Blog Layout
HOW TO GET TESTIMONIALS THAT WILL MAKE NEW CUSTOMERS FLOCK TO YOU
Admin • Nov 04, 2018
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names could break your business. From childhood, we are taught that what people say doesn’t matter. It is your belief in yourself that really matters. However, that all changes once you get into business. Your company’s reputation matters and so do the things that people say about the stuff you sell.
USING TESTIMONIALS
Testimonials matter. They demonstrate to would-be customers that your products or services are worth the risk to try your brand. From Yelp to Facebook, Google My Business to Amazon, reviews help inform site visitors – and they carry serious clout. According to Nielsen’s Global AdView Pulse, reviews are one of the most trusted pieces of information that people review before making a purchase, second only to a recommendation from someone they know. Another survey from Search Engine Land found that more than 70 percent of consumers trust reviews and personal recommendations equally. Unfortunately, many reviews tend to exist only on sites devoted to sharing opinions.
However, you can move past site-specific placement. While those reviews are still an essential contribution to your marketing efforts, they are only a beginning. You can use testimonials on your site and in your marketing to great effect. Here’s how to get started.
GETTING TESTIMONIALS
Testimonials are one of the best tools you have to let people know how great your products and services are, but getting started can be a challenge. In our experience, most business owners simply don’t know how to ask for testimonials. It can feel awkward to ask for feedback that you will use publicly, especially if you want to use a photograph or a video of customers. Plus, even once you do ask, the resulting testimonial can end up feeling staged and inauthentic – like asking to take a photo of customers at lunch to use a testimonial for your restaurant instead of getting a more candid picture.
Our best advice is to not to panic. You can get testimonials that will make your customers flock to you. Here’s how.
LEVERAGE CUSTOMER COMPLIMENTS
Start with where you are. Look through reviews of your company on social media sites, sales platforms, and anywhere else that one of your customers may have written about your brand. If you have been selling quality products or services and providing excellent customer service, you should find something you can use. Once you see a quote you like, ask for permission to post those statements or use them in your ads. It’s that easy.
“Thanks for your review! May I post this on our website with your name?”
FOLLOW UP AFTER EVERY SALE
If you don’t have many reviews out there, start following up with your customers after each sale. Follow up and start a conversation about what they liked about your products or services. A simple open-ended question is all you need to get the ball rolling. Not only could you get a testimonial you can use (always ask permission) but you could gain some valuable insights into what matters most to your customers, how your company is performing, and any areas that could use improving.
“Just checking in. How do you like your [products/services] so far?”
MAKE IT EASY
You can also get testimonials for your company by making it easy for your customers to provide feedback. Sending out surveys are one option, but you also need to make sure you are encouraging your customers to leave reviews on sites like Google Places and Yelp.
Kristi Hines for Neil Patel explains, “Why would you want to steer your customers to writing reviews on these sites as opposed to writing a testimonial directly for your site? Simple. If you are trying to get Google search traffic to your local business, you would want your business to come up in the search with the most reviews.”
Make it easy for your customers by claiming each of your company listings, verifying the information, and making sure everything is consistent across sites.
PROVIDE THE BEST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE
The one downside to reviews and testimonials is that they might not all be positive – and that’s okay. Use it as an opportunity to demonstrate your stellar customer service. While you won’t want to use these testimonials on your website or in your marketing, you can show your commitment to quality by responding publicly to each complaint and stepping up to make things right.
In some cases, you might be able to turn that negative reviewer into an advocate but, at worse, other would-be customers will see how well you respond to criticism and your willingness to make things right. In turn, they can trust that if there is an issue with one of your products or services, you will respond instead of ignoring a complaint.
CONCLUSION
Getting testimonials for your company is easy – when you know how. Follow our tips and see how reviews can help improve the success of your marketing efforts. Authentic statements about your products or services can go a long way to helping future customers understand the value in your offerings. We can help you organize and share the testimonials you receive. Contact us to learn more!
WE LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU
Call Us at 209-402-3057
Email marketing: it’s the overlooked darling of the marketing world. In addition to offering a higher ROI than virtually any other type of marketing (an average of $38 for every $1 spent), email is widely-used, beloved by customers, and ultra-effective for your business. Before you can dive in with email marketing, though, you need a well-developed email list. Building that, though, can be easier said than done. Here’s what you need to know:
Freelancers: they make the world go around when it comes to modern marketing. Over the last year, use of gig work platforms (like Upwork and Fiverr, for example) has grown by more than 30% in economies around the world. As if that weren’t enough, it’s now possible to find freelancers working in all industries, including finance, agriculture, education, transportation, marketing, and more. With this in mind, it’s clear why freelancers have become so popular. Freelancers provide an attractive “third option” for companies who need skilled workers but don’t want to hire full-time employees. If you’re new to hiring freelancers, though, the process can be a bit intimidating. How do you know you’ve found a good match? What if you choose the wrong person? What do you even look for, if you’re not hiring a traditional employee? In situations like this, knowing what to avoid is every bit as necessary and knowing what you want in a freelancer. That said, here’s our top list of red flags to avoid at all costs with your next freelancer.
Your Facebook page: you’ve worked hard to build it from the ground up, transforming an ill-trafficked skeleton into an empire. Today, you’ve got ample likes, lots of traffic, and great content generating all of the above. Your question now becomes how to make all those metrics work for you. The answer is monetization: adjusting your Facebook profile, so it drives income from things like clicks, likes, and conversions. Easier said than done? Think again. In this post, we’ll share our top tips for monetizing your Facebook page this year. Let’s get started.
Video content marketing. Old hat, right? Boring, useless, not the slightest bit engaging, and definitely totally without value for your customers. Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you that you only engage in video content if you want people to notice you. And who wants that, right? Don’t worry, though. We’re here to save you. Here are the top reasons to avoid video content marketing this year:
It’s every marketer’s worst nightmare: Churn. It’s what happens when customers, who are notoriously fickle with their loyalties, come to a company, only to leave eventually for your competitor. If you’ve experienced this, it’s probably not specifically about your company. Every company experiences churn. Customers are easy to lose, and that’s just a fact of marketing. Today, experts estimate that out of 26 unhappy customers , only one will complain directly to your company. The rest will simply leave. This may lead you to wonder what you’re doing wrong, why your customers are leaving for your competition, and how you can improve your level of customer service. If you’re asking these questions, you’re not alone. This post is designed to help you understand how to retain customers, why they leave, and what you can do to stop at the whole churn cycle.
Your Facebook page: it’s your company’s digital doorstep. Whether you’re setting up a new home page for your brand or trying to ensure that your existing one is as good as possible, you know that quality is everything, and it’s essential to ensure your page reflects your business to its absolute best. The question, then, is how? Remembering that Facebook sees nearly 2 billion monthly active users, you know that it’s essential to put your best digital foot forward and ensure that your customers are getting what they need from your page. To put this another way, if your Facebook page isn’t displaying a comprehensive strategy designed to get you liked, noticed, engaged with, and followed, you’re missing out. Here’s what you need to know about creating a professional, high-quality Facebook page:
Did you know that Halloween is currently worth more than $9 billion annually? Today, customers are spending more money than they ever have before on all things Halloween. This includes Halloween costumes, decorations, candy, and events. Because of this, you can’t afford to miss out on everything this exciting holiday has to offer. Even if you don’t exactly sell plastic cobwebs or fake zombies, Halloween can represent a real opportunity for your brand and your bottom line. Here’s what you need to know about how you can make the holiday work for you:
Once upon a time, companies only had to worry about responding to the needs and desires of shareholders. Times have changed. Today, customers expect more of companies than ever before, and they want to know that the brands they work with are supporting causes and missions that are important to them. To this end, modern customers tend to support companies who are involved in their local communities. That, then, begs the following question: what does it mean to be involved in your local community? The answer, of course, is varied. Being involved in the local community can mean anything from sponsoring local 5Ks to volunteering for causes and hosting outreach booths at related organizations and companies. If you’re interested in driving more business and expanding your reach, here’s what you need to know about getting (and staying) involved in your local community.
Today, social media is synonymous with online marketing. If you’re looking for a way to improve your brand’s online presence and encourage more people to interact with your company, engaging on social media is one of the best things you can do. It’s also important to remember, though, that social media is a very crowded field, and standing out requires getting creative. The more you can set yourself apart from the competition, the better you’ll fare. One of the best ways to do this is simple: brand your images on social media. Here’s what you need to know about this straightforward approach, and how doing it can improve your efforts, both now and in the future.
Building a website for your business is a great way to attract new customers and keep in touch with old ones. What many business owners miss, though, is that customers expect certain things from your website. This is not a one-way relationship. If you’re going to build a website, you need to ensure that it offers the things that your customers expect to find. Here’s an overview of the top five things customers want to see on your website and will leave if they can’t.