Using Testimonials as Blog Content in 2023
Showing the user experience as part of your digital marketing strategy effectively achieves your website’s success. That’s why you’ll need to take testimonials as blog content, and in this post, we’ll show you how to do it.
We are living in a new post-pandemic digital era, and that has made consumers more demanding. Every time someone consumes something, look for feedback from those who have already consumed it. This premise is valid for products, services, and even entertainment, among many other things.
This reality makes it necessary to incorporate testimonials as blog content in 2023. However, it is a work that many do not yet know how to do. For that, in Affiliate Marketing for Success, we do this type of post because we want to take you hand in hand towards the success of your blog.
Why use testimonials as blog content?
In today’s age of abundant information available on the internet, people often look for the opinion of others before making a purchase decision. This is where testimonials can be a valuable tool for businesses to win the trust of their potential customers and boost sales.
Testimonials transfer emotions and experiences, which helps build trust and credibility with your audience. Sharing their positive experience with a product or service can encourage others to try it. On the other hand, negative feedback can alert potential customers to steer clear of a product or service.
The most effective form of recommendation is word of mouth, and as a blogger, you can manage these recommendations to your advantage. Incorporating testimonials into your strategy into your content plan can be an excellent way to showcase the experiences of satisfied customers and encourage others to try your offerings.
How to get testimonials for your blog
When a customer is satisfied, getting their testimony is not a considerable problem. They will always be happy and willing to say something. However, it would be best to encourage your users to express their experience and know this is very important.
The first recommendation is not to offer an incentive in exchange for a user’s testimonial. Doing so can be taken as a payment, detracting from credibility and damaging your reputation. The idea is that a happy user shows how cheerful he is to share his experience.
You must use multiple communication channels to obtain each testimonial to achieve this. Each of these pathways can be:
Social media is the communication channel par the excellence of brands with their customers. So every time someone manifests something positive in this way, you’ll have to share it and multiply it.
Reviews: Contact your most loyal customers and ask them for a written or video review of their experience on your blog. This will make them feel considered and increase their satisfaction when visiting your website. Some tools request reviews within your website through a form and then publish them.
Email marketing: You can send a form to ask directly what they think of your blog through an email marketing campaign. Remember to request all the data of each user and tell them that their testimonial will be published.
Make testimony effective
This section is to clarify that requesting testimony is not everything. It is also essential to guide the user to do so in the best way. Remember that they don’t always know what you need, so you’ll need to be specific about the data they need to provide.
To make it easier, here are five steps that will make each testimony effective and therefore make your job much easier:
Incorporating Testimonials into Your Marketing Plan
There are several ways to incorporate user testimonials into your marketing plan, including:
- In your blog posts
- Video for different platforms
- On each page of your website
- On the landing page
- Create an entire page for testimonials
Incorporating user testimonials into your marketing plan effectively builds trust with your audience and increases sales. By following these guidelines, you can collect effective testimonials and use them to your advantage.
Identifying the Right Testimonials
The first step in using testimonials as blog content is identifying the right people.
You likely know some of your customers personally if you’re in a niche market. These are great candidates for testimonials because they can speak directly from experience and offer insight into what makes your business so special. If you don’t have any personal connections with customers, consider reaching out through social media channels or even emailing them directly if they’ve left their contact information on their review page (which many do).
Once you’ve found potential sources of testimonials, it’s time to find out what makes them tick by asking questions about themselves: What do they like about working with us? Why did they choose us for another company? How has our service helped them achieve success? This will give us insight into how best to showcase these individuals’ experiences in our content–and ensure we’re highlighting the most relevant aspects of each story when writing up our posts later on!
Creating Testimonial Content
You can create a lot of content by asking your clients and customers to share their stories. But you need to ensure that you have the right questions in place, so they’re telling their story in the best way possible.
Here are some tips on how to do this:
- Write down your questions ahead of time. You’ll want them prepared before you start interviewing people, so they don’t feel rushed or pressured into saying something just because they think it sounds good (or worse–so that they don’t say anything at all).
- Use open-ended questions when possible, rather than ones with simple yes/no answers like “Do you like our products?” or “Would you recommend us?” This will help get more detailed responses from those who answer them!
Promoting Testimonials
Now that you have a few testimonials, it’s time to share them. The best place to start is on your website. Testimonials are a great way to show off your company’s expertise and build trust with potential customers.
It would help if you also considered posting testimonials on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter and review sites like Yelp and Google+. Anywhere that potential customers might see them!
Testimonial Analytics
Testimonial analytics is a way to track and analyze the performance of your testimonials. You can then use this data to adjust your strategy for getting more testimonials or improving the content of those you already have on hand.
The first step in tracking is identifying which metrics are essential for you and deciding how long it takes for each metric to be statistically significant (i.e., not just random noise). For example, suppose you want to know whether a new feature has increased conversion rates by 10%.
In that case, it may take several months before we can confidently say there’s been any change in conversion rates compared with previous periods when no new features were released. On the other hand, if we’re looking at social media shares per article published over time without any other major changes happening within our organization during those periods (such as hiring new staff), then we might need only one or two weeks’ worth of data before being able to conclude based on what we see happening during those weeks alone–and not necessarily across an entire year!
Best Practices for Testimonials
The most important thing is to be authentic. Your readers will know if you’re fake, and they’ll be turned off by it.
Keep your testimonials concise and clear. You don’t want to waste too much time explaining what the person did in their testimonial, but you do want to give enough information so that people know what they’re getting into if they decide to buy from your business based on this review.
Getting Testimonials From Influencers
You can also reach out to influencers and ask them for a testimonial. This is a great way to get the word out about your products, especially if your audience overlaps theirs.
To find potential influencers, look at who links to your website or blog posts. These people are likely interested in your content and could be willing to provide a testimonial if you ask nicely!
Once you’ve identified some possible candidates, it’s time for step two: building relationships with these individuals so that they feel comfortable enough with you as an expert (or at least someone who knows their field) to give their endorsement freely and without hesitation when asked later down the line – which brings us neatly onto our next section…
Using Testimonials in Your Email Marketing
- Add a testimonial to your email signature.
- Include a call-to-action in the body of the email that links to your website and/or offers free resources.
- Send out an email series, such as a weekly or monthly newsletter, with testimonials as content.
Legal Considerations for Testimonials
As we’ve discussed, testimonials are essential to your marketing strategy. However, there are some legal considerations you should be aware of before using them on your blog or website.
Protecting Your Brand
First and foremost, it’s essential to protect the integrity of your brand by ensuring that all testimonials comply with FTC regulations and do not contain any false claims about products or services. If someone says something negative about a product or service, make sure it’s clear that they were given compensation for their review (e.g., “I got this free from Company X in exchange for my honest opinion”). The same goes if someone posts a positive review; disclose whether they received anything from Company X in exchange for writing it (e.g., “I was given this product/service at no cost.”). If someone posts an unsponsored review without disclosing any potential conflicts of interest (COIs), this could result in legal action against both parties involved – including yourself!
FAQs
Conclusion
- Testimonials are an essential part of your business. They help you build trust, attract new customers and increase sales.
- Testimonials can be used as blog content to increase engagement on your site by providing valuable information that readers want to read about.
- Looking ahead to the future, it will be necessary for businesses to adapt their marketing strategies to stay relevant in a fast-changing world where digital technology is constantly evolving.
Studies – References
Testimonials can be a great way to add credibility to blog content in 2023. According to Smart Blogger, good testimonials should include the person’s full name and photo, their company name, what they do, and four elements: clarity, purposefulness, positivity, and specificity. [1] Content Marketing Institute suggests using a carousel to display a series of testimonials in the sidebar of a blog, or writing case studies to provide more detailed analyses of specific instances. [2] ClearVoice recommends proactively contacting customers and making it easy for them to contribute. [3]
According to BrightLocal, 80% of consumers received requests from local businesses to leave a review in 2022, and 65% did leave reviews in response to business requests. [4] Additionally, Strategic Factory found that using customer testimonials regularly can generate approximately 62% more revenue. [5] Power Reviews found that customer testimonials placed alongside more expensive items increased conversion rates 380%, and Harvard Business found that increasing a business’s Yelp rating by one star can increase revenue by 5-9%. [6]
Finally, HubSpot recommends that effective testimonials go beyond a simple quote proclaiming a business’s greatness. [7]
Sources:
- https://smartblogger.com/how-to-write-a-testimonial/
- https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/articles/strategies-customer-testimonials-content/
- https://resources.clearvoice.com/blog/leverage-testimonials-case-studies-2023/
- https://boast.io/20-statistics-about-using-testimonials-in-marketing/
- https://boast.io/20-statistics-about-using-testimonials-in-marketing/
- https://boast.io/20-statistics-about-using-testimonials-in-marketing/
- https://blog.hubspot.com/service/testimonial-page-examples
I’m Alexios Papaioannou, a word wizard, and affiliate marketing ninja with a decade of experience crafting killer blog posts that captivate and convert. Specializing in affiliate marketing, content writing, analytics, and social media. My secret weapon is a love of running that boosts my creativity and energy. Let’s create epic content together!
