While NEED is definitely the most important factor motivating customers to purchase from you, it is also very important for you to focus on other crucial factors. One such factor is TRUST. Earning customers’ trust is beneficial in more than one way. It helps turn existing customers into loyal ones, and they further serve as advocates spreading the word about your product.

If we see the current B2B environments, potential customers invest in products and services of companies deemed trustworthy by others in the industry. So how do you earn customer trust? Well, there are several ways to earn customer trust – taking customer feedback and working on it, fulfilling the promise made when selling the product, building good relationships with the customers, abiding by company values, and through customer reviews and testimonials.

Customer testimonials are among the most powerful trust builders! Current-day customers prefer checking out the testimonials given by other customers before making their purchase decisions.

Considering how they trigger prospects into becoming customers,  marketers need to use this trust-building tool.

Want to build customer trust by posting customer testimonials? Start with reading this article. We discuss everything about customer testimonials in detail.

What are customer testimonials?

Customer testimonials may also be seen as word-of-mouth going digital! So the most basic way to define customer testimonials is by calling them customer recommendations. When a customer is satisfied or is happy with the product and/or the experience they have had with a business, they post testimonials describing their experience. This can be done on the business’s website, social media platforms, and other third-party channels.

Why are customer testimonials so effective?

Apart from communicating about your product, it is also very important for your marketing efforts to create as much trust and credibility as possible for your business. Customers want to know that you can not only solve their problem but that you can do it better than anybody else. Customer testimonials are extremely beneficial in this regard.

Customer testimonials are so effective because they are not the heavily laced sales pitches that the customers feel imposing. Instead, they serve as subtle recommendations that are unbiased and trustworthy. As they come from real people who have experienced the product, they are emotionally appealing. Finally, if you use testimonials appropriately, they will help you convert more prospects into customers.

Additionally, they also serve as social proofs. As we have already discussed, customer testimonials act as trust-building engines. Customers today are going online to understand the product better before making a purchase decision. As they take this route, coming across testimonials from other customers works as social proof that help them weigh their options better.

Types of customer testimonials

Marketers may see customer testimonials as a type of content; a deeper look at them reveals the different types of customer testimonials. Here are a few of them –

1. Social media interactions

Social media interactions serve as excellent ways for testimonials. Customers talking about the product on social media platforms feel much more organic, and they are thus the most effective. Further, these testimonials are quick and easy, and light-hearted. An additional benefit is that they are already on social media, and it thus makes it easy to share again.

2. Case study testimonials

Case studies serve as excellent ways for customers to get a detailed understanding of a previous customer. Case studies can either be written as blog-style posts or as video testimonials. While these are a complex form of storytelling, it is advised to capture snippets from case studies and then post them as testimonials on other platforms.

3. A word from the industry insider

This is quite valuable for B2B companies. Because the testimonial comes from an expert in the industry, there is more weightage to it. A testimonial coming from the founder or a co-founder of a company would not only be more authentic but also increases the company’s reach.

4. Video testimonials

Videos are visual, engaging, and entertaining and thus grab instant attention. Thus, video testimonials are fast becoming compelling marketing tactics. Video testimonials are also effective tools for building trustworthiness, not just an increase in conversions.

It’s not difficult to create an appealing video testimonial these days. Many video creation and editing apps are available to help you with it.

5. From happy customers

These are the testimonials from the people who have interacted with your company and have used your product or service first-hand. These testimonials are usually in the form of quotations. These testimonials are usually short stories. But they are highly effective, and credible, especially when the testimonials also include the customer’s name, firm, and image.

Here’s how Canva showcases testimonials from its customers. We absolutely love it.

The right way to use them

To make your customer testimonials most effective, you must do them right. Here are a few times that will help you do the right.

1. Be selective

Choosing the right testimonies is crucial while trying to use them as marketing tools. Make it a point to select testimonials that include product details and mention points about addressing customers’ pain points instead of directly recommending the product.

2. Use visuals

Make your testimonials look and feel more authentic and organic by adding popular images, audio, and/or video. Studies have proved that adding visuals to your customer’s testimonials boosts your click-through rate significantly.

3. Post testimonials on multiple channels

Upon getting good customer testimonials, your next step would be to draw your prospects’ attention to them. For this, you need to post them on multiple channels.

Make sure to include them on your website, social media, and also on third-party websites. If you are posting them on your website, you can do it on your homepage, case studies page, or contact page, or you may also have a separate testimonials page.

Once you have decided where you wish to put your testimonials, hire a web designer and decide on the best approach to include them on your site.

Make sure that you also have them on different testimonial and review platforms. HubSpot’s App Marketplace is one such platform to post your testimonials.

4. Address customers’ pain points

When selecting the customer testimonials, keep in mind your buyer personas. Testimonials that talk about pain points and say how the product/ service solves them are more relevant. Prospects connect to such testimonials instantly.

5. Do not fake it

A thumb rule when posting customer testimonials is to keep them real. Faking anything on your website, especially testimonials, is not worth the risk. Testimonials are a way of building credibility and trust. How can that be fulfilled if you take the first step by lying? Faking testimonials can damage your reputation, and even if you succeed in gaining business, your consumers are likely to have unreasonable expectations.

6. Include them in your email marketing campaigns

Another promising way to establish your credibility and provide social proof to your target audience is by making testimonials a part of your email marketing campaign.

Getting customer testimonials

Your customers may be happy to have done business with you, but not everyone would go online and write a testimonial proactively… so how do you get a testimonial from a happy customer? Well, you need to ask them to write one for you. You can do this by reaching out to them in different ways like

• Social media
• By sending out post-purchase review emails
• Reward them for giving you a testimonial

Conclusion

Testimonials have always been – and they will continue to be! Especially because of the increase in digital dependence. Customer testimonials serve as terrific illustrations of how stories can be used to promote sales.

In this blog, we have discussed what customer testimonials are, their benefits, and the best practices, along with a couple of examples. This will guide to as you try to leverage customer testimonials as marketing tools.

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