Build Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews

Are you stuck doing what you’ve always done to attract new customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that generating new customers can be hard. Just trying to survive in business 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 web-based economy, it’s a mistake to ignore the impact of online consumer behavior, especially if they are talking about your business.

Don’t ignore what consumers may be saying online about your business!

By the same token, you are also doing your business a disservice if you are not spreading the positive things your clients are saying about your products or services. Testimonials, user reviews, 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.

In this article, you will learn ways to achieve better results online with standout user testimonials.

Testimonials And User Reviews

The great American showman Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum is often quoted as having stated 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. Reviews from existing clients are far more persuasive when it comes to drawing new clients than anything you can say about your own products or services.

There is an untapped source of opportunities for generating new business that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … reviews and testimonials from your users!

Customer testimonials and reviews are great for building credibility for your services and products.

Studies conducted by many leading research companies all point to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews help reduce doubts potential customers may have about purchasing products or services, help users select products and increases sales.

Below are just some statistics that support this:

• According to a study 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 customer reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, user reviews produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more customer reviews per product can mean 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 Testimonials And Reviews – Online Reputation Management

You should be adding reviews from delighted customers to your site.

Customer testimonials and user reviews, however, can work both ways and impact your business both negatively or positively.

You see, people may not be saying bad things about your products directly to your face, but they could be posting negative comments on a discussion thread about an unpleasant experience they’ve just had with your services 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 important to your online 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 WordPress plugin that can help to avoid the escalation of problem reviews about your services through effective user review management:

• Manage Negative User Reviews Easily With Power Online Reviews

Tips On Improving Your Sales With Engaging User Testimonials

Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you market your products and services online and should be used in your content marketing strategy. When you include responses from customers in your content, you:

• Show prospects exactly what pains and problems your products and services can solve for them and how easily this can be done.
• Help site visitors identify their objections and address these.
• Help potential customers connect with their aspirations and motivations and this facilitates moving them closer to a buying decision.

Below are some practical tips on improving your sales conversions with compelling testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: You should try using the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leaving grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps preserve your testimonials’ authenticity.
• Use photos: Research shows that using images of people’s faces draws the most attention of visitors on 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 content.
• Use the power of storytelling: Stories are far more powerful and memorable than just providing statistical facts. Being able 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 how “excellent” your support was and giving “two thumbs up” service recommendations that all of us have 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 they can most effectively help to 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 product pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before talking about the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are truly ecstatic about your customer service when offering a risk-free guarantee or addressing objections.
• Quantify the information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “Since using your XYZ services, we have seen an additional revenue increase of $93,356 during the previous fiscal year,” or “XYZ solution helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, publish testimonials containing quantifiable data, 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 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 client testimonial repeatedly throughout your site: Although this can be somewhat difficult when you are just starting out or don’t have many clients, it’s best to avoid using the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your site’s pages. Depending on your business, you could try to obtain more client 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 best 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 is 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 across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your products or services, contact them privately asking for their permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
• Never use fake testimonials. Most people can tell if you are employing copy writers to produce your content. Outsourcing content is fine, but prospective clients need to see that the testimonials provided on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your credibility or reputation with a ”made up” testimonial.

How To Get Testimonials

Just Ask

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

Here are some useful guidelines for requesting testimonials:

• Contact customers 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.
• Include a text box for entering testimonials in your client surveys.
• Pull out your phone when you next meet with clients or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a very brief video testimonial/feedback interview. During the video, describe to viewers what you have done for the client and try to record the client’s positive reactions and responses.
• Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. If a client sends 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 written – never 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 save them 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 publish a link back to their website in exchange for their testimonial. This is often enough of an incentive to get clients to provide you with a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are not fake and can be verified.

Include A Testimonial Request In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages

If you have a subscriber list, include a request for a testimonial in a scheduled email broadcast. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your clients have had a chance to assess the results of using your services. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in your email subject and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking users for honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review of your services.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is a great way to solicit testimonials for your account. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite simple and user-friendly and the person providing the recommendation receives 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 or profile in exchange).

Create A Client Testimonials Page

Create a new section for client testimonials and add a “read more client testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials page wherever you plan to display single testimonials on your site.

Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of your 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 measuring visitor behavior on your pages are “heatmaps”.

We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your sites to measure visitor behavior here:

• How To Spy On Your WordPress Site Visitors With Analytics Software – HeatMap Tracker Review

Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If you use 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 testimonials.

Once your testimonial plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), all you have to do is refer clients to your “Testimonials” page.

Here are some great WordPress 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 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 images with testimonials, which is great for adding a photo of the testimonial author, their logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also provides users with a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.

For more information about using this plugin, go here:

• Easy Testimonials

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, quotes, reviews, or text with images or videos on your WordPress site. You can insert testimonials 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 comes with extra features via a premium version, including built-in functions for improved search engine results and plugin support.

Visit this site to download and use this plugin:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium plugin provides many 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. by adding a shortcode
• Styling options (display image at the top, bottom, or side of testimonials, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customized font and background colours, font types and more.

To download this plugin, visit this site:

• Testimonials WordPress Plugin

To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Summary …

Client testimonials and user 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 feedback, reviews, and testimonials from your customers, and start publishing these on your web site.

Resources

The articles below provide useful information about creating effective users testimonials and were also 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

We also recommend subscribing to our Free Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content for 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 100% FREE!

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