The importance of testimonials is often overlooked in B2B marketing. There are multiple online reports and surveys on consumer behavior patterns that show that 9 out of 10 people trust a genuine customer review over a business ad. A review from a happy client has more potential to convince your future customer than you do.
But customer reviews or testimonials are not usually part of the monthly content creation calendar. Ideally, marketers should create a consistent practice to collect and publish customer reviews on a company’s website, social media pages, and other communication channels.
What’s needed? A consistent process to gather and publish this high-quality content.
Here are some quick tips to get started:
- Have a plan that spells out when you’ll ask for a review from your client. This could happen once a job is completed or for ongoing clients, it could be at project completion or specific time intervals, for example.
- Create an easy-to-fill-out template that the client can use to add the necessary information. They can either submit their feedback via the template or write a personal review.
- Review and circulate the testimonial within your internal team for feedback and be sure to get your client’s approval to finalize.
- Design a testimonial graphic that can be used every time a review is posted.
Once ready, the review can be published on multiple platforms. For example:
- On your website’s home page, which attracts the most traffic
- On your product or services page where your customer is likely to go after visiting the homepage
- On social media channels. Remember to tag your client – with their approval – and the company for higher visibility.
- Via an email marketing campaign to prospects
- In a blog or case study for long-term use
Recently, I was excited to find that a former client has testimonials working in their favor. Breathe Well-being is an Indian Y-Combinator start-up that has designed a Type 2 Diabetes reversal program. The website claims to have reversed 10,000+ cases already. That’s a tall order. So, I went to check their Google reviews. They have less than 100 reviews with an overall 4.2 rating. Most of the reviews I read were real and genuine, some quoting their HbA1c reduction levels – a vote of confidence for a person with diabetes looking for a solution.
As with any digital marketing endeavor, there are some challenges involved. Clients may not be forthright to give a review, or it might just take time with follow-ups that can be exhausting. Having a process in place will set you up for the best chance of success. Even if the reviews are sporadic, their potential to influence future customers is powerful.
If you want help putting a process in place for testimonials to work their magic, reach out to our team.
