Build Your Reputation With User Testimonials And 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 new ways of generating new customers can be extremely hard. Just trying to remain 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 users may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

Ignoring what users may be saying online about your business could be a costly mistake!

You may also be doing your business a great disservice if you don’t spread the positive things your customers are saying about your services and products. Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are powerful when it comes to marketing your products and services online and should be an integral part of your content.

In this article, you will learn how to turn more visitors into prospects using sales boosting customer testimonials.

Testimonials And Customer Reviews

P.T. Barnum, legendary showman, is often quoted as having said 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 and effective way of promoting your business. Quoting testimonials directly from existing users is satisfied clients are far more persuasive for attracting new clients than anything you say about your own products or services.

There is a source of untapped opportunities for generating new business that most small businesses just aren’t utilizing, or utilizing correctly … reviews from your existing clients!

Testimonials and reviews are a terrific way to build credibility for your business.

Studies conducted by marketing companies all lead to the same inevitable conclusion: user reviews and testimonials decrease doubts potential customers may have about buying products or services that you are trying to sell, help with product selection and help increase sales.

Here are just some of the findings available to support this:

• According to research findings 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 reviews.”
• According to Reevoo.com, consumer reviews can result in an average 18% uplift in sales and 50 or more consumer reviews per product can mean 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 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).

(The figures above were sourced from eConsultancy.com)

Adding User Reviews And Testimonials – Online Reputation Management

Adding great reviews and testimonials to your website from very happy customers is essential for growing your business online.

Reviews and customer testimonials, however, can work both ways and affect your business both in a positive or negative way.

You see, people may not be saying bad things about your business, products or services directly to your face, but they could post disparaging remarks on Facebook, or a discussion thread or forum about an unpleasant encounter they’ve just had with you or your business and this could be costing you business.

This is where online reputation management becomes a vitally important aspect of your 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 harming your business without you even realizing it.

See this article to learn more about a WordPress plugin that can help to avoid the escalation of negative reviews about your products through effective user review management:

• Manage Your Online Reputation In WordPress With Power Online Reviews

Tips On Improving Your Conversions With Sales Boosting Client Testimonials

Testimonials, user reviews, and case studies are effective ways of helping you market and promote your products and services online and should be added to your content marketing. When you quote responses from users in your content, you:

• Show others exactly with similar problems and pains how your products and services can help them.
• Help potential customers 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 useful tips on how to create customer testimonials:

• Don’t over edit: Try to use the actual words used by your customers as much as you can. Leaving little grammatical errors and misspelled words in the content helps to keep it ‘real’.
• Use photos: Images of people’s faces draw attention to your content. Adding client photos next to their testimonials and reviews will help your visitors and potential prospects take notice of your content.
• Tell a story: Stories are far more powerful and captivating than just providing facts and statistics. The ability to present a customer’s horror story and how your solution saved the day will make a far more lasting impression on those reading your content than using generic statements about excellent customer support and giving “two thumbs up” product recommendations that everyone has heard a “million times” before.
• Keep it in context: It’s good to add customer testimonials to your site copy where it makes the most sense to place them, and where you believe these can most effectively help to sell your point. For example, think about the impact you will have on your visitor’s mind by adding a testimonial about what a “bargain” price your solution sells for before posting your product or 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 thrilled about your customer service when offering a risk-free guarantee or providing content that helps readers overcome their objections.
• Quantify your information: Which of the following statements do you think your prospects would find more powerful… “As a direct result of installing your XYZ software, we have seen a net profit growth of $76,892 during the last financial quarter,” or “XYZ solution 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 profits or reduce their costs 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 somewhat difficult when you are just starting out and have very few clients, try to avoid displaying the same testimonial throughout your site’s 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 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 can be 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 best audience demographic.
• Reprint content across different platforms. If you get a great comment on your Facebook page praising your commitment to customer satisfaction, send them a message asking for their permission to reprint the content on your blog.
• Don’t use fake client testimonials. Your potential customers need to believe that the testimonials you provide on your site are genuine. Don’t destroy your credibility with a ”made up” testimonial.

How To Get Client Testimonials

Just 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.

Follow these useful guidelines for requesting testimonials:

• Contact your customers after a specific period of time, e.g. 90 days with an email reminder for a testimonial if you have not obtained one after performing a service.
• Add a field for testimonials in your client surveys.
• Pull out your phone when you next visit 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. When recording the video, describe to viewers what you have done for the client and make sure to capture your client’s 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 shape these into a testimonial, then contact your 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 change what you have written however they see fit before replying with their approval.

Offer To Publish A Link Back To The Source Wherever You Publish Their Testimonial

Offer to post a link to their website 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 A Testimonial Request To Your Auto Responder/Newsletter Messages

If you have a list of subscribers, include a request for a testimonial in one of your autoresponder mailouts. Preferably, this should be timed to reach subscribers just after your customers have had a chance to use your products or 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 customers for honest feedback, a testimonial, or a review.

Use LinkedIn

The LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature helps you request testimonials for your profile. With LinkedIn, 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 site (and offer to publish a link back to their website in exchange).

Create A Customer Testimonials Section On Your Site

Create a new section for customer testimonials and place a “read more client testimonials …” link to your main testimonials section throughout your content sections.

Practical Tip: You can measure how effective user testimonials are by how long visitors remain on the section of your pages or posts where you have added the testimonial content. A great tool for understanding visitor behaviour on your pages are “heatmaps”.

We have written an article about a heatmap analytics software you can add to your site to monitor visitor behavior here:

• How To Track Visitor Behaviour On Your WordPress Site Using Heat Mapping Software – Heat Map Tracker Review

WordPress Plugins

If your site or blog is powered by WordPress, you can use a plugin to display testimonials. Some plugins also let you add forms to your pages where users can submit reviews and testimonials.

Once your plugin is installed and set up (with instructions for adding testimonials via the submission form – if available), all you have to do is refer users to your “Testimonials” section.

Check out the WordPress testimonial plugins below:

Easy Testimonials

Easy Testimonials is a free WP plugin that lets you add testimonials to the sidebar as a widget, or embed testimonials into a Page or Post using a shortcode. The Easy Testimonials plugin also lets you publish a list of all testimonials or output a random testimonial, and include an image with each testimonial, which you can use to add a photo of the testimonial author, a logo, etc.

The plugin also comes with a “pro” version with additional features and technical support.

Go here to download this plugin:

• Easy Testimonials

Testimonials Widget

Testimonials Widget is a free plugin that lets you add random or selected portfolios, reviews, quotes, or text with images or videos on your web site. You can insert testimonials content via a shortcode, theme functions, or widgets with category and tag selections and specify different display options such as random or specific ordering.

The Testimonials Widget plugin has plenty of additional features available via a premium version, including built-in options SEO functionality and technical support.

To download and use the 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 displaying correctly on any device or browser.
• Options to display your testimonials in a widget or as sliders, slideshows, grid layout, list layout, etc. via a shortcode
• Styling options (display image on top, bottom, or side of the testimonial, display testimonials in a speech bubble, customized font and background colors, font types and more.

Go here to learn more about using the plugin:

• Testimonials WordPress Plugin

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

• How To Add Testimonials In WordPress

In Conclusion …

Testimonials and customer reviews 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 or clients, and start publishing these on your web site.

Resources

For additional information about creating engaging clients 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 regular training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content for your site 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!

***

***