One of the most powerful and effective marketing tools in business is testimonials. They have a significant impact on people deciding whether or not to do business with you, buy your product or service, or to be in partnership with you.
People feel more confident doing business with a company when they know there are satisfied customers. One word confirms that… Yelp. And it doesn’t stop there. Today there are many online sites, such as Trip Advisor, where consumers go to seek opinions of others. Whether you’re looking for travel information, a new dentist, consumer electronics, safety of a skydiving company, a marketing agency, or practically any other product or service, the opinions of others can significantly sway purchasing decisions.
Companies can talk all day about their products or services with some degree of persuasion, but testimonials provide a reason to believe. Testimonials are also a powerful way to prove your product’s worth. When you have a few testimonials, you can show a prospect how someone just like you bought the same product they’re considering and benefited from it.
Let’s dig deeper. There are three main benefits from testimonials. First, there’s the fact that people tend to imitate people they see around them as part of the natural instinct to fit in with the group. Second is the fact that testimonials project a clear picture of the benefits of your products or services. Third, and probably most important, is the fact that testimonials help build trust.
Testimonials can be spoken, as in video testimonials, or written. No doubt, seeing a person on video giving a testimonial can enhance the effectiveness of the praise, simply because body language and facial expressions add a whole other layer of non-verbal communication. With that said, not every situation requires, or can accommodate, video. In those cases, well-written testimonials can still have a great impact.
If you are considering adding testimonials to your website, here are a few best practices:
- Choose testimonials from companies that your prospects might recognize or relate to.
- Keep the testimonial as short as possible without jeopardizing integrity of the message.
- Use a customer’s full name, if possible. If not, use the first name and first initial of the last name.
- This one goes unsaid. But we’ll say it anyway. Display the company name.
- If applicable, try to have testimonials incorporate metrics, such as “Acme’s work significantly contributed to our 30% revenue growth last year.”
- As mentioned, if the situation is conducive for it, use video.
As a recap, testimonials on your web site can have significant impact on bottom line results. They show that your company is legitimate, does great work, offers products and services that satisfy customers and others, and projects an overall positive image.
At Incitrio, we recently added a Testimonials section to the home page of our agency website. We paired one video testimonial with thirteen written, which paint a nice picture of the quality of our work, caliber of our team, our client service, ethics, and much more. Click here to go to our Testimonials page.
So far, the feedback from clients, client prospects, vendors, and partners to our testimonials has been phenomenal. And, the testimonials page URL provides our head of new business with a link to put in emails to support the description of our services with the quality of work. Yes, testimonials are a win-win for all involved!
