Leveraging Thankfulness: The Power of Testimonials in Marketing
We’re officially just a few weeks away from Thanksgiving. And if you’ve been following along with us this month, you already know we’re taking advantage of the season and discussing the value of gratitude in marketing.
Consumers read reviews. It’s just what we do. And after seeing our blog post last week on how to show gratitude as a business, you probably went out and collected all kinds of customer testimonials you’re ready to put to work – right? Well either way, once you’ve collected your reviews, your next step is figuring out what to do with them. Spring Insight can help with that.
The power of testimonials in marketing is clear, but where can you show off your reviews once you have them? Let’s get into it.
Leveraging Testimonials On Your Website
Your website is one of the most effective pieces of real estate you own, so it would only make sense to utilize it to show off reviews and testimonials. Building trust online is an important step in establishing relationships with your customers.
Show Off With A Slider
Start by adding a section to your home page to highlight your reviews and testimonials. This is often done with a slider, although you can experiment with what works best with your website.
Now when a prospective client ends up on your website thanks to your incredible content marketing (Need help with that? We got you.) you’ll immediately gain trust and credibility, even if that prospect hadn’t heard of you before. This can increase conversions and also encourages clients to leave online reviews.
Craft Case Studies
Another powerful marketing tactic is case studies. Case studies are longer pieces that highlight your customer success stories.
How do you create a case study? Choose one of your real customers and go into detail on their initial problem and how your product or service helped solve it. It’s best to include a testimonial from the customer and images that support your case, like before and after images, charts, graphs, or the like.
Create a dedicated page or section of your website for visitors to check out. Now you have a whole archive of happy customers for your prospective clients to relate to. You can even send links to these pages to help you close a sales call.
Leveraging Testimonials On Social Media
Believe it or not, social media plays a huge part in purchasing decisions. So maintaining a regular posting schedule is critical, and your customer reviews should definitely be a part of your content calendar. If someone in the discovery or research phase of the customer journey finds your social media, you can immediately start building trust by showing off your reviews.
Repurpose Reviews As Content
Take your online reviews and testimonials and repurpose them into simple graphics with a photo of your happy customer. Tag the client, if possible, and thank them for their partnership. Bring it home by adding in a strong call-to-action, like “We provided them great service, see how we can do the same for you.” The content really writes itself sometimes.
Encourage Clients To Post About You
Although your own channels are great marketing tools, you should aim for your reviews to appear on your clients’ social media as well.
When a customer posts their own personal recommendation on their page, your brand and credibility reach an entirely new audience. If you know you have a satisfied customer, there’s no shame in asking them to do just that. Or if you’ve already posted their review on your own page, ask them to reshare it to their own, helping to send new clients your way.
Leveraging Testimonials On Review Platforms
Another great way to solicit online reviews is through third-party websites such as Yelp, Facebook, or your Google Business Profile. Utilize sites specific to your industry such as UpCity, Houzzz, TripAdvisor, or Angie’s List.
Consumers tend to trust these third-party sites more than a business’s own channels since they’re unbiased and can’t be curated with positive reviews only. It’s a good mix of both testimonials and feedback, and these sites paint a clear picture of what real customers think of a company after giving them their business.
Make Review Generation Part of The Process
In order to build up your customer testimonials, make it a part of your process to ask clients to leave reviews on these sites.
Once a product purchase or project is complete, share a link to your pages and let them know that their feedback helps your company continue to improve and grow. Remind them you’re grateful for their business and look forward to working with them again in the future. Then just sit back and watch those 5 stars roll in.
Utilize The Power of Testimonials in Marketing Today
Leveraging the power of testimonials in marketing is a crucial step in building trust with your audience. Reviews will either praise your company for your excellent service or provide feedback to secure those 5 stars the next time around. And either way, you’re one step closer to finding your next happy customer.
For even more ways to utilize your testimonials in marketing, contact our team – or just check our own reviews to see how we’ve helped businesses like yours thrive. During our next article, we’re going into detail about what we’re thankful for here at Spring Insight. And spoiler alert: you just might be on it.