Build 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 business owners don’t need to be told that trying to generate new business can be hard. Just trying to keep your business afloat takes a lot of time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s online economy, it’s a mistake to ignore the significance of what your potential customers are doing online, especially if they are talking about your business.
Ignoring what clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
You could be doing your business a great disservice if you are not spreading the positive things your customers say about your solutions, customer training, support, etc. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive ways of marketing your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content.
In this article, you’ll discover all you need to know to start getting better results online using knockout customer testimonials.
Testimonials And Customer Reviews
Legendary showman P.T. Barnum is often quoted as having stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-based content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Quoting testimonials from satisfied clients is satisfied customers are far more persuasive for attracting new clients, customers or users than anything you say about your own products or services.
There is a source of untapped business growth potential that most businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … reviews from your satisfied customers!
Customer testimonials and reviews are a powerful way to build credibility for your business.
Marketing studies conducted by leading firms all seem to lead to the same inevitable conclusion: testimonials and user reviews help to eliminate doubts potential customers may have about your products, help with product selection and increases 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 site if it has ratings and customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, user reviews can result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can result in 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 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).
(Above figures sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding Client Reviews And Testimonials – Managing Online Reputation
Adding positive reviews and testimonials to your website from clients is important for growing your business online and creating a solid online reputation.
User reviews and customer testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can affect your business both positively and negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business directly to you, but they could post disparaging remarks on Facebook about an unpleasant encounter they’ve just had with one of your staff 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 important to your business success.
Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need it) could be seriously harming your business without you even being aware of it.
See this article to learn more about a simple plugin for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage user feedback:
Tips On How To Create Client Testimonials
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. When you include your own client responses in your content, you:
- Show prospects exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help your visitors identify and address their objections.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate moving them closer to a buying decision.
Here are some tips on creating user testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: Try using the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leave grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps keep your testimonials ‘real’.
- Use real 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 your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Tell a story: Stories are much more powerful and memorable than simply providing 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 presenting generalized statements about how “excellent” the support was 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 you believe these can most effectively help to sell your point. For example, think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s mind if you were to present a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are genuinely thrilled about your support before offering a risk-free guarantee or providing content designed to help your readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “XYZ solution was directly responsible for helping to increase our net profit by $29,236 in the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution has helped us grow our sales?” If possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, like how much your solution helped to increase their market share or reduce their costs 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 in a recent business quarter, what kind of things are they able to do or experience now that they couldn’t do before, etc.
- Vary the customer testimonials on your site: Although this can be a little difficult if you are just starting out or have very few clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your site’s pages. 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 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 ideal customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to is a 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 someone posts a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your customer service, ask them permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
- Never use fake client testimonials. Prospective clients need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your credibility with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Testimonials From Clients
Ask For Testimonials
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied customer can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful tips for requesting testimonials:
- Contact your customers after 14 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after completing your service.
- Include a text box for testimonials in all client surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you meet with a client or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they would be happy to record a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording your video, describe to your viewers what you have done for the client and make sure to record the client’s positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. Whenever 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 written – never put words into their mouth), and shape these into a testimonial, then contact the client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have done this to save them 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 Publish A Link Back To Their Site Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial
Offer to add a link to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive for clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.
Include Testimonial Requests In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in one of your newsletter broadcasts. This should be done after your customers have had a chance to experience 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 clients to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to obtain testimonials for your profile. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite 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 site (once again, you can offer to add a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Testimonials Section
Create a new section on your website or blog for client testimonials and add a “more testimonials …” link to this section throughout your content sections.
Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of your testimonials 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 measuring visitor behaviour on your site.
We have written an article about a heatmap technology you can add to your sites to measure visitor behavior here:
Useful Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages inviting users to submit testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), all you have to do is send clients to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into a Page or Post using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin also lets you publish a list of all your 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 company logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also provides users with a “pro” version that has additional features and plugin support.
Go here to download 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 images or videos on your posts and pages. You can insert testimonials content via a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.
Testimonials Widget makes loads of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and technical support.
To download the plugin, go here:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium plugin that provides many great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for correct display on any device or browser.
- Display options for 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 testimonials, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customized font and background colours, font types and more.
To download the plugin, go here:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
Testimonials and user 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 clients or customers, and publish positive content about your business on your site.
Resources
For additional resources about creating engaging users testimonials read the articles below:
- 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
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