Customer recruits customers: This is the dream of every company. Because nothing is as convincing as the advocacy of a happy target audience. This effect can be achieved on websites with so-called testimonials.
But what are testimonials anyway? Where do you get customer testimonials from, how do they work and what is important when integrating them? We explain everything you need to know about the topic.
Testimonials: a definition
Testimonials are understood in classic advertising (TV spots, etc.) the concrete advocacy for a product or company by a well-known person. The status and notoriety of the person rub off on the product and are firmly linked, e.g. in advertisements.
With regard to online marketing, the term testimonial is to be understood somewhat differently. Because in contrast to commercials on television where everyone is clearly aware that they are being confronted with advertising, things are a little more subtle on the web. The keyword is authenticity.
Therefore, testimonials related to websites are content elements in which real customer testimonials (sometimes with additional information such as photos and names).
Of course it is also possible to work with prominent advocates on the web. For the broad mass of medium-sized companies that do not have the appropriate budget, the way of real customer voices has been established here.
What do testimonials do on websites?
Testimonials belong on a website the so-called trust elements. These are content elements that serve to build trust. So it should be shown that it is a trustworthy and reputable website.
This trust of your target group is an immensely important currency. Such elements are essential, especially in e-commerce, where people trust you with their account details. But testimonials can also do additional persuasive work on landing pages that head for a specific goal (download, contact request…).
You probably know it yourself: Before you book a product or a specific service, you google it and search specifically for customer testimonials. This includes reviews, ratings, and similar. After all, we value such customer testimonials as the unadulterated truth about a product.
If you, as the website owner, now deliver corresponding customer opinions in the form of testimonials, you can decision-making process if necessary accelerate and move your target group faster to the desired action (purchase, download, newsletter registration, book service …). Overall, testimonials can help to increase the conversion rate!
How to get testimonials
It’s like so often in life: If you don’t ask, you won’t get anything. This means: If you need testimonials, you have to ask people about them.
How you do that depends on your company and your target audience, of course. If you sell a mass product in the B2C sector, it is often sufficient if you include appropriate ratings (e.g. Trustpilot, Google reviews …) and test reports or reviews instead of personal testimonials.
However, if you work in B2B and possibly only sell small quantities of a higher-priced service or product, then it makes sense to ask customers specifically for opinions. This is especially easier when it comes to a product that requires a lot of advice. After all, you were already in close contact with the customers during the purchase process.
You can then simply contact these people a few weeks after the purchase or contact them after the service has been provided, ask for their opinion and of course clarify whether you are also allowed to use it online. If you have convinced your clientele with your product, many will be willing to make advocacy.
Of course, you can also give incentives, e.g. discount codes or free products for reviews. But if you already have a good connection to your target group, it often works without such promises.
3 steps to sensibly integrate customer voices on websites
If you want to include testimonials on your website, you must first think about how you want to implement this. You have to consider three steps in total:
The right position: Psychologically, it has been proven that placing the testimonial elements just above the CTA of a website.
So do you have a landing page, at the end of which there is a contact form for requesting advice, the testimonial should be used directly above it. Testimonials, therefore, act as a link between the information about the product or service and the actual campaign. Here they are particularly strong.
The right design: There are countless ways to display testimonials on websites. Delimited boxes have proven their worth, one for each customer’s voice.
These can then be arranged in a carousel so that your target group can click through them. However, a display with clickable photos that lead to the associated case studies or longer texts, or a larger tiled look is also possible. In general, there are hardly any limits to the design, as long as the element can be operated intuitively and the message comes across well.
The relevant information: In addition to the opinion on the product or service, there are other elements that are useful or necessary. In the B2B sector, you should, for example, provide a name and company or name and job title.
A suitable profile photo or company logo creates additional trust and ensures visual variety. In B2C, the name and the photo are enough, logically no company or job title is required here. In addition, you can set up a rating system (e.g. five stars) and display these stars below the customer’s opinion.
You too can create more trust on your website
As soon as you offer a product or service on the web, testimonials are one sensible choice to do some extra persuasion. Ideally, if you haven’t already started using customer advocacy on your website to attract customers, you should start doing so right away.
So just think about where you get the right votes from – and integrate them profitably. It will definitely be worth it …
