25 Mar
Customer testimonials are an essential part of every website. Believe it or not, your clients will always search for “reviews“. However, if your website does not have this section or page, it will go to a third-party resource. What better way to showcase your product or service than to have a dedicated space for real-life customer response. Let’s dig deeper on why every company should feature their customer testimonials.
What’s the Importance of a Customer Testimonials Section?
Great customer testimonials add a flavor of authenticity to your website. Let’s be honest that all humans are doubtful by nature. Having a dedicated section or page will help your business look more valuable and believable for potential customers. Furthermore, reading relatable content from a customer review will most likely trigger a purchase. Also, a customer testimonial section will breathe life into your website and boost engagements.
Customer Testimonials and Marketing
Every marketer knows that trust is important in building loyal customers. And customer testimonials are one of the most effective trust signals you can use for your website. Yes, “seeing is believing.” In fact, according to Vendasta, 92% of consumers read online testimonials and reviews before a purchase. Furthermore, 72% say that positive feedback increases their trust in a brand.
Here are more benefits from customer testimonials:
- Leads to higher conversion rates.
- Drives in traffic by increasing SEO.
- Generates 2X product suggestions.
15 Customer Testimonials Ideas for Your Website
Video
In this generation, video is one of the most powerful marketing tools. Usually, the best length for a video is around 2 to 3 minutes. We have to consider the customer’s retention rate.
Why this works:
- According to Clicktale, 52% of the world’s marketing professionals believe video results in the best ROI performance.
- It will relay a brand story that will motivate viewers.
- Videos are easily shared across social media. Which will result in higher engagement of your content and a wider set of audience.
- It’s a good medium that stimulates visual and auditory senses. This means the business information that is strategically mentioned will be retained by the consumers.
Example: Hootsuite + British Museum
Benefits to the brand:
- Showcases Hootsuite’s capability of increasing social media engagement up to 126%.
- Reflects how the platform helps The British Museum listen to customer feedback in real-time.
- Provides updates and information to boost the guest experience, all through social media.
Example: Penji + FactSumo
Benefits to the brand:
- The on-demand graphic design service allows FactSumo to focus on its content.
- It reflects how Penji helped translate “simplicity and clarity”, FactSumo’s branding goal, through design.
- It highlights Penji’s ability to fully lead a business’ graphic design assets.
Quote
A quote testimonial displays positivity about your company from a highly satisfied customer. The statement should be accompanied by an image, name, and job title of the customer.
Why this works:
- It is more effective than traditional advertising, as most consumers will trust a real-life person’s opinion than an actor.
- A quote makes the statement more relatable to the target market.
- By doing this, it will lead to strong business credibility with potential leads.
Example: Zendesk + SquareSpace
Benefits to the brand:
- Showcases how Zendesk’s service helps their customers online.
Example: Dribbble + Creatives/Designers
Benefits to the brand:
- Highlights how the platform helps freelance artists to connect with a wide range of customers.
- It also reflects how both users, the designer, and the consumer, benefit from Dribbble.
- This helps solidify the platform’s credibility and trustworthiness to help new consumers or designers erase their doubt.
Podcast/Audio Testimonials
Similar to a video testimonial, a podcast or snippet audio will motivate and influence your audience. Furthermore, creating audio is a cost-effective way to create content.
Why this works:
- Audio can be easily shared on various social platforms.
- Easily consumed by customers. For example, it’s possible to listen to audio or podcast testimonials as they work.
Example: Oberlo
Benefits to the brand:
- Showcases a podcast version of a case study.
- It gives off an authentic and raw feeling because of the podcast’s informal type of interview.
“Success” Stories: Case Study
A great success story with a compelling backstory will always trigger an emotion from the consumer. Furthermore, this allows a business to showcase an in-depth analysis of a customer’s experience.
Why this works:
- It highlights facts and observations of how your business helped a customer.
- Results in potential leads.
- A great strategy for B2B companies to encourage an entire business to purchase their product or service.
Example: FreshBooks + The Glorious Company
Benefits to the brand:
- It highlights how the service gives solutions to the customer’s problem.
- Also, it showcases data along with the backstory of the customer.
Example: Shopify Plus + Bombas
Benefits to the brand:
- It shows that migrating to Shopify helped the brand save platform costs.
- Another, it gave a solution to support the brand’s long-term growth.
Social Media Testimonials
Nowadays, social media are one of the main sources of how a consumer discovers a business. Furthermore, social media is the easiest way to reach potential and loyal customers.
Why it works:
- A single review from a happy customer could potentially influence and lead millions of people.
Example: BASKiTS
Benefits to the brand:
- The Google review, along with the stars gave the brand authenticity.
- A diverse feature of social media reviews encourages customer engagement with the site.
Example: Glossier
Benefits to the brand:
- A unique approach to customer testimonials as it literally shows how their product will look on customers.
- It’s also a nice touch of adding which products were used in the customer photos.
Influencer/Celebrity Testimonials
It showcases influencers or celebrities who are supporting your brand.
Why this works:
- It builds your brand’s credibility.
- This allows you to choose the most effective person that reflects your brand’s values. As a result, it will connect your brand to this key person’s followers—composed of your target audience.
Example: SquareSpace
Benefits to the brand:
- A page dedicated to the celebrity, Winona Ryder, is a nice touch from SquareSpace.
- It highlights a backstory and how the website helped showcase the celebrity’s photo essay.
Example: Modsy
Benefits to the brand:
- Dedicating a space for “celebrity spaces” in a review section is a great strategy.
- It will make the fans curious about the design and will generate high engagement.
- Increases brand awareness.
Press Testimonials
Including a press testimonial in your brand is a big feat, especially for growing companies.
Why this works:
- Increasing brand awareness.
- New leads to your website.
- It boosts your company’s credibility and brand authority.
Example: Sandwich.Co
Benefits to the brand:
- A feature on notable press websites is a good source of new customers.
- It helps increase the brand’s audience.
Peer Reviews
A peer review testimonial takes advantage of customer feedback from review sites like Yelp, Capterra, or Angie’s List. Integrating such reviews to your site will further influence your customers. Furthermore, these are just a few of the usual go-to sites during decision making. According to a study, 57% of consumers will buy from a business that has four or more stars in the review.
Why this works:
- Such reviews can be easily uploaded to your company’s website.
- This will be more convenient for your customers. It will save their time researching for reviews.
- Prevents navigation away from the site.
Example: ShawAcademy
Benefits to the brand:
- Testimonials on how the courses helped them will result in more leads.
- Integrating reviews from a third-party source increases credibility.
- It will make customers trust the brand more.
Blog Testimonial
A blog is an informative way of showcasing your customer testimonials. Furthermore, bloggers can write an in-depth insight into a customer’s journey.
Why this works:
- This allows the brand to tell the customer’s story from their perspective.
- Blogs can also be shared across social media.
Example: REI
Benefits to the brand:
- The content will give insights to customers. It also helped the brand showcase its products. For example: “the best climbing harnesses”.
- It also showcased their product’s durability because of their “tested” articles.
Example: Worn Wear
Benefits to the brand:
- It allows the brand to be showcased in everyday life situations using the customer’s story.
- This strategy will help highlight the products mentioned in the article.
Bad VS ‘OK’ Customer Testimonials
Make sure you present your brand in the best light possible. Here’s a quick guide on how to create convincing testimonials.
Bad testimonial:
- Featuring a customer review with a plain “I love the product” statement.
- Not highlighting the benefits, or how the brand helped them.
- Including testimonials that might affect your brand’s reputation.
“OK” testimonial:
- Giving a highlight of how the product or service helped the customer.
- Mentioning one key feature of the brand that they liked.
- Gives a great backstory of their problem and how discovering the brand helped them overcome it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, customer testimonials are a great asset to your website. The best part? There are no exact rules on how you highlight it. My advice to you? Mix and match the types of testimonials and integrate them into your website. The most important thing is ensuring a boost in customer experience.
