What’s your website’s best selling point?

You might be thinking it’s the quality or price of your product, how your website is designed, or an effective landing page. While all these things certainly contribute to a sale, there is one feature that will put your business ahead of many others.

That feature is testimonials.

Testimonials are customer reviews of your business, product or service. It sums up your customer’s experience while working with you. It also adds validity to the promotional language you’re using on your website because it’s coming from someone who doesn’t make a profit from your sale.

Testimonials add authenticity and worth to your website for a number of reasons and can really help with website conversions.

Provides Social Proof

Social proof is always an effective weapon for your website. It shows new users that others have trusted and recommend your business. Testimonials offer social proof to new visitors.

Customers don’t always trust businesses. But they do trust other people just like them. That’s why testimonials work as social proof. Customers who have the same problem went to your company, and their problem was solved. Potential customers relate to that person who left a positive testimonial on your website.

PSD to WordPress uses its testimonial page to connect to new customers. The first thing you’ll notice is a big, high-quality photo of the customer who wrote the testimonial. Pictures of other customers help new ones relate on a human level. Words don’t have the same effect as another person’s face.

The customer also goes into great detail about how helpful the creative team of the company was. This positive quote with the friendly picture is a 1-2 punch of social proof.

Boosts Call-to-Action

Testimonials can be extremely beneficial when they’re used in an impactful way. Choosing where you place your testimonials can boost engagement. That’s why you should place a testimonial next to your call-to-action.

Utilizing a testimonial near a call-to-action is exactly what dapulse does. In fact, its testimonial is above its call-to-action. This means you have no choice but to read it before you create an account. The testimonial nicely leads users into the opt-in box by giving them a positive experience that reassures them they’re making the right decision.

Dapulse included a few things with its testimonial that makes it more impactful. One thing it did was include a picture of the person giving the testimonial. Once again, this is important because it builds a human connection between the user and the person who wrote the review. Next to the picture is that person’s company logo. This establishes the reviewer as an authority figure who needs to rely on this company.

Both the photo of the person and logo make the testimonial more meaningful. They allow new users to trust your company.

Highlights Experiences With Company

Testimonials boost your site’s worth because they share a customer’s experience with your company. The customer tells the story of what it was like to work with you. They’ll also share how well they liked your product or service.

This story is meaningful to potential customers. They want to see how your company helped other people just like them. Make sure you give former customers an opportunity to share their story.

You can accomplish this by making it very simple to write a testimonial. CJ Pony Parts’ website has a button at the top of the page labeled, “Write a Testimonial.” Anyone who has worked with the company can very easily write and submit their review of the company.

CJ Pony Parts also shows the number of testimonials that have been written. This number is a type of social proof. It shows new customers that 256 people have felt so passionately about this company that they’ve taken the time to write a positive testimonial. It shows the amount of user engagement, which is always a good sign for new visitors.

Testimonials boost your site’s worth by increasing user engagement and letting customers share their experience with your company. Both have a positive impact on your business.

Increases Conversion Rates

Testimonials can make users trust your company. They can reassure them before they choose to make any kind of commitment. Simply put, testimonials increase conversions. They especially increase conversion when they’re placed where users can see them. Placing testimonials high on your website leads to a 64.53% increase in downloads.

ChowNow places two types of testimonials at the top of its page. One is a quote about its service. That quote sits on top of a video. New users will be curious to see what that video consists of after reading the quote. The number of clicks on the video most likely increases due to the addition of the testimonial.

Put your testimonials front and center so customers can see them and choose to take action.

Customers Are Your Business

The customer is more than always right. They’re your entire business. Use their reviews and testimonials to ensure positive experiences for new customers.

Author:

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.