You probably already know how important customer reviews and testimonials are in terms of marketing your products and services. They help to break down the barriers your potential customers may have when trying to decide whether or not you are trustworthy enough to do business with. So here are 5 ways to show off your customer reviews for local business.
As a source of social proof, reviews and testimonials can bring a lot of credibility to your business.
People love social proof and are often looking subconsciously for ‘permission’ to buy something.
A positive review or recommendation will often give them the permission they are seeking, which ultimately results in higher conversions and more revenue.
Whether you are an Accountant, Plumber, Mechanic, Coffee Shop, Beautician or any other local service company, it is important to build up a certain level of trust with your potential customers, and reviews and testimonials can help you do just that.
In other words, they can bring an incredible level of kudos and profitability that advertising alone cannot achieve, and businesses cannot afford to ignore.
Maybe your business already has some great reviews and you’d like to get more eyes on them. This is key.
Here are five places you can show them off for maximum exposure.
1. Your Website
Displaying customer reviews on your actual website will really help draw in sales because website visitors are already interested in your business. First though you need a really nice website that customers find attractive and can easily navigate.
So putting your customer reviews and testimonials where they can clearly see them will only work to your benefit. The home landing page is ideal for this.
A testimonials page would also be great, but don’t be shy about posting a few of them on your home page and other pages as well.
2. Social Media
It’s hardly surprising that displaying your reviews on social media is going to give you ultimate exposure.
You don’t have to go wild and hit every platform possible, but with millions of visitors every day, these sites give you the opportunity to show off your ratings to a massive number of people.
Take Facebook for example.
If you go to the ‘About’ section on your business page timeline, (you’ll see it if you edit the address section), there’s an option to check a box which reads show map, check-ins and star ratings on the page?
Other main sites are Pinterest, and Instagram. Both great platforms for local marketing and driving potential customers to offers or info on your website.
3. Place Them Inside Your e-Books or Reports
If you’re giving away free e-books or reports to get opt-ins for your email list, put your reviews and testimonials inside of them to boost results.
You are already giving them helpful and valuable information by providing the content, so why not let reader know how highly others rate you.
Quite often, short ‘How To’ books and reports go viral, so including your reviews and testimonials will further add to the fact that your business is the right one to meet their needs.
4. Add Them to Your Printed Marketing Materials
Just like everything mentioned above, reviews and testimonials can also help any printed advertising perform better.
Most of the time you may be limited on space, but it only really takes one or two reviews to show prospects that you are reputable. People have a really short attention span when reading, so again you don’t need to go overboard.
5. At Your Place of Business
Showing off your reviews and testimonials inside of your place of business is powerful. Getting them through the door is hard enough, so once they’re in you want to make them feel assured and comfortable.
It’s a great way to show existing customers that they’ve made the right choice and can go a long way in customer retention and referrals.
Reviews and testimonials themselves are important. But it’s where you display them that brings the real value. All to often people keep them hidden, somehow like they’d be showing off if they brought them to the fore.
Displaying them will definitely shine a positive light on your business, increase conversions, and help you generate more sales.
Negative Reviews
Lastly, all businesses will suffer some sort of negative review. Naturally, it is a cause of concern and can literally cause business owners to go into some sort of meltdown, especially when they seem to get more negatives than positives.
Often it’s not because the business is bad at something, it’s simply that people nowadays are more vocal when they experience something other than what they were expecting.
Take the rough with the smooth and don’t be afraid to mix in a few negatives along with the positives. It will make you appear more real, and make the positives more real too.
However, resist the temptation to fight back and get into a slanging match. It will only serve to make you look unprofessional.
Instead, try to turn the negative into a positive concern by offering sincere apologies for the disappointing experience and ask for ways you can put it right.
Often, that will be the last you hear about it because it wasn’t such a big deal anyway. And that way, you will have had the last word!
Please feel free to add your comments or questions to this article as we love to hear from you.