Having positive feedback from customers on your website has been proven to increase conversions. A new customer is much more likely to use your services or buy your product if they know previous clients were satisfied. So satisfied in fact, that they put it in writing and let you put their words out there for the world to see.
A lot of people have trouble trusting testimonials, though, so if you’re going to use them it’s important you use them the right way and in the proper location. A glowing review that prospects don’t trust, or never get to see, does little for your conversions (even if it does make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.)
Where to Add Testimonials to Your Website for Increased Conversions
Placing testimonials at critical locations in your prospects’ browsing journey can help convince them to act. Here are five locations you don’t want to overlook:
Option #1: The Home Page
Yes, it’s common to place a number of testimonials on the homepage – but for good reason. Your homepage typically gets the most hits of any page on your website and if you place your positive customer feedback front and center, then visitors will get a chance to see it even if they don’t browse any further. In fact, seeing positive feedback will often prompt them to explore further.
Desk.com features their testimonials alongside the client’s logo making them instantly more prominent and eye-catching.
Option #2: In the Hero Image or Slider
Another great way to include hard-to-miss testimonials is to include them in a slider on your homepage. This way, your testimonial doesn’t have to take up room on the page further down and it can serve more than one purpose. For example, the slider or hero image at the top of your page can also include a call-to-action, an image, or both. Infinity and Ovation use this technique, displaying their testimonials embedded into their hero image alongside a call to action.
Option #3: On Your Product or Services Page
If a customer is interested in one of your products, a testimonial could be just the extra nudge they need to make a purchase. In fact, 88% of online users trust testimonials or reviews just as much as a recommendation from a friend or family member. So why not include positive reviews on your product or service pages where they’re making purchasing decisions?
And testimonials don’t have to distract from your product info – they can be integrated seamlessly into the page. In the image above, Square Trade’s service pages include a section with customer testimonials, highlighting their excellent service and good ratings, alongside information about their services.
Option #4: Near Calls-to-Action
Call-to-actions, such as contact or sign-up buttons, are already a prompt for visitors to convert. However, they seldom give a reason why.
A more wary visitor might not be easily convinced by a button asking them to buy something but if they can also see that another customer had a really good experience, they’ll be more likely to give it a click. A great example of this strategy is near the bottom of Hubspot’s product pages, where you’ll find some positive feedback sitting right under the two most important CTA buttons on the page.
Option #5: The Testimonials Page
Finally, a dedicated testimonial page is a good idea if you have a fair number of testimonials – especially if the feedback comes from influential people and companies. Creating a space where you highlight the companies themselves can also encourage clients to give you more compelling testimonials.
The key to a testimonials page is a clever layout, where the content is presented in such a way that it’s easy to read and absorb. Campaign Monitor includes a bit of everything on their customer page – testimonials have a hero image, logo, and video link – but still manages not to overload the customer with information.
Four Types of Effective Testimonials
The most basic of testimonials, and what most of us think of when we hear the word “testimonial,” is just a one or two-line quote from a happy customer. Some companies take it a step further by adding either the company logo or a hero image featuring the person who gave the testimonials. This is particularly useful if the person is a well-known
an influencer in the industry.
However, video is another type of effective testimonial even though they take a little longer to create. Video can be a good addition to the text testimonial, supporting it instead of replacing it. This way, even if your visitor doesn’t watch the video, they still get the just of the feedback.
Positive feedback on social media can also be used as a testimonial. A simple screenshot of the message or comment, or a link to the original post are both effective strategies.
Finally, sometimes it’s necessary to write more detail about the work you did for your client, to give a bit of background to the client’s feedback. In this case, testimonials can also act as a link to a case study. Here, there can be more detail about how your company worked with a client, resolving issues for them in a way that reflects well on your abilities.
The Importance of A/B Testing
Wherever you choose to put your testimonials, it’s always best to A/B test the placement to make sure they are as effective as possible. For example, having a testimonial next to a CTA button on your services page might work well, but it could end up working better on your homepage – and you’ll never know unless you test it out.
It also helps to test the type of testimonials. Does a company logo or hero image convert more people? Do customers react better to a two-sentence snippet or a longer case study? A/B test to find out. And, as always with this type of testing, don’t change too many variables at once or you won’t be able to determine what has or hasn’t worked.
How We Can Help
If you’re an Automation Agency client and you need a little help adding customer feedback to your website in a way that adds value, just submit a task and we’ll get to work.
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