Satisfied customers are often more than happy to provide you with a positive review.
These testimonials and case studies are important for any business because they very efficiently exhibit exactly how your product or service has solved your customer’s problem.
But what makes a good testimonial?
Let’s start at the beginning.
Why Do Testimonials Work?
Testimonials shine a light on your customer’s experience, and that’s exactly what a prospect cares about when they’re considering buying from you.
Of course your copy is going to tell them that what you’ve got is what they need. But is it? How do they know what you’re selling or offering is legit?
Words from the mouths of existing customers, that’s how. It’s something we call social proof. Positive reviews show that real people have actually had a great experience with your product or service. This both handles objections and builds trust with your prospective customers.
92% of People Read Customer Testimonials Before Buying
Read that again.
Ninety-two per cent! And I bet you’re one of them (I am).
It’s hard to argue against the value of optimising your testimonial page when you put it like that, isn’t it?
Testimonials Increase Online Conversions
Essentially, when testimonials are used well on your website and in your marketing efforts, they should convince a prospect to buy from you.
An American study has revealed that pairing relevant testimonials with products and services makes it four times more likely for a prospective customer to hand over their hard-earned cash.
Testimonials Improve SEO Performance and Boost Website Traffic
The role of the search engine is to return the most relevant and useful information to the enquirer, including business suggestions.
Online testimonials and reviews can include ratings, and these help to improve SEO performance because they are marked with something called review schema.
Sounds techy, and it is. In simple terms, a bit of code added to each review makes them easy for search engines to find and display on your results page entry. Therefore, reviews and testimonials play a vital part in businesses popping up when a prospective customer goes searching….
So the more you have, the more traffic you’ll win.
What Should a Testimonial Cover?
Testimonials come in all shapes and sizes.
It’s always great to read about your product or service’s positive influences, but effective testimonials are more than just ‘I bought X and it did what it said it would’.
Testimonials that have the biggest impact:
- Describe the problem. What was the reason for the customer buying your product or service?
- Explain what changed. How did the purchase change the customer’s situation?
- Highlight the USP (unique selling point). What makes your company and what you’re selling better than others out there?
- Praise customer experience. What was so good about the customer’s buying journey?
The Key Elements of a Great Testimonial
An effective testimonial provides prospective customers with essential third-party validation.
Here are five key elements that can transform your testimonials:
1
Avoid Fluff
The best testimonials are to the point and focus on the product or service’s tangible impact. Buyers don’t have time to sit there extracting important points from a two-hundred-word review; shorter testimonials do the work for them by making the information easy to absorb.
2
Push on the Pain Points
The testimonials you gather can work well for you if they push on the pain points you know other prospective customers have. The buying process is logical and emotional, so testimonials targeting both areas of the brain work best to nudge the reader into taking action.
3
Make It Trustworthy
Making sure your testimonials can be linked back to someone real can greatly influence your potential customer’s decision to buy. Testimonials have been proven to play a big part in prospects’ buying habits, but they must be from a verifiable, credible source.
The best testimonials feature a headshot alongside the reviewer’s name, title and company.
4
Visuals Matter
It’s not just the content of your testimonial that matters. Design is crucial too.
Your testimonials should be a celebration of your brand. Create designs with stylised quotes, include customer images (and logos if the testimonial has come from a high-profile company) and parade them on your website for all to see.
Creating video testimonials is a great investment, too. It might be tricky logistically and take up a bit more of your time, but according to Forbes, 90% of customers say video helps them make buying decisions and 64% of buyers say that seeing a video makes them more likely to buy.
5
Keep It Fresh (And Coming)
Outdated reviews aren’t going to pack much punch – trust me, buyers are attentive, and they’re paying quiet attention to when your last review or testimonial was left. If it’s been a while, you need to get new reviews added. In the meantime, you can combat a stagnant testimonial stream by not including a date on them.
Not only will a regular flow of great testimonials influence your buyer, but it also benefits SEO with consistent new content and gives you plenty of content for your social streams.
Do I Really Need Testimonials?
Yes. Testimonials directly impact buying decisions.
Making sure you have a steady stream of testimonials that describe how you solved your customer’s problem can turn prospects into paying customers because they validate and celebrate your offering.
Need a hand working out how to ask for them? Book a call with me today and take the stress out of creating a customer page that works hard for you.
