3 Reasons to Gather Online Testimonials

The information overload and digitalization have made people more critical than ever about advertisements and other forms of publicity.

In order to buy something (B2B or B2C) they rather consult different independent sources, both online and offline, than to believe what a brand claims to be.

Personal opinions and word of mouth in particular are very important influencers. At this moment marketers appreciate more than ever the value of testimonials; because opinions of others are the best way to convince a potential buyer when he or she has doubts.

Not just some numbers

These numbers speak for themselves:

• 67% of the consumers indicate that their buying decision is influenced by word of mouth.
• 93% of the consumers believe that word of mouth is the most reliable source of information.
• 74% of the consumers that received a negative recommendation about a brand decided to change.

Sources: Mc Kinsey, NOP World/ GFK, Milward Brown

Why are testimonials effective?

Here are some reasons why you should consider gathering testimonials.

1. A testimonial adds credibility to your brand/company. If clients confirm what you are claiming it delivers proof to your business.
2. Testimonials are a qualitative form of market research. Listen to the good things and the points of improvement and learn from them.
3. They are also an excellent SEO-tool. When you use enough keywords it can help you to reach a better position in search engines like Google.

As you might have noticed, there are no testimonials on our website. Not yet actually, because we are working on it. That is why we would like to inform you about the process we are going through in order to gather testimonials.

How to create effective testimonials?

You can create an online platform on your website and put it at your clients’ disposal. Here they can leave their opinion about the product/company.

Or even better, you can interview your customers yourself, to keep maximum control over the content. This last method is what we do at 4P square.

First of all you will have to select a few of your clients that you would like to interview. We recommend choosing all kinds of clients from different sectors so more people will feel called upon afterwards.

Then you have to consider the level on which you want to do your testimonials. Is it about your brand? About a specific product or service? About your service in general? About a project? Your staff? Etc…

Explain to you client in detail what you are planning to do and kindly ask if he or she wants to cooperate. If they were satisfied about your product they will probably not refuse. Always let your client reread the text and ask permission before publishing it.

Make an appointment when you (or a real journalist) are going to do the interview. This can be done by phone or face-to-face. Send him or her the questions in advance to prepare.

Create a standard interview framework which you will use for all your testimonials.

If you will work in case-form you will ask questions like:

• What was the situation before? What was the challenge?
• What did the company do?
• What are the main results. Be concrete.
• If you have percentages publish them. They are more convincing than some vague results.

Where should you place them?

Testimonials are multi-applicable. So do not only create them but also use them. You have to communicate them to the right people at the right time.

• Place them on your website. You only have a few seconds to convince your clients to stay, so make them attractive and short. You can always put a more complete testimonial behind it.But not everybody lands on your homepage, so we recommend placing them wherever you are selling something. Especially in a B2B environment the website is an important source for potential clients to find information and therefore an excellent place to put your testimonials.
• If you have a blog, you can place (links to) them in sidebars and columns or as a comment under posts.
• If you don’t already have one, create a LinkedIn company page. People can recommend your services there. So you can simply ask for recommendations from others within your network.
• On your Facebook fan page you can easily add a ‘Testimonials’ tab in which you can include them.
• Use them on other social media with, for example, a link to your website where they can read the whole article. This allows you to leverage the traffic to your website.
• If possible make a video of your testimonials instead of a written article. The effect of an individual talking to you directly is huge.
• Bring your testimonials with your sales presentations. At the end of your conversation you can hand them over to your prospects. That way they will be reminded of you in a good way.
• …

From this moment on testimonials should be common to your marketing plan. Make it a habit to ask for a testimonial after every sale.