile in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Section

Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more client testimonials …” link to your main testimonials page wherever you add small blocks of testimonials on your site.

Practical Tip: You can measure how effective client 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 understanding visitor behavior on your site.

We have written an article about a heatmap software you can add to your sites to monitor visitor behavior here:

• How To Spy On Your WordPress Site Visitors With Analytics Software – HeatMapTracker Review

WordPress Testimonial Plugins

If your site or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add forms 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), you can then refer users to your “Testimonials” section.

Below are some 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 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 an image with each testimonial, which can be used for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a business logo, etc.

The Easy Testimonials plugin also provides users with a “pro” version that offers additional features and technical support.

To learn more about the plugin, go here:

• Easy Testimonials – WordPress Testimonials Plugin

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free WordPress plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images on your WordPress site. You can insert customer testimonials via a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.

The Testimonials Widget plugin comes with additional features via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and developer support.

Go here to download the plugin:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium plugin provides a range of 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, grid layout, list layout, etc. using a shortcode
• Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.

Go here for more information about the plugin:

• Testimonials WordPress Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Conclusion …

Client testimonials and customer reviews are great 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 customers or clients, and publish positive content about your business on your website.

Resources

The articles below provide useful information on creating engaging users testimonials and were 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 site, save money creating high-quality 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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