The Importance of Customer Testimonials

Sharing customer testimonials on social is a great way to build credibility and trust with your followers, while increasing the likelihood that potential clients or customers will choose you over other similar businesses.

In this article, we outline why customer reviews and testimonials are important for your business, how to get more customer testimonials, and how to share your customer feedback on social media.

Why customer testimonials are important for your business

Sharing customer reviews on social media provides a form of “proof” that you own a credible, successful business. This will help you establish trust and earn more leads and customers.

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes: you’re looking for a professional, trustworthy real estate agent to sell the house you’ve owned for 10 years. Are you going to trust a real estate business that has zero posted reviews, or are you going to trust a different real estate company that has 25 positive reviews? It’s a no-brainer!

Research shows?72% of customers?say positive reviews and testimonials make them trust a business more, and?88% of consumers trust online reviews?as much as personal recommendations. Sharing positive customer feedback on social media will help you build that trust with your social audience.

Sharing customer testimonials on social media can earn you more business

Social media is the perfect place to start sharing any testimonials you may have. You need to present a compelling reason for potential customers to choose you over your competitors and most of your customers will be checking out your social channels before considering your products or services over your competitors. Showing why your business is valuable and that others believe it to be valuable is going to help you attract more customers overall.

How can you get more customer testimonials?

Here are a few ways you can get more customer reviews for your business without being too pushy.

• Use review sites and send your customers to them to review your business.?Sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Angies List, Trustpilot, Google My Business, and Facebook are excellent options for gathering reviews from your clients.
• Use these channels to send customers to your chosen review sites: In comments or direct message on social, in review forms on your business website, in?email/mailing lists or with print materials in shipments or mail.

Ask your customers to review your product or service at crucial times in the customer journey

Here are a few recommended times to ask your clients for customer testimonials:

• When they purchase your product or use your service for the first time.
• When they share a positive post on social media and mention your brand.
• When they leave a positive comment on your social media posts.
• When your product is delivered or when your service is complete.

Always practice excellent customer service and respond to all reviews if you can. Be sure to address any negative reviews you might receive. If you do end up with a negative comment or review,?respond in a calm, respectful manner?with the goal of resolving the issue at hand.

Studies show that?replying to customer reviews results in higher ratings?overall, so be sure to set some time aside to review and respond to customer testimonials.

Also—don’t forget to thank your customers for their reviews! A quick thank you note can show them that you value their feedback and will show others that you pay close attention to each and every review you receive.

Ways to share customer testimonials on social media

So, you’ve gathered a bunch of rave reviews, but you’re not sure how to share them to social media. Here’s a few effective ways you can share your latest positive customer testimonials to your social channels.

• On your feeds?–?You can include an entire review in your post, and a lot of businesses do just that, but we recommend including just the most important section you’d love to highlight, then including the rest in a comment or additional slide. Try creating a series of testimonial posts and quotes within a pre-existing template and implement them within your social media strategy.
• Share customer testimonials in your stories –?In stories, you can take a similar approach that you did with posts. Include a short snippet of a review, or include a full review. Just don’t fill the entire story with text, as stories are generally more quickly digested that posts in your feed. Try re-sizing your feed post into a story template and include some interactive stickers to encourage other customers to leave their own review!
• Re-share other customers posts or comments?– Re-share a story that your customer or client has tagged you in. If a customer shares a story raving about your product or service, we highly recommend re-sharing it to your stories as well. This is a super easy, quick way to get more user generated content onto your page.

Get strategic with your shared reviews

It’s up to you which types of testimonials you’d like to share with your audience. Sharing positive customer testimonials is the obvious way, but you also have the opportunity of being more strategic with what you share. Sharing customer reviews that are related to any pain points or complaints you’ve received can help reassure potential clients that they’re making the right decision by choosing your business.

In the end, share customer testimonials in a way that is going to help your business build credibility and trust, and you’ll be on your way to building a more successful business.

If you’d like more advice on using customer testimonials to help your business grow, then?get in touch!