Great customer testimonials can give your company more credibility than even the best sales pitch. Positive, unsolicited reviews can persuade potential customers while giving you an edge over your competition. According to one Nielsen study, 92 percent of consumers will trust a recommendation from someone they know and, perhaps more surprisingly, 70 percent will trust a recommendation from someone they don’t know.
Clearly, testimonials are powerful marketing tools. However, there’s a fine line between enthusiastic customer testimonials and cheesy self-promotion. How you manage such reviews has the power to increase your brand credibility or send your potential customers running to another vendor.
Tips for managing your customer testimonials
- Embrace long form advertising. Long form advertising refers to the art of creating substantial narratives that not only explain your product, but show potential customers how it can fill a need. Websites and TV infomercials are great examples of long form advertising. These platforms are excellent places to use your customer testimonials since they give you the time to fully develop their story beyond an abbreviated blurb.
- Make sure to use testimonials that are specific. While testimonials like “great product” and “love it” are uplifting to you, they don’t do a lot to inform potential customers and help them decide whether to purchase a product or not. Better to use testimonials that describe how the person used the if they should buy the product. It’s acceptable to edit your testimonials in minor ways that don’t change the message, such as shortening the length and correcting grammar and spelling.
- Include personal information about the person leaving the testimonial. Make sure to include the name, date, city and any other personal information about the person who is recommending your product. If possible, get a photograph from the person. The more information you include, the more believable the testimonial will seem to potential customers and they will more easily relate to the reviewer’s story.
- Use video content. While a photograph is helpful in making a person’s testimonial more believable, a video message has even greater impact. Displaying such video testimonials among your product pages can go a long way toward improving your brand recognition. Potential customers will come to associate your products with those helpful videos and thus be more likely to purchase from you when they are ready to buy.
Use customer testimonials wisely to validate your brand. Embrace long form advertising, make sure your testimonials are specific,include personal information about the person recommending your product, and consider using video content to give your testimonials more appeal.
To learn more about making the most of customer testimonials and how to use them effectively, visit www.AsSeenOnTV.pro today. We’ve been helping ecommerce retailers like you master the digital marketplace for more than a decade.