The Role of Reviews and Testimonials: Building Trust with Your Audience
Tomatoes from Silly Goose Farm.
Reviews and testimonials are a powerful way of improving business credibility and building trust with your audience through social proof. People trust other users to provide truthful information about their experience with your brand. Besides building trust directly with your customers, evidence of the quality of your products and services is great for search engine optimization (SEO), which helps improve your business’s online visibility.
Why Reviews are Important for Your Business
Building trust with your customers is key to a successful business, but there are other benefits of asking for and receiving reviews and testimonials. They help you to:
Gather Valuable Feedback
Of course, we all want positive reviews, but all feedback is good feedback! Do your best not to take any mixed or negative feedback personally, and instead use it to make your business better by improving how you meet your customers’ needs.
Increase Conversions
Positive feedback encourages new customers to trust your brand and make a purchase, which boosts sales and conversion rates.
Download this free guide for tips on optimizing your online store.
Boost Engagement
No matter which marketing channel you use to acquire reviews, engagement is a good thing! A customer clicking a link in an email improves your email reputation, and a click on an Instagram story helps to increase the visibility of your post.
How to Get Testimonials from Customers
All you have to do is ask! Reminding customers that it’s a free way to help a small business can be very effective – you might have followers who want to support your business but aren’t able to financially, so leaving a review is a great way of showing their appreciation.
On Social Media
Make a Highlight on your Instagram profile that clearly demonstrates how customers can leave a review. Try offering an incentive for leaving a review, such as a 10% off discount code for a simple Google review.
For an even greater impact, try offering free items or a larger discount for a more complex review. Put out a request for video testimonials that can be posted as a Reel and let your customers influence your followers to purchase!
You can also collect reviews directly from your Facebook page. Make a post and request that your followers leave you a review!
On Your Website
Add a pop-up to your website requesting reviews. Be sure to include a link to your Google Business Profile, or wherever you’re collecting reviews, so it’s easy for them to follow through.
Pro tip: Google Business allows you to reply to all of your reviews – be sure to respond to everyone and say thanks for their feedback. If the feedback was negative, it’s a great opportunity to offer a solution to their complaint. Furthermore, it shows everyone who reads your reviews that you care about your customers and are willing to address any issues that arise.
Learn all about how to use incentives to encourage action in this blog post.
In Your Emails
Try adding a section to your newsletter requesting reviews. You can include a positive review as an example, and include a button directing people to write their own.
You can also experiment with email automations to request reviews. Create an email that is automatically sent to customers one or two weeks after making a purchase and ask for their feedback.
Where to Use Reviews & Testimonials
The simple answer is: use them everywhere! Featuring reviews and testimonials on your website, in emails, on social media, and even on printed flyers or postcards is a great way to show that you are a trusted brand that delivers on its promises. Just be sure that the content of the review or testimonial is relevant to the product or service you are promoting.