What Is a Testimonial? How to Use Testimonials to Attract Customers

With technology growing fast, customers today care more and more about the reviews of people who came before them when choosing a product. As a business, whatever you sell, keeping on improving product quality and sharpening your skills is essential.

There are many ways to do this, and one of them is the testimonial, or customer endorsement, which many businesses use in their marketing strategy as an effective support tool. So what is a testimonial? To understand this tool and its role for a business better, read on Mona Media in the article below.

What is a testimonial?

Put simply, a testimonial is the feedback, review or comment a customer gives after trying and using a company's products or services. The main goal of a testimonial is to generate potential customers for the sales team while building a closer relationship with users. To do this, the marketing and customer service teams need to make full use of positive reviews as a way to attract customers, so sales reps can win and convert valuable leads more easily.

However, converting leads should not be the only goal of a testimonial. In practice, if a business focuses all its effort on conversion rather than the customer experience, it will be much harder to get positive reviews later. And without good reviews like that, you have no good content to attract potential customers.

How to attract potential customers with testimonials

Use social proof

Whether you are running a business or studying it, you will see that no communication strategy attracts people more strongly than social proof. If you haven't done this yet, you should try it.

To apply this method well, find your 10 most profitable customers, keep your relationship with them, and ask for specific feedback on their real experience after using your products or services. Then find ways to turn those stories into testimonials or case studies, to serve as examples for future potential customers.

Social proof is the power of the crowd, so make sure you collect many different reviews from customers who are truly satisfied with your product, and share them on social media and your company website.

Use visual content

Customer reviews and feedback are more appealing and persuasive when they are recorded as authentic videos and clear, real photos.

For loyal customers, invest in filming testimonial videos with positive feedback and comments, to give potential customers the clearest, most concrete proof. Whether you make the video yourself with some equipment and software or hire a professional production company, make sure the video is posted on different channels such as YouTube, your website and social networks in an eye-catching, distinctive way.

Make reviews more credible

You can add trust to reviews and comments about product quality by finding "real people with real stories". New customers usually won't take the time to contact reviewers directly, so real witnesses like these have a big effect on their decision to choose a product or service.

Use the crowd

A good approach is to turn a satisfied customer's success story into a presentation at company events.

If your company attends trade shows, conferences or any event, make sure you have a compelling customer story ready to tell, which is also a sales trick. Whether the storyteller is a company leader, a successful manager or the happy customers themselves, tell those stories in as many ways as you can to as many potential customers as possible.

Benefits testimonials bring to a business

Make customers feel valued

According to an Adobe survey, up to 40% of a business's revenue comes from existing customers. That means caring about the experience of current customers is one way to keep revenue stable. So a testimonial works as a link, a "suggestion box" the business offers its customers.

Clearly, whenever customers take the effort to comment on or review a product or service, they want the business to listen to and value their opinion. That is why many businesses pay close attention to testimonials. It shows customers that you respect them. Of course, words must be backed by action: respect also means you really take their views on board, improving and adjusting to customer tastes. This makes building loyal, trusting relationships with your customers easier than ever.

Give customers useful information

According to Bright Local, a website for online marketing tools, up to 84% of people who visit a website tend to trust online reviews or recommendations from friends and family. So using testimonials is a great way to give your potential customers useful information.

It is great when positive reviews from past customers are shown right on the website, where any visitor can easily see them for reference. Objective reviews from "experienced people" who came before are a source of information, and an indirect way to promote your product or service quickly without the pushy feel of advertising.

Likewise, showing genuine shares from many earlier customers builds goodwill and trust in potential customers, so they convert more easily.

Drive positive change in the business

In practice, as a seller you have to listen to customers to understand buyers' needs. A testimonial is a very effective way to learn what your customers need. It lets you review what is not right with your product, and what differs between customers' real needs and what you offer.

All of this helps the business improve, from product quality to customer care. And based on how well you meet real customer needs, you can plan your next products and tap into market tastes. It is a great way to help you increase sales for your business.

What to watch out for when using testimonials

Understanding what a testimonial is isn't enough. There is also one important point to keep in mind if you want to use testimonials well.

At the right time, in the right moment, in the right way

Posting customer reviews on your fanpage or website does not automatically build the trust that attracts potential customers. In practice, using testimonials is a kind of marketing strategy if you want to get the most out of this approach.

Based on that, think carefully about the style of the reviews customers give, which one fits your product and raises your brand's reputation. Also consider where and when to show customer endorsements. It could be a spot where customers can easily see them, or reviews about specific details of your service

Choose the right testimonial tool

Many tools help businesses create testimonials, such as Testimonials Widget, Kudobuzz Testimonial Widget, Easy Testimonials and more. Each has its own strengths, for example:

• Testimonials Widget offers an advanced version plus free versions that show customer reviews randomly or selectively
• Kudobuzz Testimonial Widget collects all customer reviews from every source such as Facebook, email, blogs and more.

So, depending on your own needs and purpose, choose the testimonial tool that works best and most efficiently for your business.

Conclusion

We hope the points shared in this article help you understand more about what a testimonial is , along with its benefits and how to use it as effectively as possible, so you can apply it properly in your business. Wishing you success!