Building Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews
Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract customers, only to get the exact same results? As most small business owners know, that generating new business can be extremely hard and frustrating. Just trying to keep your business afloat takes up a lot of time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s online economy, you simply can’t afford to ignore the effect of what potential customers are doing online, especially if they are talking about your business.
Don’t ignore what customers may be saying online about your business!
You could be doing your business a great disservice if you don’t publish the positive things your customers are saying about your services or products. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are persuasive ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content.
In this article, you will learn tips for converting more visitors into qualified prospects with knockout customer testimonials.
Client Reviews And Testimonials
P.T. Barnum, legendary American showman and businessman, is often quoted as having stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-driven content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Testimonials and reviews from your satisfied customers are far more persuasive for drawing new clients, customers or users than anything you have to say about your own products or services.
There is clearly a source of untapped business growth potential that most businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … customer reviews and testimonials!
User reviews and customer testimonials are a great way to build credibility for your services and products.
Research conducted by many marketing companies all seem to point to the same conclusion: user reviews and testimonials reduce doubts potential customers may have about purchasing specific products or services, help users select products and help increase conversions of visitors into sales.
Here are just some of the stats 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 web site if it has ratings and consumer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, reviews are responsible for producing an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more user reviews per product can translate into a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- 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 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).
(Source: eConsultancy.com)
Adding User Reviews – Online Reputation Management
Adding great reviews to your site from existing clients is important for growing your business and creating a solid online reputation.
Reviews and testimonials, however, can work both ways and affect your business both negative and positive ways.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to your face, but they could have posted negative comments on Facebook, or a forum or discussion group about an unpleasant experience they’ve just had using your products and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes an important aspect of your online business success.
Misconceptions about online reputation management, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you just don’t need it) may be seriously hurting your business without you even realizing it.
See this article to learn more about a simple yet effective tool for WordPress users that can help to avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your business, products or services through effective user review management:
Creating Customer Testimonials – Useful Tips
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you market your products and services online and should be used in your content marketing. When you quote responses from clients in your content, you:
- Show others exactly what problems and pains your products and services can solve for them and how easily this can be done.
- Help prospects identify and address their objections.
- Help potential customers connect with their motivations and aspirations and facilitate moving them closer to a buying decision.
Below are some tips on how to create compelling testimonials:
- Don’t over edit: Try to use your customer’s actual words as much as you can. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps to keep it ‘real’.
- Use photos: Marketing studies show that using images of people’s faces draws the most attention of visitors browsing a web page. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are so much more effective and captivating than just providing statistical facts. 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 using generic statements about excellent service and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: Add testimonials to your web content where it best makes sense to place them, and where they can most effectively help you sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s perception by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting your pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before presenting the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are genuinely thrilled about your customer service before offering a money-back guarantee or addressing objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would consider to be more powerful… “As a direct result of using XYZ solution, we have seen an additional profit increase of $99,663 during the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution definitely helped us grow our business?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable data, like how much your solution helped to increase their sales or reduce their costs by in specific percentages or amounts, how many hours you have helped them save, how many new leads or new clients they were able to generate in a recent financial period, 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 when you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid displaying the same testimonial everywhere on your website. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more user 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 decide 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 target audience is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects aspire to become is a 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 across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook wall praising your customer service, contact them privately asking for their permission to reprint the comment or post on your blog.
- Only use genuine client testimonials. Your potential customers need to see that the testimonials published on your site are real. Don’t compromise your integrity with false testimonials.
How To Get Customer Testimonials
Always Ask For Testimonials
Getting a testimonial from a happy client can be as simple as just asking for it.
Here are some useful tips for soliciting testimonials from clients:
- Make a point of contacting clients after a specific period of time, e.g. 30 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one after performing a service.
- Include a field for testimonials in your client satisfaction surveys.
- Pull 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 would be happy to record a quick video testimonial/feedback interview. During the video, explain to viewers what you have done for the client and record their positive reactions and responses.
- 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 written – 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 invite them to modify what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Publish A Link To Their Site
Offer to add a link to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive for clients to provide you with a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real and can be verified.
Include Testimonial Requests In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a subscriber list, include a request for a testimonial in one of your newsletter broadcasts. This should be timed to reach subscribers just after your clients have had a chance to assess the results 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 that become part of your profile. With LinkedIn, 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 for permission to reprint it on your website (and offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Page
Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “more client testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials section wherever you add single 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. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to monitoring visitor behavior on your site.
We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your site to measure visitor behavior here:
Testimonial Plugins
If your website or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add a form to your pages inviting users to submit reviews and testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the 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 plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed them into your pages and posts using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you add a list of all your testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include an image with each testimonial, which is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, a logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also provides users with a “pro” version with additional features and plugin support.
Go here to learn more about using the plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images on your website. You can insert testimonials content using a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.
The plugin has loads of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in functions SEO functionality and developer support.
For more information about using this plugin, go here:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium plugin that offers many great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for displaying correctly on any device or browser.
- Display options for your testimonials in a widget or as sliders, slideshows, grid layout, list layout, etc. via a shortcode
- Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.
Go here to download this plugin:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
Customer reviews and client 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 testimonials, reviews, and feedback from existing clients, and publish positive content about your business on your web site.
Resources
For additional information about creating engaging testimonials see 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 actionable information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality 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 completely FREE!
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