Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And Reviews
Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract new customers, only to get the exact same results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that finding new ways of generating new business can be difficult. Just trying to survive in business requires a lot of your time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s online and social-driven economy, you cannot afford to ignore the significance of online consumer behavior, especially if they are posting comments about your business.
Ignoring what your clients may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
You could be doing your business a great 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 when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be included as part of your content marketing strategy.
In this article, you’ll discover how to convert more visitors into qualified prospects with meaningful user testimonials.
Testimonials And Consumer Reviews
P.T. Barnum, legendary American showman and successful promoter, is often quoted as having 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. Testimonials and reviews from your existing users are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new customers than anything you can say about your own products or services.
There is a source of untapped opportunities for generating new business that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … user testimonials and reviews!
Testimonials and reviews are a terrific way to build credibility for your services and products.
Marketing studies conducted by many leading research firms all point to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews eliminate doubts potential customers may have about purchasing particular products or services, help users select products and increases conversions of visitors into sales.
Below are just some statistics that support this:
- According to a study 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 web site if it has ratings and reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, reviews can produce 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 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 user-generated content (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 Customer Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management
Adding reviews to your site from people who are thrilled with the results they’ve obtained by using your products or services is important for helping you grow your business online and creating a solid online reputation.
Reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and impact your business both positively and negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your services directly to you, but they could be posting negative comments on a discussion thread 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 vital to your online business success.
Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as the process being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need to worry about it) could be hurting your business without you even realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective WordPress plugin that allows you to legally and ethically manage user reviews:
Improving Your Sales With Engaging Customer Testimonials – Useful Tips
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 quote your own user responses in your content, you:
- Show prospects exactly with similar problems and pains how your products and services can help them.
- Help site visitors identify and address their objections.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and facilitate the sales process.
Here are some tips on improving your sales with testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: You should try using your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelt words in the content helps preserve your testimonials’ authenticity.
- Use photos of real people: 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 site’s content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are far more effective and captivating than just providing facts and statistics. 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 generic statements about how “excellent” the customer service has been and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: Add customer testimonials in your site copy 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 can be purchased for before posting your product pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before discussing the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are truly thrilled about your customer service when offering guarantees or addressing objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would find more powerful… “XYZ solution was directly responsible for increasing our profits by $80,863 during the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable results, like how much your solution helped to increase their profits or reduce their costs by in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours of work 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 a little difficult if you are just starting out or have very few clients, it’s best to avoid displaying the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your site’s pages. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special launch discount for existing clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you decide to use it.
- Appeal to your ideal customer: 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 very powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials that appeal directly to your ideal customers.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get great feedback on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, contact them privately asking for their permission to reprint the content on your site.
- Never use fake testimonials. Your potential customers need to see that the testimonials published on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your reputation with a false testimonial.
How To Get Client Testimonials
Ask For Testimonials
When you complete a service for someone, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.
Here are some tips for soliciting testimonials from clients:
- Make it a part of your business processes to contact clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 30 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after performing a service.
- Add a text box for entering testimonials in all client surveys.
- Take 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 wouldn’t mind recording a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording the video, explain to viewers what you have done for the client and make sure to capture your client’s positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy 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 given you – never 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 already prepared something to save them time and invite them to edit what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link Back To Their Site
Offer to post a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive to get clients providing a testimonial. It also makes the implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.
Add A Testimonial Request 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 clients have had a chance to assess the effect of using your products. 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 product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you request testimonials from other members for your profile. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite simple and user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation receives a link to their profile. If you get a positive recommendation on LinkedIn, ask for permission to reprint it on your site (you can offer to add a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page On Your Site
Create a new section for testimonials and add a “read more testimonials …” link to your main testimonials page throughout your content sections.
Tip: You can measure how useful user 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 visitor behavior on your pages are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about a heatmap technology you can add to your site to observe visitor behaviour here:
Using WordPress Plugins
If your site or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to add, edit and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add a form to your pages where users can submit reviews and testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (make sure to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is send users to your “Testimonials” section.
Here are some testimonial plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WordPress 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 testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include images with testimonials, which is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a logo, etc.
The plugin also provides a “pro” version that has additional features and plugin support.
Go here to download and use this plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WordPress plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with videos or images 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.
The plugin provides a range of additional features via a premium version, including built-in functions for improved search engine results and developer support.
Go here to download the plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium WP plugin that offers a range of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for correct display on any device or browser.
- Options to display your testimonials in a widget or as sliders, slideshows, list layout, grid 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:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Summary …
User reviews and client testimonials 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 feedback, reviews, and testimonials from your clients, and start publishing these on your website.
Resources
The articles below are a great source of information about creating engaging testimonials and were 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
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