Testimonials
Testimonials
Testimonials are written or spoken statements that praise or endorse a brand, product, or service. Brands often ask satisfied clients or customers for their testimonials to include in marketing materials. Today, we’re looking at reasons why using testimonials in your marketing strategy helps build trust with your audience and excitement for your products and services:
Why Is It Important To Use Testimonials for Business?
When Should You Use Testimonials?
Why Is It Important To Use Testimonials for Business?
Testimonials aren’t easy to source. Finding a customer with the right personality and voice to show off your brand and one who’s willing to share their experience with you is a challenge. But, it’s worth it to go through the effort of sourcing these testimonials because of all the benefits they bring to your company. Here are a few reasons it’s important to use testimonials in your marketing campaigns:
They Build Credibility
The more genuine good things people have to say about your brand, the more your credibility improves. Think about how you shop for new products and services. Do reviews and real customers’ stamps of approval influence your decisions? If you said yes, you’re not alone. According to a Wyzowl study, 95% of people say both positive and negative reviews influence how they make purchasing decisions.
The more reviews you have, the more credible your company appears to its audience. And the more positive reviews you have, the more competent and helpful your brand seems.
Testimonials Increase Audience Trust
The more credible your brand is, the easier it is to secure the audience’s trust. You can make sure your audience trusts your brand even more by sourcing and sharing testimonials the right way. The words of real customers over influencers and celebrities typically come off more genuine to your audience. There’s less speculation that your brand paid someone for their feedback if that person is essentially a nobody. That’s not to say you can never use influencer or celebrity testimonials, but all the ones you collect should be authentic.
And speaking of authenticity, creating testimonials that sound authentic is also a way to build trust. Don’t encourage your clients to heap on flowery praise and make your brand and products sound larger than life. Instead, guide questions about their experience with functionality, quality of life improvement, and convenience. The more your audience trusts your brand, the more likely they’ll be to become repeat customers and suggest your brand to others.
They Provide Social Proof of Your Work
Testimonials help build your brand’s credibility and audience trust because they’re a form of social proof. Skeptics don’t have to take your marketing team’s or your CEO’s word for how great a product or service is. In the minds of your clients or customers, of course, your brand leadership toots its own horn. Your company wouldn’t exist if they didn’t think it was great.
But real people and even unsolicited influencers and celebrities don’t have to say anything good about your company. They’re free to give honest opinions about what working with your brand is really like versus the perception your company leadership wants to portray. When clients and customers feel like they’re getting a behind-the-scenes look at how your company operates—and it’s positive—they’re more likely to want to investigate further.
Testimonials Show How To Relieve Pain Points
Using testimonials in your marketing is a straightforward way to show clients and customers how your brand relieves their pain points. When collecting information for testimonials, your team can guide the conversation with the respondent to dive deeper into how your products and services made their lives easier or more successful.
This type of guided collection method helps steer your respondent away from empty praise. For example, an impactful testimonial wouldn’t read, “I love CopyPress, and working with the team is great.” That’s a soundbite, but it’s not a helpful testimonial. It doesn’t tell skeptical potential customers what we do or why we’re a top-quality solution.
