Customer testimonials can be an effective way to build trust and increase conversions. They provide honest, credible opinions that help buyers feel part of a community.
An effective testimonial must reflect real experience, outlining how the product/service solved a real issue for its target audience.
1. They add credibility to your brand
Customer testimonials can help your brand build credibility and build its image, helping potential customers relate to your product and understand what benefits you offer them. Testimonials also have the power to influence a buyer’s decision-making process and can improve search engine optimization on websites; whether that means using reviews on websites or quotes in marketing materials – customer testimonials are an effective way to build trust and drive sales!
A compelling testimonial should be succinct and to-the-point, to allow readers to quickly scan it and grasp its core themes. Testimonials should also amplify a key feature of your product or service that makes it stand out and resonate with target audiences – for instance, project management tools could feature testimonials that highlight how they help teams stay organized and on task.
When collecting testimonials, aim to include as many different kinds of clients as possible in your selection. This will ensure a wide range of testimonials are represented so your target market can find one which corresponds with their professional roles. It will also strengthen credibility if the name and title of clients appear within them.
Additionally, when creating testimonials you should employ multiple media formats. While written testimonials may work fine, videos are even better as they will engage and interact with your target audience more easily while being more authentic and trustworthy than written ones.
As soon as a customer leaves satisfied, ask them to record a video testimonial. These videos can then be uploaded onto your website, social media pages and printed marketing materials; giving your company an authentic voice across all channels and platforms.
2. They are easy to read
Customer testimonials can be an extremely effective marketing tool, serving as social proof to build trust among potential customers and encourage action from them. Customer reviews can also serve as evidence that other people have successfully used your products, making an appealing argument to take action themselves and see the successes other have found using your product(s). They can be written or video testimonials used across social media or websites to showcase the effectiveness of your product(s).
To make sure that your customer testimonials are credible, it is vital to select an array of happy clients and customers who represent all buyer personas in your target audience. In particular, choosing customers that have experienced unique issues with your product will demonstrate its ability to provide creative solutions.
As readers typically don’t read every page when browsing online, your testimonial needs to be brief and succinct so they don’t become overwhelmed with too much text on a single page. Instead, they scan for keywords or key points that resonate with them such as how your product solved a particular problem or challenge for them. The best testimonials feature details that resonate with readers while amplifying your main value proposition.
Case studies provide another effective format for customer testimonials, providing an in-depth review of how your product or service solved an issue for a particular client. Case studies can be particularly powerful because they allow you to tell an engaging story that resonates with prospects while creating an air of authenticity. An outstanding example is this customer case study by Content Allies which will show prospects how the solution may fit their situation and why it could work for them.
Add photos or logos with testimonials to add additional credibility, showing that those giving testimonials are real clients and not trying to promote themselves through them. Tools like Trustmary can make this easy by collecting user reviews in text or video form for display on websites.
3. They are informative
An effective testimonial can be an informative and persuasive way of showing off what your business can accomplish. By using testimonials to demonstrate how your solution has resolved problems for customers, testimonials can increase sales and marketing materials’ effectiveness while simultaneously increasing client’s business values and your own.
Make the most out of your testimonials by including them as part of a customer success story on your website. This allows your clients to share their individual experience working with you and show how your product or service has had an effectful outcome – an essential element in building trust between client and provider. Testimonials that include photos can also be advantageous as people tend to pay closer attention when viewing images than words alone.
Orbit Media utilized customer testimonials to demonstrate how its solutions impacted businesses, using a range of industry testimonials as evidence that their platform worked effectively across industries – something which helped establish credibility and bring in new potential clients.
Writing testimonials should be kept short and to the point. Prospective customers won’t read long, lengthy testimonials; therefore, your testimonial should focus on providing proof that your product or service solved a key problem for the customer and also offer quantifiable results.
Testimonials should also be written in an engaging, conversational tone in order to make them more inviting and easily identifiable by target audiences. Avoid formal and professional language in favor of more everyday words that resonate with them.
Outside of testimonials being included on your website, testimonials should also be featured on landing pages and in other marketing collateral. Using stylish review widgets allows you to showcase multiple testimonials without overwhelming the design of your page. When prospects see that other people have had great experiences working with your company, they will become motivated to do business with you as well – creating FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), which can increase conversions.
4. They are honest
Customer testimonials can be immensely powerful; they’re like stamp of approval from someone independent who has experienced positive results from using your products and services. Testimonials play an integral part of marketing strategies, as they can shift perceptions of your brand to make it more trustworthy for newcomers.
Customer testimonials provide honest forms of social proof to build trust among potential customers and disprove any objections that a business might encounter – this form of social proof has even been found to increase conversion rates by up to 34%, according to TrustRadius research.
Video testimonials benefit greatly from having a face attached, making the testimonial more relatable and engaging for viewers, as people tend to trust individual voices over those from corporations. As such, using co-founders, CEOs or business owners as trusted sources is one way to effectively do this.
Be sure to include images with text versions for similar reasons, and to increase engagement by increasing visuals. Furthermore, adding quotes from customers is another powerful technique as they make reading the statement easy and convey its sentiment more effectively than words alone can do. Finally, it would be wise to collect testimonials from multiple buyers as this will show a range of buyer personas.
Testimonials can be leveraged across your digital marketing channels, from your website and emails to customer spotlights and customer success metrics. To make sure they get noticed by audiences, testimonials should be placed prominently so they will be noticed – for instance a top spot on the homepage or dedicated testimonials page would do. Incorporating various types of testimonials such as customer spotlights, quotes with photos or metrics for success metrics are helpful too – don’t forget a call-to-action after each testimonial too – encouraging audiences to move further along their journey with you brand!