Customer Testimonials are great for converting new leads – they provide value, inspire trust, and prove that you are a brand worth doing business with.
However, there’s more to using them on your landing pages than simply slapping them on just anywhere.
If you’re not careful, they can also spark an adverse reaction and make you come off as bragging, arrogant, or even untruthful.
Let’s explore how to use customer testimonials correctly in order to improve your brand’s credibility:
Target a Specific Audience
The main purpose of a testimonial is to tell your leads and visitors something about your brand you aren’t saying yourself: something positive and uplifting that will nudge them down the sales funnel.
You need to remember that different people will be encouraged by different kinds of testimonials. So before you add any testimonials, make sure you consider who you are trying to drive to a certain page.
Are you targeting business owners or individuals?
Do your leads need to be able to afford a certain price point?
Are you location-specific?
Take all of these things into consideration before selecting which customer testimonials to use (along with the general preferences of your audience, like language, pain points, and so on).
If you have dedicated landing pages for different audience segments, you can take this piece of advice even further, and offer different, highly targeted testimonials.
Make Them Stand Out
You need to be using more than words for your testimonials – images and even videos are just as important as the copy itself.
Add an image of the person (or brand) to the words (always with their permission, though), and you can even record brief videos with customers to be used on your landing pages.
You need to make sure testimonials clearly stand out, but also that they don’t overshadow the rest of your page. You can find some nice examples here and here.
Make Them Easy To Verify
The thing about customer testimonials is that they can easily be faked. Who’s to say you haven’t made up a person or a company, or even that you aren’t putting words into people’s mouths – maybe even people you have never worked with?
In order to make your testimonials as credible as they can be, always provide social or other verifiable proof to them.
This may be a link to the brand’s website or a social media link, as long as it enables a visitor to verify that they have, in fact, said what you claim they have said.
They Don’t Have To Be Simple
When we talk about testimonials, most people instantly think of Google reviews. And while there are certainly countless plugins that will help you place them on your landing pages, you might want to look into something a bit more creative.
Here is a landing page that uses both third-party reviews and brand logos as a testimonial – not a Google review in sight.
The reason that it works is that it has been integrated into the page well, and it provides plenty of credible data without overshadowing the rest of the page.
If you’re not quite sure what else you could use, here are a couple of ideas:
Tweets
Incorporate what people have said about you on Twitter, and don’t forget to include a link for retweeting.
Some niches are great for sharing customer testimonials in a visual format.
For example, paddle board maker Gili Sports does a great job of incorporating customers using their products on their Instagram page. This kind of social proof can be very helpful in the consumer buying process.
Endorsements
If a celebrity or other well-known figure has used your product, ask them to do a brief blurb for the website.
But be very careful here: first of all, you don’t want to get someone who endorses a whole bunch of products for a fee, and you also don’t want to use someone just because they are famous or have a large following.
Do it organically – if you know a Youtuber or influencer who loves your product or service, ask them to work together.
Direct Quotes
If you come across something a client has said you feel would be a great testimonial, ask them to use it. You might find useful statements in emails or meetings.
Case Studies
This is another great way to inspire trust and establish yourself as an expert. While case studies require a fair bit of time to assemble and execute, they are also one of the best ways to showcase what you can do.
The thing is, not everyone will want to read them.
To circumvent this issue, you can highlight your most important findings (78% organic traffic growth in three months, for example) as a testimonial, and provide a link to the actual case study.
Your Product or Service in Action
Ask your customers if you can use some of their images that feature your product. You don’t want images where they are promoting something, but rather those that show how your product is part of their everyday life.
For example, you’ll want an image where they’re reading a book while your mug is on their coffee table, or where they’re running in your sneakers, and so on.
You can also take some snapshots of yourself executing the service you offer (painting a wall, mowing a lawn, delivering an order).
Test Your Customer Testimonials Out
Once you’ve settled on a testimonial or a set of testimonials, make sure you also put them to the test.
Keep an eye on your metrics (conversion rates, time on page, visits, etc.), or use a heatmap to see how the testimonials are faring with your audience.
Once you establish a reliable set of data for one set of testimonials, switch them, and see how a different set works.
It will take some time, but it will pay off.
Also, don’t forget to update them every now and then – you don’t want something from three years ago to still sit on your landing pages, no matter how good it makes you look.
If you are just starting out and have nothing to share, you don’t need to miss out on the power of the testimonial.
You can, for example, establish a customer care page where you will encourage your customers to get in touch with any issue (even if they just have a question and may not end up converting).
This is an excellent way to start relationships you can later build on.
As you start acquiring more customers, ask them for a testimonial. It can be just a simple word or a sentence, and you can visually turn it into something outstanding.
Not everyone is used to leaving a review (and Google reviews on a landing page are so passé anyway), so you will have to ask for it.
Final Thoughts
Remember not to make your testimonials too much. You want them to help conversions, not take up all the space on a page and leave little to no room for anything else.
All Images provided by author under his or her own license.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
This guest post brought to you courtesy of Return On Now, Professional Austin SEO and PPC Services Company.
Catherine Palmer
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