How To Build Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews
Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain customers, only to get the exact same disappointing results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that finding effective ways of generating new business can be difficult. Just trying to survive in business takes up a lot of your time, money and energy, and sometimes this can feel like it’s just not worth the effort.
In today’s web-based economy, you just can’t ignore the significance of what potential customers are doing online, especially if they are talking about your business.
Ignoring what your customers may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!
By the same token, you could be doing your business a disservice if you are not promoting the positive things your clients say about your products and services. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are effective when it comes to helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be used throughout your content.
In this article, you will learn tips for turning more visitors into prospects with standout user testimonials.
Testimonials And Consumer Reviews
P.T. Barnum, legendary American businessman and showman, once said that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”
P.T. Barnum obviously understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-based content is a powerful way of getting your business promoted effectively. Quoting reviews and testimonials from satisfied clients is satisfied users are far more persuasive when it comes to attracting new clients than anything you have to say about your own products or services.
There is clearly a source of untapped opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses simply do not utilize, or utilize correctly … testimonials and reviews from previous clients!
Consumer reviews and customer testimonials are a powerful way to build credibility for your business.
Research conducted by many marketing research companies all point to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews decrease doubts potential customers may have about buying your products or services, help with product selection and increases conversions of visitors into sales.
Here are just some statistics that support this:
- According to a study by eVoc Insights, a company 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 consumer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, reviews can produce an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more reviews per product can result in a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- 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 UGC. (Bazaarvoice, Conversation Index, Q2 2011).
- Consumer 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 And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management
Adding testimonials and reviews to your website from very satisfied customers is essential for creating a solid online reputation.
User reviews and customer testimonials, however, can work both ways and affect your business both positively or negatively.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business directly to you, but they could be posting disparaging remarks on Facebook, or a discussion group or forum about a bad 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 important to your online 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 WordPress plugin that lets you legally and ethically manage your customer feedback:
Tips On How To Create Compelling User Testimonials
Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be used in your content marketing strategy. When you include your own client responses in your content, you:
- Show potential customers exactly with similar problems and pains how your products and services can help them.
- Help potential customers identify their objections and address these.
- Help prospects connect with their aspirations and motivations and facilitate moving them further along the sales process.
Below are some tips on creating testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: You should try using the actual words used by your customers as much as possible. Leave little grammatical or spelling errors in the content. This helps keep your testimonials ‘real’.
- 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 increase visitor engagement with your site’s content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are far more effective and memorable than simply providing facts and statistics. Being able to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a more lasting impression on those reading your content than presenting generalized statements about excellent service and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: It’s good to add 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. For example, 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 price information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before presenting the benefits of your products, or testimonials where customers are truly ecstatic about your customer service before offering guarantees or providing content designed to help readers overcome their objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful… “Since using your services, we have seen our revenue grow by $92,708 in the last financial quarter,” or “XYZ product helped us grow our business?” Whenever possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, like how much your solution helped to increase their sales 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 testimonial throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult if you are just starting out and don’t have many clients, try to avoid displaying the same testimonial throughout your website. 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 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 that appeal directly to your ideal customers.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your products or services, send them a message asking permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
- Only use real client testimonials. Your potential customers need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your integrity with ”made up” testimonials.
How To Get Client Testimonials
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 tips for soliciting testimonials from clients:
- Make it a part of your business processes to contact clients after 60 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after performing a service.
- Include a field for testimonials in client satisfaction surveys.
- Pull out your phone when you next meet with clients or hand over a finished project and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a very brief video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording your video, describe to viewers what you have done for your client and try to record your client’s positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. When 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 your client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have already prepared something to help them save time and invite them to change what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.
Offer To Post A Link Back To Their Site Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial
Offer to add 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 not fake and can be verified.
Include A Testimonial Request In Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages
If you have a list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in a regularly-spaced newsletter broadcast. 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 to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you solicit testimonials from other members for your account. With LinkedIn, the process for requesting and providing recommendations is 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 (tip: offer to add a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Customer Testimonials Section
Create a new section for testimonials and place a “more customer testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials section throughout your site.
Useful Tip: You can measure how useful client 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 observing visitor behavior on your pages.
We have written an article about adding heatmaps to your website to understand visitor behavior here:
WordPress Plugins
If your website or blog is built using WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to add forms to your pages inviting users to submit feedback and testimonials.
Once your plugin is installed and set up (remember to provide simple instructions for using the testimonials submission form – if available), you can then send customers to your “Testimonials” section.
Below are a few useful WordPress testimonial plugins you can check out:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is a free WordPress plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into your pages and posts using a shortcode. Easy Testimonials also lets you add a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include an image with each testimonial, which is great to add a photo of the testimonial author, their logo, etc.
The Easy Testimonials plugin also comes with a “pro” version with additional features and developer support.
Go here for more information about the plugin:
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with videos or images on your site. You can insert user testimonials using a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and have multiple display options such as random or specific ordering.
The Testimonials Widget plugin provides a range of additional features via a premium version, including built-in options for improved search engine results and plugin support.
To learn more about this plugin, visit this site:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This is a premium plugin that offers a range of great features right out of the box, including:
- Responsive design that resizes for displaying correctly 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 testimonials, display testimonial in a speech bubble, customize 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 …
Client testimonials and user reviews are great 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 your clients or customers, and publish positive content about your business on your web site.
Resources
The articles below are a great source of information about creating engaging customer 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
We also recommend subscribing to our Free Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
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