Building 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 disappointing results? As most business owners know, that finding effective ways to generate new customers can be confusing, time-consuming and really hard. Just trying to stay 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 digital, mobile and social media-driven economy, ignoring what users may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Ignoring what your customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
You could be doing your business a disservice if you don’t publish the positive things your customers are saying about your solutions, customer training, support, etc. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are persuasive when it comes to helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.
In this article, you’ll learn how to improve your sales conversions with effective client testimonials.
Client Reviews And Testimonials
Legendary American showman P.T. Barnum once said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-based content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Genuine testimonials from existing clients are far more persuasive for drawing new clients, customers or users than anything you say about your own products or services.
There is clearly an untapped source of business growth potential that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … testimonials and reviews from your clients!
Consumer reviews and customer testimonials are great for building credibility for your services and products.
Studies conducted by leading firms all point to the same conclusion: adding testimonials and customer reviews to your sales pages helps reduce doubts potential customers may have about purchasing products, helps users select products and increases sales.
Below are just some of the stats available to support this:
- According to research findings 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 user reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, reviews can result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more consumer 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 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).
(The figures above were sourced from eConsultancy.com)
Adding User Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management
You should be adding reviews and testimonials from really happy customers to your website.
Consumer reviews and testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both positively or negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to your face, but they could be posting disparaging remarks on Facebook or a forum about a bad experience they’ve just had with your services and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes important to your success.
Misconceptions about engaging in online reputation management practices, such as the process 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 this.
See this article to learn more about a simple WordPress plugin that allows you to legally and ethically manage your customer feedback:
How To Create Captivating Testimonials – Useful Tips
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective ways of helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be included as part of your content. When you quote your own user responses in your content, you:
- Show potential customers exactly with similar problems and pains what your products and services can do for them.
- Help site visitors identify their objections and address these.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate the sales process.
Here are some practical tips on how to create awesome customer testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: Try using the actual words used by your customers as much as possible. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps to keep it ‘real’.
- Use real photos: Marketing tests show that using images of people’s faces will draw the most attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help increase visitor engagement with your site’s content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are much more effective and memorable than simply providing facts and statistics. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a 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.
- Use it in context: It’s good to add customer testimonials to 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 can create on your visitor’s perception if you were to present a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting your product or service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before presenting the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are genuinely thrilled about your customer service when offering a risk-free guarantee or addressing objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would consider to be more powerful: “Since using your services, we were able to increase our sales by an additional $50,206 in the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution definitely helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable results, like how much your solution helped to increase their market share 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.
- Vary the client testimonials on your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial everywhere on your site’s pages. Depending on the type of business you run, you could try to obtain more 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 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 can relate to 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 targeted to your ideal customers.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your solution, send them a message asking permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
- Never use fake client testimonials. Most people can see through sites that employ copywriters to create their content. Outsourcing content is fine, but your prospects need to see that the testimonials displayed on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your credibility with a false testimonial.
How To Get Testimonials From Clients
Just Ask
When you complete performing a service, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.
Here are some useful tips for soliciting testimonials:
- Make a point of contacting customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 14 days with an email request for a testimonial if you have not obtained one after completing a service.
- Include a field for testimonials in client surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you meet with clients or hand over a completed job and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a short video testimonial/feedback interview. During your video, describe to viewers what you have done for the client and capture your client’s positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy for them. If 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 best sections (only use what they have given you – 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 modify what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link To Their Site
Offer to post a link to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive to get clients to provide a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.
Add Testimonial Requests To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include a request for a testimonial in a scheduled newsletter broadcast. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to use your product, service or solution. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking subscribers for feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you request testimonials that become part of your account. 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 recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your website (and offer to publish a link back to their website or profile in exchange).
Create A Client Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials section whenever you have displayed new testimonials on your content sections.
Useful Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of your user testimonials 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 behavior on your pages are “heatmaps”.
We have written an article about a heatmap analytics software you can add to your site to measure visitor behaviour here:
Useful WordPress Plugins
If your website or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add forms to your pages where users can submit reviews and testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), you then refer clients to your “Testimonials” section.
Below are some testimonial plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WordPress plugin that lets you add customer testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into your pages and posts 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 is great to add a photo of the testimonial author, a business logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also can be upgraded to a “pro” version that offers additional features and developer support.
Go here to download the plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with images or videos on your website. You can insert testimonials using 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 offers extra features via a premium version, including built-in functions for improved search engine results and plugin support.
To learn more about using the plugin, go here:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium WP 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 your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, grid layout, list layout, etc. using a shortcode
- Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.
To download 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 can 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 start publishing these on your site.
Resources
For additional sources of information and resources about creating effective 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
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 you 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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