How to incorporate customer testimonials on your website

Think about the last few products you bought online. If you’re like many people, part of your journey toward your purchase involved reading the opinions of past buyers — an enthusiastic endorsement just might have been that final reason you clicked “Buy.”

Positive customer experiences with your brand are a rich vein to mine for marketing no matter the size of your business. Nothing inspires people to do business with you like hearing glowing reports about what you offer. One way to capture these is through customer testimonials displayed on your website.

Customer testimonials can help improve trust, engagement, visibility, and profits. One 2019 study by Trust Pilot found that 80 percent of digital shoppers globally said that brands that have a lot of online reviews are more trustworthy. And 94percent said positive reviews are a leading factor that increases their trust in a company. As Inc. puts it, “Never underestimate the power of a great testimonial.”

Boasting such strong benefits, testimonials are a must-have for companies that want to expand their customer base. Read on to learn more about the benefits of testimonials and how to figure out the right type to pursue on your own website.

Why customer testimonials are irreplaceable

Customers are far more likely to trust the opinions of other customers than they are to trust the company’s opinion of itself. Even when those customer opinions are presented by the company — such as via a video on its website — trust is established by the fact that testimonials identify the customer making the recommendation by name, sometimes including a title or other affiliation and a photo or video.

Seeing another real person recommending the company’s products inspires other potential customers to consider purchasing too. This dynamic creates new customers, which leads to new revenues and further opportunities for more word-of-mouth marketing.

Common types of customer testimonials

There are several types of customer testimonials, each of which has its own requirements and needs a particular amount of time and money to create. Quote testimonials, for example, are relatively easy to acquire, while video testimonials are more time- and resource-intensive. Let’s dig into the options.

Quote testimonials

A quote testimonial is presented as a quote from an existing customer who is identified by name and perhaps also title or other affiliation. Photos often accompany quote testimonials. Presenting the image of the person speaking makes the testimonial feel more authentic and trustworthy to readers.

The benefits of the quote testimonial are that it is simple to obtain, and can be presented anywhere on your website without taking up too much space. Website visitors can take in these testimonials with little effort — in fact, they may not be able to help reading them as they scroll your site. A best practice is to incorporate these in the middle or bottom of your homepage and other pages.

Written testimonials

Customers can write out testimonials to recommend your product or service in a variety of contexts, including a blog post on the customer’s own site, a post on your site, or the reviews section of various sites where your products are sold. You as a company may orchestrate a written testimonial, such as a case study or press release, that you can display on your website.

This format has the benefit of versatility. Written testimonials can be used and displayed in a wide variety of ways and contexts. One particularly powerful way of generating written testimonials is to work with affiliates, who will write reviews of your products on their site in exchange for a small fee each time a customer clicks through and purchases.

Video testimonials

Video testimonials are short videos of customers talking about how your company or product helps them. These videos should be fairly short but detailed enough to make each one unique and helpful to an audience that is trying to decide whether to purchase.

Videos take more to produce than other types of testimonials. You need the resources to shoot, edit, and finalize the video. This can require high-quality video equipment and possibly a green screen, as well asediting software that can create a professional-level product.

But this can be worth it, as videos have the benefit of engaging — even entertaining — the audience and increasing their trust. If the testimonial addresses particular concerns that potential customers may have, all the better. Display these videos on your website with a title that indicates they are reports from happy customers.

Social media testimonials

Social media testimonials are reviews that satisfied customers post on social media platforms, either unprompted or at your request. Social media testimonials are displayed on the social media account of the person who posted them, but also show up as associated with your company via tagging or hash tagging.

These testimonials might be visually appealing — sometimes including photos or a video created by the customer — and add an extra dose of authenticity to the brand, as viewers tend to see them as organic and customer-motivated instead of orchestrated. You can display these testimonials on your website as images or embedded posts, as well as boost them on your social media channels.

How to choose the best type of testimonial for your business

The best type of testimonial for your business is the type you are able to acquire and produce without too much difficulty while remaining on target for your brand. Some companies can easily create a high-quality video testimonial, but others may not have the right equipment or enough time. In that case, it’s far better to secure a quote than forgo a testimonial altogether.

Certain formats may lend themselves better to one type of company than another. Companies whose products are visually appealing may want to encourage user-generated social media testimonials. Companies that sell highly technical products may do better with written testimonials in which a customer can lay out more detailed reasoning or address particular concerns.

In the end, there’s no company, no matter the size or type, that won’t benefit from customer testimonials of some nature, whether it’s a bold quote simply saying “WOW!” or a highly produced video laying out all the reasons to click “Buy.”