Customer Testimonials: The Best Marketing Tool to Scale Your Brand

Trust is a very important element for your business success. Research by BigCommerce shows that 72% of trust brands with testimonies and positive reviews.

That’s why customer testimonials matter very much for your business marketing.

In this article we will discuss, the importance of testimonials, the different types of testimonials you can create for your website, and the best places you can place them on your website.

Importance of customer testimonials

Build customer trust and establish credibility

Target customers feel safe buying from brands they trust. So before they do business with any brand they have to trust them.

One way target customers use trust in your brand is by looking out other customers how have previously used your brand.

When they check out what other customers say about you from their testimonials, they trust you more.

Testimonials help establish credibility with your target customers. They make other target customers believe what you offer and how much your products or services help in solving pain points.

It also helps target customers see the value of your business and the great role it plays in helping others solve their challenges.

Help promote your products or services

When customers check out your testimonials and find that most people speak positively about what you offer, it makes it easy to promote your products or services to others.

They are more convinced to use your products or services because other people with similar problems use them.

Create an emotional appeal of your brand

People connect with others emotionally. Engaging your customers makes feel them connected to your brand and engage them more.

When target customers see testimonials from other clients they feel more connected to your brand. That’s why it makes it easy for them to try and use your services or products to solve their pains.

Speed up the purchase process

Your target customers go through different buyer stages before they finally convert into customers.

Customer testimonials help target customers make their decisions with ease as they move through the sales cycle.

They see how other past or current clients love your brand and speak of how awesome it is in helping them. The like to have the first hand in experiencing what other customers have experienced with your brand and try it out.

They work like referrals

Customer testimonials are more like referrals to your business. When a happy customer leaves a testimony it is a signal to other customers that you have the best products or services.

Talking of how great a brand is to other target customers through leaving testimonials is like referring them to your business so they can use your products or services.

And referral marketing is one of the great ways to generate leads draw them to your business. Invesp research shows that 37% of people referred to a brand are more likely to refer to others.

Increase conversions

Target customers first interact with business before making any purchase. They read their blog post content, their landing pages and also look out for what others say about the brand.

Great positive reviews and testimonies can help increase your brand conversions of your target customers who arrive at your website looking out to use your products or services.

They provide social proof

Have you ever brought a product or service because someone recommended it to you? Or have you read the testimony on a website and then bought a product from a brand?.

That’s the power of a testimony. It is easier to buy a product when you hear about it from an influencer in your niche?

Well, that’s how powerful social proof is to your business marketing and testimonials helps provide that social proof to your target customers.

Types of testimonials to use

Now that you have an idea of how important customer testimonials are to your brand marketing, let’s look at the different testimonials you can use.

Quotes

You can reach out to your past or current clients and ask them for a simple testimony you can use for your brand.

A quote from your customers of how great your business products or services are in helping solve pain points. Here are some examples from some of my customers.

Here is one more example from a Buffer client

Interviews

Run an interview with your past or current clients about your brand and collect feedback that you can use as a testimonial for your website.

You can ask a variety of questions including why they choose your brand how effective it has helped them solve their pains.

Here are some questions you can ask your customers as you interview them for testimonies.

These will help draw target customers to your brand, learn more about it, and probably use it to solve their pain points.

Blog post reviews

Many brands have affiliate programs that they use to promote their products or services to their customers.

Through the blog posts, the promoters talk about how awesome a product is to their prospective customers.

When target customers read such posts they learn more about the business value proposition and how effective it can be to help them solve their problems.

Video testimonials

Videos engage more target customers to your business. You can reach your customers and create a video you can place on your website to reach more target customers who visit your website.

Videos draw a big impression to your prospective customers. Ensure the video you get from your past client as testimony is short and engaging.

It should also show target customers the value of your brand products or services. Here are some testimonial videos from Marketo on their Youtube channel.

Research by Wyzowl shows that 47% of target customers say video testimonial works because it shows how a product or service works

Influencer testimonials

Target customers trust businesses more when recommended by influential people in that niche. You can reach out to influencers and ask them for testimonials you can use to reach your target customers.

If your business has high profile customers you can feature them on your website as part of your influencer testimonies.

You can also include logos of those great brands you have served as part of your testimonials. Here is an example of the Kissmetrics brand.

Social testimonials

Sometimes a brand doesn’t ask this kind of testimonials, the current and past clients just give it on your social sites.

You can take screenshots of them and use them on your website. Here is a screenshot of buffer testimonials.

Case studies

These can help target customers know the challenges your customer was facing, how you helped them with your brand products or services, and the results you gave them.

You can create blog posts out of your case studies or take part in it and then place it on your testimonial page with a link to the full case study. Here are some examples of case studies by OptinMonster.

Where to place testimonials on your website

There are different places where you can place testimonials to attract and engage target customers to your brand.

On the home page

This is one of the best places to place your testimonials for your brand. This is the page where most target customers start interacting with a brand.

Placing them on the home page increases the chances of target customer engagement and trust-building for your prospective customers. Here is an example of testimonials on the Zapier home page.

Close to your CTAs

After target customer interaction with your brand, you want them to take action with your brand.

Testimonials can give them a reason to take action and use your business products or services.

That’s why it is important to include some testimonials close to your CTAs to help target customers take action. A good example of this placing of testimonial is on the Hubspot website.

These testimonials convenience your target customers that your products or services are awesome and they should try them.

The testimonial page

You can create an entire page on your website and place testimonials from different customers who have used your products or services.

You can also collect testimonials in a story where your past customers talk about your business and how it has helped them out. Here is an example of Codecademy stories.

Have a great design for the page and place the content in an easy way that target readers can read and engage with.

Email marketing campaigns

Email marketing is a great brand marketing strategy to reach target customers and convince them about your products or services.

To reach more target customers you need a large email list of your target customers.

As you send your email campaigns to target customers, you can include testimonials of your customers to help convince and win the trust of your new target customers.

Share on social sites

Social sites are a great way to engage with target customers. As you engage them and draw them to your business and you can include testimonials.

Your target customers will more likely trust your brand and what you offer when they see what other customers have said about you.

On the sidebar

This makes it easy for target customers to see them as they browse through your website.

As they interact with your website, they can see your testimonials. It’s a great reminder to your target customers how awesome your business is.

Conclusion

Customer testimonials are a great foundation for your business growth, increases conversions, and sales. They are very effective at drawing target customers and engaging them in your brand.

Use the above tips to collect testimonials from customers in different formats. Place them in the best strategic places build trust with potential customers and convert them into customers for your brand.