How To Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews

Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract customers, and getting the exact same results? As most small business owners know, that finding new ways of generating new customers can be 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 your customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

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

By the same token, you could be doing your business a great disservice if you are not boosting the positive things your clients are saying about your products or services. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content.

In this article, you’ll learn tips for turning more visitors into qualified prospects using effective client testimonials.

Client Reviews And Testimonials

Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum, the great, legendary businessman and showman, once stated 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 way of getting your business promoted effectively. Quoting genuine testimonials from existing customers is satisfied users are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new clients than anything you say about your own products or services.

There is clearly a source of untapped opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … user testimonials and reviews!

Consumer reviews and customer testimonials are terrific for building credibility for your services or products.

Tests conducted by many leading firms all point to the same inevitable conclusion: adding customer testimonials and reviews to your point of sale pages eliminates doubts potential customers may have about buying your products, helps users select products and increases the number of product sales.

Here are just some of the statistics available to support this:

• According to research by eVoc Insights, an organization 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 consumer reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, reviews play a significant role in creating an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more consumer reviews per product can result in a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
• Website visitors who interact with both user 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).
• 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 User Reviews – Online Reputation Management

Clearly, you should be adding positive testimonials and reviews from clients to your site.

Customer testimonials and consumer reviews, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both negative and positive ways.

You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business directly to you, but they could be posting damaging words on a forum about a bad experience they’ve just had with your business 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 business success.

Misconceptions about managing your reputation online, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need to worry about it) may be harming your business without you even realizing it.

See this article to learn more about a plugin for WordPress users that lets you legally and ethically manage user feedback:

• How To Easily Manage Your Online Reputation In WordPress With Power Online Reviews Plugin

Tips On How To Create Compelling User Testimonials

Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful ways of marketing your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content marketing strategy. When you quote your own client responses in your content, you:

• Show other users exactly what problems and pains your products and services can help to solve for them and how easily this can be done.
• Help site visitors identify their objections and address these.
• Help prospects connect with their aspirations and motivations and this facilitates moving them further along the sales process.

Here are some tips on how to create testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: Try using the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leaving grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
• Use photos: Images of people’s faces draw attention on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help increase visitor engagement with your content.
• Tell a powerful story: Stories are far more effective and captivating than simply providing statistical facts. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution came to the rescue will make a far longer-lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about how “excellent” your customer service has been and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
• Use it in context: It’s good to add testimonials to your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help you sell your point. For example, think about the impact you can create on your visitor’s perception by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting your price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before talking about the benefits of your products, or testimonials where clients are truly thrilled about your customer service when offering guarantees or providing content that helps your readers overcome their objections.
• Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would find more powerful: “As a direct result of using your services, we have seen an additional revenue increase of $19,488 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ solution definitely 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 profits or reduce their costs 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.
• Vary the client testimonials on your site: Although this can be somewhat 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. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more customer testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special discount for clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you choose to use it.
• Appeal to your best customer: 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 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 ideal customers.
• Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get great feedback on your Facebook page praising your customer service, send them a message asking for their permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
• Don’t use fake client testimonials. Your prospects need to believe that the testimonials provided on your site are real. Don’t compromise your credibility with a false testimonial.

How To Get Testimonials

Ask For Testimonials

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

Follow these useful guidelines for requesting testimonials:

• Make a point of contacting clients after 90 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after performing a service.
• Add a field for testimonials in all client satisfaction surveys.
• Take out your phone next time you visit a client or hand over a completed project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they would be happy to record a very short video testimonial/feedback interview. During the video, describe 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. If clients send 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 given you – never put words into their mouth), and use these to create a testimonial, then contact your 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 modify what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Publish A Link To The Source

Offer to post a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive to get clients providing you with a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.

Add Testimonial Requests To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages

If you have a list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in one of your autoresponder messages. This should be done after your customers have had a chance to assess the results of using your products. 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 users to provide feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to solicit testimonials from other members for your account. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is simple and user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your website (and offer to publish a link back to their website or profile in exchange).

Create A Testimonials Page On Your Site

Create a new section on your site for testimonials and place a “more testimonials …” link pointing to this page wherever you plan to display new testimonials on your site.

Tip: You can measure how useful 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 measuring what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.

We have written an article about a heatmap software you can add to your website to predict visitor behaviour here:

• Spy On Your WordPress Site Visitors Using Heatmapping Software – HeatMap Tracker Review

Useful WordPress Testimonial Plugins

If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages where users can submit 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 clients to your “Testimonials” page.

Below are some plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

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

Easy Testimonials also comes with a “pro” version that has additional features and plugin support.

Visit this site to download and use the plugin:

• Easy Testimonials

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with images or videos on your web site. 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 Testimonials Widget plugin makes loads of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in options for improved search engine results and developer support.

For more information about this plugin, go here:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

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

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

Go here to download and use this plugin:

• Testimonials 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 powerful 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 feedback, reviews, and testimonials from your customers or clients, and start publishing these on your site.

Additional Info

The articles below are a great source of information on creating effective customer testimonials and were also used when researching 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 show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

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