Hey, how are you?

Today’s quick win is focused on your website (or 3rd party sales platform) and in particular the annual refresh of testimonials.

Did you know that around 9 out of 10 people read online reviews before they make a purchase? 80% of those buyers trust the online reviews they read*. That's a huge amount of thought going into other people’s opinions of what you do.

The reality is that customers buy from people they trust and over time, as businesses, we need to renew that trust, so it makes sense to update our current testimonials with something more current. Now is as good a time as any to do that!

How testimonials can be useful to your online business

We already know at this stage that most people typically read a handful of reviews before a purchase, but did you know that they are useful to your online business in a number of other ways?

Aside from the gold dust in social proof that comes with testimonials and the trust they build with potential leads, reviews can also be helpful for gathering customer intelligence. This invaluable feedback can gift us data we might otherwise have missed looking solely at marketing conversion rates and sales figures. Armed with this increased understanding we can review products and services, the marketing of said products, implement key changes and even bring in new offerings to sustainably enhance our business.

Testimonials and reviews can also be great for search engine optimization (SEO), particularly if you are using third-party review platforms, like Google’s own Google Reviews. This is because they build these reviews into their entire search platform, utilising elements like Maps and Shopping search engine result pages (SERPs) to answer a users search query. The better your review rating, the more chance you have of being seen locally, or even nationally when it comes to SERP. The more you are seen, the more likely you’ll get those all-important click-throughs.

5 ways to gain testimonials for your business on autopilot

Let’s keep it simple and efficient by giving your clients lots of scope to review their experience with you, without you having to ask them one by one.

1. Email a client after purchase, or service completion and ask for feedback

Most eCommerce or CRM systems can automate these requests into your transactional client emails. Make use of this to save you time manually asking clients for feedback. If you use or intend to use a third-party sales platform, then make sure they automate this on your behalf.

2. Turn on your Facebook Reviews and ask your previous customers to fill one out

If you are a service-based business, particularly B2B you may also wish to use LinkedIn reviews. Social reviews are a great way to share your customer experiences and gain new leads by building trust.

3. Use Google My Business and ask clients to leave a Google review there too

Let’s not forget that Google is a great tool for finding your business new leads.

4. Consider a 3rd party app, like Trustpilot, or Feefo to gain further reviews

These solutions usually have a website integration you can use to automate and update recent reviews and keep your website feeling fresh.

5. Offer rewards

Some companies see an increase in reviews if they offer incentives. You must make sure that if you go this route reviewers are not penalised for leaving honest feedback, otherwise, you devalue the system of trust you are building.

How effective is reaching out to clients for reviews?

If you do wish to personally reach out to clients for the purpose of building your online reviews then I recommend you start with just a handful of your most regular clients whom you know are likely to make the effort.

I generally find that regular clients are very happy to leave reviews for you if they have received a positive experience recently. So my best advice is to reach out to those recent purchasers whom you already know to have been satisfied with their product or service provision from you. Show them how to make a review quickly and easily and you’ll likely receive a flurry of responses in no time at all.

A client of mine Steph from Perran Yarns tried this out for herself on Facebook and in a matter of hours had a number of Facebook reviews from happy clients, she could reshare over her marketing platforms.

What’s great about getting visible feedback, aside from the trust factor in those individual comments, is that it prompts other clients to leave reviews themselves. This makes the process become a more automated marketing activity in your business.

Here’s where to put testimonials on your website

• The home page - Here’s how I have used mine

• Individual product or service pages where they are relevant

• On your about page

• You could create a dedicated testimonial page on your website - here’s mine

Once you have a number of reviews you can also pepper them into social media, email marketing and of course your blog posts, using them as a great tool for backing up your expertise and product or service claims. You can even use your latest and greatest in your email footer - that’s a great bonus tip we need to cover in more detail later on!

Got questions about gaining, or using testimonials effectively? Leave a comment and I’ll be here to answer them for you.

Sara x

*Testimonial and review data gathered by insights company Canvas8 in 2020 for Trustpilot, a review platform.