Building Your Reputation With Testimonials And User Reviews
Are you stuck in a cycle of doing what you’ve always done to attract and retain new customers, and getting the exact same results? Most business owners don’t need to be told that finding effective ways to generate new customers can be hard. Just trying to keep your business afloat 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 digital, mobile and social-driven economy, it’s a mistake to ignore the impact of online consumer behavior, especially if they are posting negative comments about your business.
Don’t ignore what your clients may be saying online about your business!
You are also doing your business a great disservice if you are not boosting the positive things your customers say about your services or products. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful ways of helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be included as part of your content.
In this article, we’ll show you how to achieve better results online using profit-boosting client testimonials.
Testimonials And User Reviews
Phineas Taylor P.T. Barnum, legendary American showman and businessman, is often quoted as having said 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. Quoting testimonials directly from satisfied users is satisfied customers are far more persuasive when it comes to attracting new customers than anything you say about your own products or services.
There is clearly a source of untapped business growth potential that most businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … consumer reviews!
Reviews and customer testimonials are a fantastic way to build credibility for your products or services.
Research conducted by many leading marketing firms all seem to lead to the same conclusion: testimonials and user reviews reduce doubts potential customers may have about your product, help with product selection and increases sales.
Below are just some of the stats available to support this:
- According to a study 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 customer reviews.”
- According to Reevoo.com, customer reviews result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more user reviews per product can translate into a 4.6% increase in conversion rates.
- Website 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).
- 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 Testimonials And Reviews – Managing Online Reputation
You should be adding great reviews and testimonials from clients who have experienced positive results with your business to your site.
Customer testimonials and customer reviews, however, can work both ways and impact your business both positive and negative ways.
You see, people may not be saying bad things about your services directly to your face, but they could post damaging words on Facebook, or a discussion thread or forum about a bad encounter they’ve just had with one of your sales or customer support representatives and this could be costing you business.
This is where online reputation management becomes important to your online business 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 it) may be causing damage to your business without you even realizing it.
See this article to learn more about a simple plugin for WordPress users that allows you to legally and ethically manage customer feedback:
Tips On How To Create Standout Customer Testimonials
User reviews, testimonials, and case studies are powerful when it comes to helping you promote and market your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content. When you include your own customer responses in your content, you:
- Show prospects exactly what problems and pains your products and services can solve for them and how easily this can be done.
- Help prospects identify their objections and address these.
- Help prospects connect with their aspirations and motivations and facilitate moving them closer to a decision to purchase.
Here are some useful tips on how to create testimonials:
- Avoid over-editing: You should try to use the actual words used by your customers as much as possible. Leaving grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps keep your testimonials sounding authentic.
- Use photos of real people: Marketing studies show that using images of people’s faces draws the attention of visitors on a web page. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews can help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your site’s content.
- Use the power of storytelling: Stories are far more effective and memorable than simply providing facts and statistics. 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” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
- Keep it in context: It’s good to add testimonials in your web content 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 will have on your visitor’s mind if you were to display a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution can be purchased for before posting your product pricing information, or testimonials about problems you’ve helped your clients solve before presenting the benefits of your services, or testimonials where customers are genuinely thrilled about your customer service before offering a risk-free guarantee or addressing objections.
- Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think is more powerful: “XYZ solution was directly responsible for helping us grow our sales by $66,274 in the previous financial quarter,” or “XYZ product has helped us grow our sales?” Whenever possible, ask clients to specify quantifiable results when submitting testimonials, like how much your solution helped to increase their market share 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 quarter, 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 repeatedly throughout your site: Although this can be a little difficult when you are just starting out or 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 customer 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 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 aspire to become 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 targeted to your best audience demographic.
- Reprint testimonials across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, ask them permission to reprint the content on your blog.
- Don’t use fake testimonials. Prospective clients need to believe that the testimonials displayed on your site are real. Don’t destroy your reputation with false testimonials.
How To Get Client Testimonials
Ask For Testimonials
When you complete a service for someone, or a customer says they are really happy with your product or service, ask them for a testimonial.
Follow these useful guidelines for soliciting testimonials from your clients:
- Make a point of contacting customers after 30 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you have not obtained one immediately after completing your service.
- Add a text box for testimonials in client surveys.
- Take out your phone next time you visit a client or hand over a completed project and if they are delighted with the results, ask them if they would be happy to record a very short video testimonial/feedback interview. If they agree, while recording the video, describe to your viewers what you have done for the client and capture your client’s positive reactions and responses.
- Make it easy and write the testimonial for them. Whenever a client sends you a positive email thanking you for a great job 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 the client and ask them for permission to publish it. Explain that you have already prepared something to help them save 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 Publish A Link Back To The Source Wherever You Quote Their Testimonial
Offer to publish a link to their site in exchange for their testimonial. This is a great incentive to get clients providing you with a testimonial. It also makes an implicit statement to visitors that your testimonials are real 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 scheduled auto responder broadcast. This should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to experience your products. Use words like “I need a quick favor” in the subject of your message and make the point of your email or message specifically about asking subscribers to provide honest feedback, a testimonial, or a product review.
Use LinkedIn
The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature lets you solicit testimonials for your account. The process for requesting and providing recommendations is quite user-friendly and the person who provides the recommendation gets a link to their profile. If you get a recommendation on LinkedIn, ask their permission to reprint it on your website (you can offer to add a link back to their website in exchange).
Create A Testimonials Section
Create a new section on your website for customer testimonials and add a “read more client testimonials …” link to your main testimonials page wherever you plan to display single testimonials on your site.
Useful Tip: You can measure how useful testimonials are by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. ”Heatmapping” technology is a great way to understanding visitor behavior on your site.
We have written an article about adding heatmap analytics to your website to track visitor behaviour here:
Testimonial Plugins For WordPress
If you use WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also allow you to 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 using the testimonials submission form – if available), you can then send customers to your “Testimonials” page.
Check out the testimonial plugins below:
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonials is an easy-to-use free plugin that lets you add client testimonials to your sidebar as a widget, or embed them into posts and pages 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 is great to add a photo of the testimonial author, their business logo, etc.
Easy Testimonials also provides users with a “pro” version that offers additional features and technical support.
To download this plugin, visit this site:
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 web site. You can insert 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 plugin comes with a range of additional features via a premium version, including built-in options for improved search engine results and plugin support.
To download and use this plugin, go here:
Testimonials WordPress Plugin
This premium plugin provides 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. 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.
To download and use this plugin, visit this site:
To learn how to add testimonials in WordPress, see the tutorial below:
In Conclusion …
Client testimonials and customer reviews are powerful sources of content that can help your business add credibility, build authority, improve online reputation, and grow your sales funnel. Always ask for testimonials, reviews, and feedback from existing clients or customers, and publish positive content about your business on your web site.
Additional Info
The articles below are a great source of information about creating engaging 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 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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