Driving traffic to your website requires dedication, time and money. Once you get people there, you want to ensure you grab their attention and gain their trust. Adding factors such as testimonials can help show users your business is legitimate and others are happy with your product or service.
Figuring out where and when to share customer testimonials isn’t always easy. Should you utilize video? Perhaps a few words of praise are all that’s needed? Where should the testimonials go? How often and how many examples should you share? Figuring out the best way to showcase them can make you stand out from your competitors.
How Can I Make My Testimonials Interesting?
About 72% of people think positive online reviews are much more convincing than anything a business says about itself. With so many turning to reviews and testimonials to figure out if they want to do business with your brand, sharing the best ones on your website makes sense.
The last thing you want to do is make your website look exactly like your competitors’ sites, though. It’s crucial to find interesting ways to share the information and keep their interest. The best testimonials are easy to read and presented in a visually appealing way. Here are some of the best things to focus on for great testimonials on your website:
1. Put a Face to the Words
Add in some images of the people sharing the testimonials. Words alone aren’t nearly as convincing as words and an image the user can see. They’ll relate to some of the people you list and be able to see they are real individuals sharing their experience with your brand.
Source: https://dribbble.com/testimonials
Dribble uses a variety of styles on their page, with a few faces mixed in as photographs and videos. The combination of text and images presents a powerful picture of what the site can do for various types of creators.
2. Vary the Selections
One of the biggest advantages to adding testimonials to your website is that you can handpick which ones appear. Rather than choosing ones that say essentially the same thing, try to focus on different benefits of your business.
What are the most unique benefits to choosing you over a competitor? How can you showcase the pros to your site visitors?
3. Use Third-Party Reviews
Another idea is to mix in some third-party review site clips. People aren’t beholden to your brand when they go on a review site and share a few words. Those glowing reviews hold a lot of weight with potential customers.
Source: https://shutterandsound.com/reviews
Shutter & Sound does something interesting on their site to share snippets of people’s words with their visitors. They curate reviews from sites, such as The Knot and WeddingWire. The page is laid out grid-style, which creates a streamlined appearance for users.
4. Consider Placement
Think about where on your site is the best placement for your testimonials. You may want to share them after the person figures out what you offer. Where in the buyer’s journey is the best time to showcase what others said about your business.
Should you include a testimonial above the fold or below? For some sites, they might work best scattered here and there. Try different placement and conduct A/B tests to see where the testimonials perform best with your target audience.
5. Add Videos
Video testimonials bring a personal touch to your testimonials. Because each of your customers has a different personality, the variety of tones, attitude and words will show potential leads people from all walks of life are happy with your product or service.
Source: https://www.codecademy.com
Codecademy shares learner stories to explain how people are finding inspiration from their coding courses. Some of the people they showcase include a healthcare administrator, a stay-at-home mom who sought a new career and an electrical engineer. All sought something new from their time at Codecademy and changed their lives in some way. The stories are highly inspiring.
6. Keep Posts Short
Your testimonials are different from case studies. You don’t want to make them so lengthy that you lose focus on the key factor you want to share. Stick to a single point at a time, whether it’s excellent customer service or results.
If a testimonial is more than a paragraph or two, look for ways to shorten it. Remember people are short on time, so they want information they can absorb quickly.
7. Be Authentic
It’s crucial you only use real testimonials and reviews. Never make them up or have people you personally know write them. The internet has a way of uncovering such tricks and you’ll look like you aren’t honest to potential customers.
It’s fine to message your top clients and ask if they’d be willing to share a few words about your business. Just make sure it’s in their words and they offer the review of their own free will. It’s probably best to not offer any compensation either as they could be seen more as a paid endorsement than a testimonial.
Add a Few at a Time
You don’t have to start with dozens of testimonials to make an impact on site visitors. Add the ones you have and you can always import additional ones at a future date. A great review may also garner others as your customers see the words their counterparts shared. A few great testimonials can add a lot of interest and detail to your website.
Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.