Lead generation is an aspect of marketing most businesses find particularly difficult. After all, the business of getting a stranger to give you their contact details is notoriously challenging.
It’s not unlike asking someone out on a date. You want them to see you at your absolute best, but you also don’t want to appear like you’re bragging. You want to say a lot but don’t want to talk too much. You want to be very direct but not brutal or unpleasant.
One effective way marketers can boost their lead generation efforts is to use customer testimonials to deepen the relationship with website visitors.
While certainly not a strategy that would work in the world of dating (can you just imagine asking the people you’ve previously dated to recommend you to your future partner?), it can work wonders in the digital marketing arena.
Let’s take a look at six creative ways to use customer testimonials to generate more leads for your brand.
Use a Variety of Formats
Instead of trying to figure out which testimonial format to use on your pages, why not feature several of them?
If you are an ecommerce store, testimonials and reviews will be your main conversion-boosting tool. Nothing else you can say about a product will be as convincing or as appealing. In fact, customers often trust reviews more than they trust the brand itself. That’s because reviewers aren’t in the business of making money – they have the luxury of being completely honest.
Featuring reviews, testimonials, and scores from third-party reviews websites on your homepage can significantly boost your appeal. It goes a long way to ensure visitors click through to a product page and check out more of your offer.
US Fireplace Store has done a great job with this, for example. They first feature some of their more popular products and display their star ratings. They then have a customer testimonial section, where they quote some of their shoppers and cleverly highlight different aspects of their appeal. And finally, they also have a “featured product reviews” carousel. This element displays even more products and gives them yet another chance to quote their satisfied clients.
Drop Some Names
To make your testimonials extra trustworthy, you can use the ones you’ve received from your biggest clients. If you’ve worked with someone your target audience has likely already heard of, or if you’ve at least asked a major name to test your product or service out and they’ve liked it, you can use their blurb on your homepage.
Of course, this may not be possible if you don’t usually work with major names. Or, you might simply be in a niche where potential leads are not likely to be interested in recommendations from celebrities or influencers. But it works fantastically in SaaS, among other industries.
As before, make sure you do quote the person providing the testimonial word for word. You can tidy the copy up a bit, but don’t put words in people’s mouths.
Bizzabo has chosen to cite some very important people from their industry on their homepage. On top of that, they’ve paired these testimonials with more social proof. The logos they reference are enough to inspire trust from most potential leads.
Single out Your Best Ones
If you aren’t able to drop any names (or choose not to for whatever reason), you can simply choose to highlight some of the best testimonials customers have provided.
What constitutes a “best testimonial” can be a tricky question to answer. In short, it should:
- appeal directly to your target audience
- speak their language
- reference the aspects of your company that you specifically want to showcase
- be relatable and reliable
You can a/b test to pinpoint the testimonials that work best and also use different ones on different pages.
Real Thread has chosen to use the words of one Nicholas F. on their homepage. But, they also give you the option of reading another 4355 reviews (at the time of writing) if you would like to hear from others as well.
What makes Nicholas’ words special is that they are casual and obviously genuine. They compliment two aspects of the brand: their work and their customer service.
Use Video Testimonials
Using written testimonials is simpler and quicker than video. Text will ensure your pages load faster and that every visitor has a likely chance of reading them. However, video testimonials can sometimes be much more effective.
What makes video better than text is the amount of information, and specifically emotion, that it can carry. You can express something as effectively in words, but a very short clip can speak volumes more.
Of course, video testimonials run the risk of not being watched. So, to make sure each visitor gets the same access, try to also include written testimonials from different customers.
Bay Alarm Medical has three video testimonials on their homepage. One is from an appearance on NBC, and two are from their satisfied customers. Hearing them speak is much more effective and relatable than reading about their experiences. It makes you feel more connected and like the brand is solving problems and assuaging fears you yourself have.
You can also check out Mrs Property Solutions, who features a less edited and more spur-of-the-moment kind of video testimonials alongside a brief written blurb from her clients.
Christina and Monica have happily appeared in a short video and provided a quote that has been highlighted on the homepage. The effort definitely lends these testimonials some more credibility. At the same time, it showcases the personality of the agent, adding even more appeal.
Do Dedicated Interviews
You don’t have to do video interviews, but you should definitely try chatting to your customers about their experiences with your brand. Ask about the issues they’ve faced, the problems they’ve solved, and how the relationship has benefited them.
These interviews serve to bring you closer to your audience. You’ll show that people just like them have already chosen you and were happy with the experience.
They are also your chance to tell some amazing stories. These are the stories that bring out the appeal of your brand and the great experiences you have made possible. Scott’s Cheap Flights does this exceptionally well with their Member Stories page.
They feature photos from their customer’s trips and a brief story as to how each trip changed their lives, what they’ve learned from it, or how it has impacted their family. It’s a great way to inspire others to travel and book that flight they’ve been considering for a while.
Highlight the Key Elements of Your Service or Product
Finally, you can also use your testimonials to underline some of the main features of your product or service. By using them in synergy with your copy, you can lend it more trust and more credibility. At the same time, you’ll be pointing out the exact issues someone else has solved with your help.
This approach will also enable you to blend testimonials into your pages more seamlessly. Some people will simply choose not to read them when they scroll to that part of your page, but when they are incorporated organically, it’s much more likely that readers will notice them.
This is what Hootsuite does on their homepage. They’ve cited reviews from G2 alongside their main page elements, which has added extra value to their copy.
Visitors are also able to click through the link to read other testimonials if they want to.
Final Thoughts
Testimonials are an incredibly powerful and effective way of utilizing social proof on your website. They can help you tell stories, highlight experiences, and showcase results that speak volumes about the effectiveness of your solution in an honest and trustworthy way.
Try using some of these strategies to incorporate them, and prepare your teams for an influx of leads. After all, you need to know how to direct them further down your funnel once you get in touch.