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 customers, only to get the exact same results? As most small business owners know, that trying to generate new customers can be extremely hard. Just trying to stay in business requires a lot of your 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 your clients 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!

By the same token, you may also be doing your business a disservice if you don’t promote the positive things your clients say about your products, solutions, user support, training, etc. User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful ways of marketing your products and services online and should be added throughout your content.

In this article, you’ll learn how to improve your sales using compelling client testimonials.

Testimonials And User Reviews

Legendary showman Phineas Taylor (Aka “P.T.”) Barnum once stated that “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.”

P.T. Barnum understood the power of “social proof”. Social proof-driven content is a powerful and effective way of promoting your business. Reviews quoted directly from satisfied clients are far more persuasive for drawing new customers, clients or users than anything you can say about your own products or services.

There is an untapped source of business growth potential that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … client testimonials and reviews!

User reviews and testimonials are fantastic for building credibility for your products and services.

Studies conducted by many leading research companies all lead to the same conclusion: adding customer reviews and testimonials to your sales information eliminates doubts potential customers may have about purchasing products or services that you are trying to sell, helps users select products and increases conversions of visitors into sales.

Here are just some of the statistics available to 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 web site if it has ratings and user 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.
• Web 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 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 Client Reviews – Online Reputation Management

You should be adding positive reviews from really happy customers to your website.

Reviews and testimonials, however, are like double-edged swords; they can impact your business both negative and positive ways.

You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to you, but they could have posted updates on a discussion thread about a bad 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 engaging in online reputation management practices, such as being too complicated or too time-consuming (or the belief that you really don’t need to worry about it) could be harming your business without you even realizing it.

See this article to learn more about a simple tool for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage user reviews:

• Learn How To Manage Negative Customer Feedback In WordPress With Power Online Reviews Plugin

Creating Testimonials – Useful Tips

Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective when it comes to helping you promote and 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 potential customers exactly what pains and problems 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 aspirations and motivations and this facilitates the sales process.

Below are some useful tips on creating user testimonials:

• Avoid over-editing: Try to use your customer’s actual words 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 attention to your content. Adding photos of your clients next to their testimonials and reviews can help increase visitor engagement with your site’s content.
• Tell a powerful story: Stories are so much more effective and memorable than providing mere facts and statistics. 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 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: Add customer testimonials in your site copy 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 mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting your service pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped clients solve before presenting the benefits of your services, or testimonials where clients are genuinely ecstatic about your support when offering guarantees or addressing objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements is more powerful: “XYZ solution was directly responsible for growing our sales by $12,734 during the last financial quarter,” or “XYZ software definitely helped us grow our business?” 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 in a recent business quarter, 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 if you are just starting out and have very few clients, try to avoid using the same testimonial repeatedly throughout your web pages. Depending on the type of business you run, you could try to obtain more client testimonials by offering limited review copies of your product, or a special discount for existing clients in exchange for an honest review and permission to publish it if you choose 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 best customer is, providing testimonials from people who your prospects can relate to can be a really 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 content across different platforms. If you get great feedback on your Facebook page praising your products or services, ask them permission to reprint the comment or post on your site.
• Don’t use fake testimonials. Your prospects need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t compromise your integrity with a ”made up” testimonial.

How To Get Customer Testimonials

Just Ask

Getting a testimonial from a happy customer can be as simple as just asking for it.

Follow these tips for requesting testimonials from your clients:

• Contact your clients after 60 days with an email request for a testimonial if you did not obtain one immediately after completing your service.
• Include a text box for entering testimonials in client surveys.
• Take out your phone when you next meet with a client or hand over a finished job and if they are delighted with your services, ask them if they wouldn’t mind recording a short video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording the video, explain to your viewers what you have done for your client and capture their positive reactions and responses.
• Make it easy for them. When 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 already prepared something to help them save time and invite them to modify what you have written however they like before replying with their approval.

Offer To Post A Link To The Source

Offer to post 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 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 list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in a periodic auto responder broadcast. This should be done as soon as your customers have had a chance to assess the effect of using your services. Use words like “I need your help” in the subject of your message and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking subscribers for feedback, a testimonial, or a review.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature lets you obtain 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 add a link back to their website in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Section

Create a “Testimonials” page and add a “read more customer testimonials …” link pointing to your main testimonials page throughout your site.

Tip: You can measure the effectiveness of 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 what visitors are doing on your site are “heatmaps”.

We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your website to track visitor behaviour here:

• Predicting Visitor Behaviour On Your WordPress Site Using HeatMap Software – Heat Map Tracker Review

Using Testimonial Plugins For WordPress

If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to add and display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add forms to your pages inviting users to submit testimonials.

Once your plugin is installed and set up (make sure to provide simple instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is refer customers to your “Testimonials” page.

Below are some great plugins you can check out:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free plugin that lets you add customer testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into your pages and posts using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin 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 business logo, etc.

Easy Testimonials also can be upgraded to a “pro” version that offers additional features and plugin support.

For more information about using this plugin, go here:

• Easy Testimonials – WordPress Plugin

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you randomly slide or list selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with images or videos on your posts and pages. You can insert customer 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 plugin makes plenty of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in functions SEO functionality and plugin support.

To download this plugin, go here:

• Testimonials Widget

Testimonials WordPress Plugin

This premium plugin provides plenty of 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 slideshows, sliders, list layout, grid 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 and use the plugin, go here:

• Testimonials Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Summary …

Customer reviews and testimonials are great sources of content that help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for testimonials, reviews, and feedback from existing customers, and publish positive content about your business on your web site.

Additional Info

For additional information on creating engaging testimonials refer to 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 a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality 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 completely FREE!

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