Testimonial Tips and Tricks
It’s no secret that testimonials are vital in attracting and securing new clients. Qualtrics sites that “91% of 18-34-year-olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations and 93% of customers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions.” For this reason, finding new ways to utilize these testimonials can be the key to expanding your business and clientele. This is where you may need to get a little creative in your thinking.
Be strategic in how you use testimonials. Integrate them into different aspects of your brand to be sure they are not only getting in front of your current clients but also potential clients. Here are some different ways you can incorporate testimonials into your marketing and branding in order to attract clients and keep people’s attention.
Make It Easy
You don’t only want your reviews to be easy for your clients to give but also easy for new clients to find.
When clients find you or your business, they should easily be able to find reviews about you. For instance, if you use a Facebook page specifically for all of your listings and real estate business, utilize the review feature. When you work with a new client, ask them to leave a review on your Facebook page so that when potential clients come searching for you, they can easily read through some testimonies and get a better gauge of who you are and how you do business.
Your website would be another great place to incorporate some testimonials. Whether it be a review/testimonial page or just quotes included along with examples of your past work, be sure to incorporate them in a way that is accessible and easily found.
Google reviews are another option. Often these are the first thing people will see if they find you through an organic search. Anywhere a client can read about you, your work or your business should also be a place where they can hear organic accounts of other people’s experiences from when they have worked with you.
Market Them
Testimonials and reviews can also be included in your content marketing strategies but be very careful.
It’s important to NEVER offer incentives for reviews. You want your reviews to be real, accurate and organic. Offering an incentive for giving one could jeopardize not only the integrity of the review but also the integrity of your business.
Now as far as content marketing goes, reviews can be very versatile. You can incorporate them into a graphic on your social media page or even create a video of a client sharing a testimonial. Also, sharing and interacting with posts where clients talk about their experience working with you adds a human element to your brand.
Keep It Organic
People are often hesitant about trusting someone new and look to others to give personal accounts about their experiences. Incorporating this organic human element works toward improving your legitimacy, establishing trust and shaping your brand. And don’t be afraid of a bad review every now and then.
It’s natural that not everyone will be completely satisfied with their experience but if they don’t tell you, there is no way you can grow and improve for your current and future clients. Bad reviews can also be incorporated into your marketing. Say a client leaves a review stating that they have problems with a feature on your website. Thank them for leaving the review and begin looking into their complaint to see what bugs you can work out on your end.
Once you have put in the work to fix the issue, let people know about it. Post about it and share with your clients how you used their feedback to work things out on your end and make it easier for them to use.
Reviews and testimonials are incredibly important in a client-facing business. You can be providing a great service but if there is no one willing to attest to that and no one can see what people are saying about you, making that first step toward establishing trust will only be that much harder. Start collecting and displaying those reviews for all to see and remember, keep it organic and keep it accurate.
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