Using Customer Testimonials to Boost Conversions
🧠 The science behind why customer reviews are important for your brand and a few ways to use them to increase your conversions. 👍🏼
Customer reviews and testimonials are nothing new to marketers. And yet, many businesses still don’t understand the importance of incorporating these testimonials in their content strategy and the actual impact of it.
Let’s start with the stats.
92% of consumers read online reviews and testimonials when considering a purchase.
According to a study by Bazaarvoice, here’s what happen when users interact with reviews:
- They are 58% more likely to convert
- They generate 62% more revenue per site visitor
- Their AOV (average order value) per order is 3% higher
Why are customer testimonials so powerful?
This article from The Entrepreneur goes into detail about the psychological reasons behind customer reviews. To keep this short, there are three main reasons the buyer’s brain craves digital reviews:
- The old “word of mouth” — this is nothing new to anyone. With word of mouth, you get an honest opinion from a seemingly regular person.
- Building transparency —addressing bad reviews properly with your customers helps build transparency and makes users trust you. In fact, some research shows that negative reviews can be good for your business and increase your conversion rate.
- Social belonging: We crave to be perceived as a knowledgable source of information. People gain personal satisfaction from helping family and friends solve a problem. By sharing their experiences, they feel like they are contributing to the community.
“What should I do with my customer reviews?” — you might ask.
You will find below a few different ways you can incorporate testimonials in your content marketing strategies, as well as different ways to showcase them.
- Display your client’s company logos. I see many companies using testimonials without logos. Adding visual elements will make it easier for your prospects to identify relevant brands, and that makes it easier for them to trust your business — adding credibility right off the bat.
- Case Studies. Case studies go beyond a testimonial. These are real stories that will help your users understand how your product/service solves a problem. These are also extremely shareable, so if you’re featuring a client you can ask them to promote the case study on their social channels — which will increase your brand’s visibility and help with SEO!
- Leverage them on social media. If you have powerful quotes and testimonials why not try to incorporate them in your social media strategy? These are great for users who are still not sure wether your product/service is a fit or not.
- Landing page. This one is a must have. If you’re not including testimonials in your landing page you’re missing out — big time. A review or testimonial could be the trigger needed to overcome a potential customer’s final objections and get them to buy.
- Influencer marketing campaign. This is not organic, but it can help you get traction faster. Collaborating with an influencer will allow you to put your brand in front of a lot of people faster. You should make sure the influencer’s audience matches your targeted audience, and give them the freedom to be transparent about your product.
- E-mail campaign. Invision is one of the companies that does e-mail amazingly. They have beautifully crafted e-mail campaigns featuring users, stories, case studies, and more that really speak to how other companies are using their product in different ways. It reinforces the value of their business.
- Product Pages. If you’re looking to boost your product pages, incorporate customer reviews. They will allow users to learn more about your product through other customer’s eyes, as well as increase your rankings — new reviews are considered fresh new content and Google LOVES that.
Takeaway
There’s so much more to it. The main point is that testimonials are powerful — they allow your users to understand and connect better with your brand. We crave the sense of community they bring, and we rely on other people to help us make decisions.
If you’re scared of bad reviews, take it as an opportunity to turn a not so good experience into something good and be responsive to your customers. These insights are important for the evolution of your product/service.
Talk to your users, address the issues, promote the praise and leverage it to strengthen your brand and your overall content strategy.
Bai! 👋🏼
