What do customers have to say about your brand? If you don’t know, you’re missing the chance to transform your business.
Almost every industry today has fierce competition. To get ahead, you need to create awareness and improve your brand’s reputation.
The reality is that it can take time and money to attract new customers through new marketing strategies. So, what’s the one tactic that can have a powerful effect on your brand?
You may know it as word-of-mouth.
In fact, most studies show that it’s pivotal when it comes to increasing conversions and establishing trust. As such, obtaining testimonials should be a top priority for your business.
Testimonials and positive reviews can help you secure a better market position and edge out the competition. But this is achieved after increasing your credibility, supercharging your lead generation, and solidifying your customer retention simultaneously.
However, getting customer testimonials may not always be the easiest of tasks, nor is getting the most out of them, depending on the format. With that said, it’s worth the effort as they’re critical to your ability to grow the business.
The truth is that some businesses may not see the full picture surrounding testimonials. Also, not everyone can grasp the range of benefits promised. To clear the air on this topic, let’s look at the pros of leveraging testimonials in more detail.
Nine Benefits of Testimonials
Benefit #1 – Build Trust with Your Audience
Before anyone considers buying from you, they need to know others have successfully done so in the past. Your audience needs to know they’re not your first and only followers.
Testimonials provide proof of concept. They offer proof that you’re a legitimate business that’s not trying to scam its followers.
The opinions of previous customers can influence your future customer acquisition power. In some situations, you don’t even need complex success stories. A simple customer testimonial section on your website could be sufficient to build some trust.
Generally speaking, the more testimonials you can collect, the better.
But there’s a trick to doing it the right way.
Ask yourself how many companies you’ve come across over the years have a 100% satisfaction rate from their customers. More importantly, how many of them maintained that status after growing and getting more customers?
The reality is that no one can please everyone all the time. Most people know this and they understand it.
Because of this, you have to keep testimonials honest.
It’s okay if some customers don’t have only praise to throw your way. If you appear as though perfect and can do no wrong, you may actually damage your brand’s credibility.
Benefit #2 – Keep Clients Loyal
Testimonials help increase the emotional bond between brands and satisfied customers.
You see, a testimonial isn’t simply a tool to help you hook new prospects and convert. It’s also a way to continue showing your appreciation for anyone you’ve served. As a result, the heightened emotional bond fosters a deeper sense of loyalty.
After all, you’ll want loyal customers as much as bringing in new ones.
The fact is that a significant portion of your revenue comes from recurring purchases. Furthermore, loyal clients act on your behalf and can recommend your product/services to others – they can give referrals without you having to ask for them.
Impromptu recommendations can be very powerful, hence the reason why word-of-mouth is still one of the most effective marketing tactics.
So, do your best to ask for testimonials or feedback from every customer who thanks you. Not everyone will oblige, though. Thus, it’s essential to ask as many followers as possible.
Benefit #3 – Gather Important Feedback
In business, you learn as you go. And this applies to everything regarding your marketing attempts.
So, how do testimonials fit in?
We’ve established them as educational for new customers. However, they can serve the same purpose for your marketing team.
Positive and negative feedback is very valuable. Thus, it’s not a good idea to filter out constructive feedback.
You can use what your customers tell you to improve your product development. Not to mention you can uncover issues with your service and figure out solutions.
Benefit #4 – Educate Potential Customers
You can’t expect every prospect to fully understand what you do and what you offer. Sometimes, even a carefully constructed unique value proposition may not provide enough clarity.
This is another way in which testimonials can help your business grow.
You can leverage testimonials to educate potential customers. They can explain the benefits of using your services or buying your products. Also, most testimonials touch on the customer’s needs before going into the solution and the results.
Imagine having a law firm.
One of your clients can talk about how they got injured in an accident. The client can mention how your unique brand of legal counsel helped win the lawsuit and get a massive settlement.
It’s as much about explaining your process as it is the sales pitch. But the added benefit here is that the sales pitch isn’t in your voice. Someone else makes your case for you, so it won’t seem like a biased account.
Benefit #5 – Boost Your Brand’s Visibility
Brand awareness and visibility are paramount if you want to secure a strong market position. Testimonials are great for search engine algorithms. They’re particularly useful when you’re trying to rank higher in local searches to gain more customers or clients.
Due to the nature of the content, you can also leverage testimonials to boost your brand’s social profile. These pieces of writing, audio, or video content work great on social media platforms. They’re easily digestible, don’t require much retouching, and are highly shareable.
Benefit #6 – Create Messages that Resonate
Every brand develops its own voice or tone. The language can become specific and synonymous with a particular brand.
If you’re not sure how to get there, our teams of experts can help you tailor your message and find your style. With the help of our Concierge Service, your messaging can remain consistent across all channels.
But that won’t be enough to engage people. You’ll indeed generate awareness and even build some credibility, yet won’t achieve 100% engagement.
Audiences want something else, too.
They want messages that resonate with them. And sometimes, speaking naturally in your messaging helps considerably as well. So, who better to provide guidance in this area than your previous customers?
They are the ideal people who can explain your unique selling proposition and value using everyday language.
Using their testimonials, you can craft marketing content that speaks directly to your chosen audience without creating confusion. It’s a nice trick to bridge any language barriers.
Benefit #7 – Keep Your Staff Happy
Did you know that employee appreciation goes a long way towards ensuring long-lasting partnerships?
It also does a lot in terms of boosting productivity and morale, as well as give you a recruiting advantage.
With that said, testimonials do more than growing your business by bringing in new clients or retaining old ones. They can also serve you when trying to attract more talent and keep the staff you have.
Testimonials about experiences with your staff show appreciation for your employees. The great thing about this is that you can get external and internal testimonials and reviews.
You don’t have to seek out clients to show some staff appreciation. Ask your employees to give their opinions on each other.
Some will take constructive criticism and improve their skills. Others will become inspired, show initiative, and make everyone around them better.
When these things happen, your business will run smoothly and your service/product delivery should be up to your customers’ expectations.
Benefit #8 – Showcase Your Flexibility
Sometimes, products can serve different customers in specific ways. The same thing applies to services.
So, how do you emphasise the fact that you have a multi-dimensional offer? How do you showcase that flexibility and the myriad of benefits you can provide?
In some cases, you can’t do it yourself. But you can let testimonials do it for you.
Imagine having three customers raving about your solution. However, each one has something else to say.
Some people or businesses got specific results and benefited from working with you in different ways. Those reviews can help establish your authority and expertise like few other techniques could.
It also doesn’t look bad because it’s not your own voice and it doesn’t appear as boasting. With the right testimonials, you can overcome the general scepticism that your prospects may have.
Benefit # 9 – Get Optimised Shareable Content
It’s tempting to use a sales pitch in social media posts. After all, the message is usually short and people can easily read it.
But is it such a good idea?
Keep in mind that promotion is accepted and even encouraged on official business pages and profiles. But why not use testimonials to boost your brand? They look better than sales pitches and can act as such in front of the right audience anyway.
Think back to earlier when we mentioned word-of-mouth marketing.
The fact is, testimonials have better shareability than regular blog posts, news updates, and sales pitches. And they work even better when someone else shares them for you.
Testimonials Can Improve Almost Every Aspect of Your Business
If you want your business to grow, you need three things – new clients, loyal customers, and enough talented people to put in the work.
When you talk testimonials, you’re talking about a marketing technique that ticks all the boxes. They work towards customer acquisition and foster loyalty. Also, they can help you address any appreciation issues within your company, thus boosting morale and productivity.
Even if you won’t get many testimonials or perfect reviews, that’s fine, too. Keeping the content honest and in the customer’s voice are the most important things here.
Remember that testimonials act as soft sales pitches and, as such, shouldn’t seem like they’re trying to stroke your ego.
If you’re not generating enough leads and clients, we can help. Automation Agency’s Concierge Service has lots of experience in publishing testimonials. We can help you foster trust with your audience from your own website or using a long-reaching platform.
Book your task here. The automation team can take care of this time-consuming task and allow you to focus on other areas of importance in your business.
