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? Most business owners don’t need to be told that generating new business can be very 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 digital, mobile and social-driven economy, ignoring what consumers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
Don’t ignore what users may be saying online about your business!
You may also be doing your business a great disservice if you are not promoting the positive things your clients are saying about your solutions, customer support, etc. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of marketing your products and services online and should be used in your content.
In this article, you will learn how to improve your sales with highly effective user testimonials.
Customer Reviews And Testimonials
P.T. Barnum, legendary American showman and successful promoter, 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 and effective way of promoting your business. Genuine testimonials from your satisfied customers are far more persuasive for attracting new clients than anything you can 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 … reviews and testimonials from their users!
Customer testimonials and customer reviews are a fantastic way to build credibility for your services and products.
Studies conducted by many marketing research firms all lead to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews eliminate doubts potential customers may have about particular products, help with product selection and increases sales.
Here are just some findings that support this:
- According to research by eVoc Insights, a company 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 user reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews are responsible for producing an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer 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).
- 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 website from very happy customers is important for growing your business online and creating a solid online reputation.
Testimonials and customer reviews, however, can work both ways and affect your business both negatively or positively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business directly to your face, but they could post negative comments on Facebook, or a discussion group or forum about an unpleasant encounter they’ve just had with you or 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 vitally important aspect of your online success.
Misconceptions about managing your reputation online, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need to worry about it) may be hurting your business without you even realizing this.
See this article to learn more about a tool for WordPress users that can help to avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your business through effective user review management:
How To Create Customer Testimonials – Useful Tips
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 marketing strategy. When you quote responses from clients in your content, you:
- Show potential customers exactly what pains and problems your products and services can help to solve for them and how easily this can be done.
- Help visitors identify and address their objections.
- Help prospects connect with their motivations and facilitate moving them closer to a buying decision.
Below are some practical tips on creating testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: You should try to use your customer’s actual words as much as possible. Leaving grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps preserve the authenticity of your testimonials.
- Use real photos: Images of people’s faces draw the most attention on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Tell a powerful story: Stories are so much more powerful and captivating than providing mere statistical facts. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a far more lasting impression on those reading your content than using generic statements about excellent support and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Use it in context: It’s good to add testimonials in your site copy 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 can create on your visitor’s mind if you were to display a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting your price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before presenting the benefits of your products, or testimonials where customers are genuinely thrilled about your support before offering guarantees or providing content designed to help your readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify the information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “Since using your XYZ software, we have grown our profits by an additional $21,102 in the last fiscal year,” or “XYZ product has helped us grow our business?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable results, 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 customer testimonial throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult when you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial throughout your website. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more client 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 an extremely powerful motivator and influencer. People want to see and buy from “better versions” of themselves, so make sure to include testimonials targeted to your best audience demographic.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If someone posts fantastic feedback on your Facebook wall praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, send them a message asking for their permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
- Only use real client testimonials. Prospective customers need to see that the testimonials displayed on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your credibility with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Testimonials From Clients
Just Ask
Getting a testimonial from a happy customer can be as simple as just asking for it.
Follow these useful guidelines for requesting testimonials:
- Contact your clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 90 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after performing a service.
- Include a field for testimonials in all client surveys.
- Take out your phone when you next meet with clients or hand over a finished job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they would be happy to record a brief video testimonial/feedback interview. During your video, explain to viewers what you have done for your client and capture your client’s positive reactions and feedback.
- Make it easy and write it 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 juiciest 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 done this to help them save time and invite them to modify what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link To Their Site Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial
Offer to post a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients providing you with a testimonial. It also makes the 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 regularly-spaced email message. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just 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 customers for honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature allows you to request testimonials from other members that become part of your account. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is user-friendly and the person providing 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 (tip: offer to add a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and place a “read more customer testimonials …” link pointing to this page throughout your site.
Useful Tip: You can measure how effective user testimonials are by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added your testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to measuring what visitors are doing on your pages.
We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your site to understand visitor behaviour here:
Useful 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 a form to your pages inviting users to submit feedback and testimonials.
Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), you can then refer users to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add customer testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into a Page or Post using a shortcode. The plugin also lets you add a list of all 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 business logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also comes with a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.
To download this plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free WP plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images on your pages and posts. You can insert testimonials content via a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and have multiple display options such as random or specific ordering.
The plugin makes plenty more features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and developer support.
Visit this site to download this plugin:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium plugin provides plenty of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes to display correctly on any device or browser.
- Display options for your testimonials in a widget or as slideshows, sliders, grid layout, list layout, etc. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customize font and background colours, font types and more.
Go here to download and use this plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
User reviews and testimonials are powerful sources of content that help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for feedback, reviews, and testimonials from existing customers or clients, and publish positive content about your business on your website.
Resources
The articles below provide useful information about creating engaging testimonials and were helpful in providing research and 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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