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 new customers, only to get the exact same results? As most small business owners know, that finding effective ways of generating new business can be very difficult. Just trying to remain in business takes 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!
Don’t ignore what your customers may be saying online about your business!
By the same token, you may also be doing your business a disservice if you don’t spread the positive things your clients say about your products, solutions, customer training, support, etc. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.
In this article, we’ll show you how to get better results online with compelling user testimonials.
User Reviews And Testimonials
P.T. Barnum, the great, legendary showman and businessman, is often quoted as having 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 way of getting your business promoted effectively. Genuine reviews and testimonials from your satisfied users are far more persuasive for attracting new clients, customers or users than anything you say about your own products or services.
There is clearly a source of untapped business growth potential that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … consumer reviews!
Consumer reviews and customer testimonials are a great way to build credibility for your products or services.
Studies conducted by many leading research companies all point to the same inevitable conclusion: user reviews and testimonials help reduce doubts potential customers may have about buying products and services, help users select products and increases sales conversions.
Below are just some findings that 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 reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, customer reviews are responsible for producing an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more user reviews per product can result in 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).
- 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 Customer Reviews – Online Reputation Management
Adding great testimonials and reviews to your site from customers who are delighted with your products or services is essential for creating a solid online business reputation.
Consumer reviews and testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can affect your business both negative and positive ways.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your services directly to you, but they could be posting disparaging remarks on a discussion thread about an unpleasant encounter they’ve just had with you or your business 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 really don’t need it) could be seriously hurting your business without you even being aware of it.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective tool for WordPress users that lets you legally and ethically manage customer feedback:
Creating Awesome Customer Testimonials – Useful Tips
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective ways of helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be included in your content marketing strategy. 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 potential customers identify their objections and address these.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate the sales process.
Below are some tips on how to create customer testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try to use the actual words used by your customers as much as possible. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelt words in the content helps keep your testimonials sounding authentic.
- Use real photos: It’s a proven fact that using images of people’s faces draws the attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are so much more powerful and captivating than providing mere statistical facts. Being able 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 generic statements about excellent customer service and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: It’s good to add testimonials in your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s mind if you were to present a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution retails for before posting product pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before discussing the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are truly thrilled about your customer service before offering a money-back guarantee or addressing objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “Since using your services, our net profits have grown by $99,259 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ product 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 sales or reduce their costs in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours 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 throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult if you are just starting out or don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid displaying the same testimonial throughout your site’s pages. Depending on the nature of your business, you could try to obtain more client testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special launch discount for 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 best customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to is an extremely 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 best audience demographic.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your customer service, send them a message asking for their permission to reprint the content on your blog.
- Only use genuine client testimonials. Most people can tell if you are employing copy writers to produce your content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your potential clients need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are real. Don’t destroy your credibility with a false testimonial.
How To Get Client Testimonials
Ask For Testimonials
Getting a testimonial from a satisfied client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful tips for soliciting testimonials:
- Contact customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 30 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after completing your service.
- Include a field for entering testimonials in client surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you visit a client or hand over a finished job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a very short video testimonial/feedback interview. When recording your video, explain to 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. When 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 juiciest 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 quote them on your site. Explain that you have done this to help them save time and let them know they are completely free to modify what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link Back 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 to provide a testimonial. It also makes an 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 requests for a testimonial in one of your autoresponder broadcasts. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to measure the impact of using your products. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking clients for feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to obtain testimonials from other members that become part of your profile. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite 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 (you can offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Client Testimonials Section
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more testimonials …” link to your main testimonials section throughout your site.
Practical 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 the testimonial content. A great tool for understanding visitor behaviour on your pages are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about a heatmap software you can add to your sites to observe visitor behaviour here:
Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If you use 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 testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is refer clients to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WP plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into your pages and posts using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you add a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which is great to add a photo of the testimonial author, a company logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also comes with a “pro” version that offers additional features and technical support.
Go here to learn more about using this plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with images or videos on your pages and posts. 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.
Testimonials Widget provides extra features via a premium version, including built-in functions for improved search engine results and plugin support.
Visit this site for more information about this plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium plugin offers a range of 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. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customize font and background colors, font types and more.
To download and use 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 existing clients, and publish positive content about your business on your website or blog.
Additional Info
For additional sources of information and resources about creating effective testimonials read these useful articles:
- 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 easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
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