The importance of Customer Reviews

A surprisingly lacking feature on many business websites are customer testimonials. This seemingly simple addition can be the determining factor for whether a potential client calls your business or leaves your website.

Most companies with any degree of success will have satisfied clients. There is no doubt that people are more inclined to listen to people similar to them, rather than listen to a company advertising themselves. With the last century of so being dominated by marketing and advertising from products, each saying they’re the best you can buy, people have slowly but surely tuned off of any promotional copywriting.

While the information provided and how it’s formated on a website is still very important for client acquisition, it’s hard to say that praising your product is going to get you any strong followers. Instead, it’s important to showcase the honest opinions of those who already took that risk with you.

A customer testimonial should always be in a prominent place on your website (ex. Homepage or Landing Page). While it may be useful to provide a full-length letter of recommendation, it’s highly recommend to introduce a testimonial with an excerpt of the whole recommendation. For example, a short but effective testimonial could go something like this:

“We hired Motoza to help promote our network of relationship advice websites that barely had any traffic…the number of visitors and signups shot through the roof and show no signs of stopping. Thank you again Motoza, you helped make our online business a success!”

This simple recommendation not only encourages users to read more, but also adds a bit of much needed trust to new visitors.

In addition to keeping recommendations highly visible and brief, it’s usually recommended to show an image of the person giving the recommendation, or a logo (if you’re B2B). Studies show that having a face associated to words always creates a stronger connection (and trust).

If possible, the best method of customer testimonials is videos. Simply call up a satisfied client and ask them if they’d be willing to produce a short webcam video expressing their satisfaction with your product.

Regardless of what medium you use, you very likely have happy stories to share. Make sure to let all your new visitors know of their satisfaction, and you should see an increase in contacts or conversions.