Taking the time to sit down and map out your testimonial marketing strategy can feel like a tremendous endeavor. Especially when you see all the possible routes you could take. Yet, it’s incredibly necessary to get started if you’ve been putting it off. As you probably know, 90% of consumers read online reviews, and 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they would a personal recommendation.
So yeah—it’s important.
Luckily, we know of 4 key ways you can kick-start your strategy and start building up the backbone of your company’s reputation. Let’s dive in!
1. Discover and share your customer’s social media feedback
With over 4.26 billion people currently using social media, and expected growth to over 6 billion by 2027, it’s safe to say your target audience is hanging out somewhere on social media.
That being said, keep an eye out in your comments section and messages for people leaving feedback of any kind. Also, check for mentions you may have missed before. Monitoring tools like Facebook and Twitter analytics can help ensure you never miss an important mention again.
In other words…
Be alert. Be aware. Be active.
You’ll be surprised at what a rich source your social media platforms can be, filled with user-generated testimonials. Find the best ones, then repost them on your social pages and website. This real and recent feedback serves as social proof you can use to promote your brand, product, or services. Plus, these testimonials add the credibility your brand needs and your customers want to make informed purchasing decisions about your offerings.
2. Post a testimonial request form on your website
You might think adding a boring form to your website would get little to no engagement but…
These forms can be an excellent way to prompt happy customers to drop a quick line about how they feel about your offerings. It should be a simple ask-and-take, leaving as few hoops as possible to jump through.
Some great locations for these brief forms would be in your:
- Website footer section
- Sidebar widget
- Post-purchase page
Running sample “tests” to see where the form achieves the best results is a great strategy. This ensures you are getting the most engagement possible.
Don’t worry about annoying your customer. This isn’t a pop-up demanding they drop their email address or you will hold their device hostage.
Give them a clear option—then wait patiently for the results to roll in.
3. Send email testimonial surveys
Like social media, there are over 4 billion daily email users. Some of which may not be actively following your business on social platforms.
Using emails in testimonial marketing can be a complicated yet rewarding form of outreach. Many companies fear they will come off as spammy or unauthentic. If done wrong, it can absolutely lead to that. Therefore, it’s incredibly important to be calculated with testimonial marketing through strategic email campaigns.
The most common way to reach out is by sending a customized request through a survey. Again, we want to make the process as simple as we can for the customer. Give them as little resistance as possible. This will maximize your results.
Things to include in a brief survey would be:
- Name
- Product purchased
- Product rating
- A few words about your experience
Keep it short, sweet, and to the point.
The cool thing about email surveys is, with a little legwork, you can automate them to be sent out at opportune moments in the customer journey. This will give you a steady stream of valuable testimonial resources you can tap into whenever you want.
➡️ Discover how to leverage UserEvidence to canvas hundreds/thousands of customers at scale and collect feedback automatically at opportune moments in the customer journey.
4. Snag unprompted client feedback
Seems simple enough, right?
Sometimes customers and clients are so overjoyed with your offerings that they have to reach out directly. Occasionally they will email you, or maybe even take you to a 3rd-party review site like Yelp or G2.
This group of people is showing interest without being asked. These are your super fans.
The feedback you receive from this group has the highest chance of making the biggest splash. Why? They are the ones that took the initiative to contact you. Expect lengthy write-ups—AKA marketing gold.
Be sure to inform the person on the backend of your generic email (i.e. info@yourwebsite.com) to always be aware of possible incoming feedback. The routes they take can vary, so always be on the lookout.
Make sure you don’t miss one of these diamonds.
A Testimonial Marketing Option for… All?
As you’ve read through the four options we’ve laid out, you may be thinking it’s going to be difficult to get started with—even with just one of the strategies. And you would be right, partly.
What if there was a way to optimize ALL of them at once?
The UserEvidence Platform enables you to automatically collect, review, and share your customer success stories without the hassle of trial and error—all on your own. It also automatically compiles your testimonials into a shareable 3rd party verified library page.
Can you do it on your own? Absolutely.
Is it easier than using UserEvidence? Absolutely not.
Final thoughts
While testimonial marketing can seem daunting, what matters is you take the first step. Get started. Continue to grow and benefit from your business’s online reputation.
We’ve given you four great ways to start right away. And while it may seem overwhelming and difficult, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, you could start leveraging your customer’s feedback as soon as today. ⬇️
With UserEvidence, you can capitalize on your customer testimonials, all within our easy-to-use web-based application.
Book your demo today and start collecting, reviewing, and putting your best testimonial marketing foot forward.
