A company or product lives and dies by the word-of-mouth that surrounds it. A slick and pervasive marketing campaign can get customers through the doors to start, of course, however, if the customers don’t like it, your business will be little more than a flash in the pan.
So, how do you let new customers know you’re the best around? It’s simple: You don’t. You let your existing customers do it for you, and that’s where showcasing reviews comes in.
Find out how showcasing reviews can benefit your business, and let us show you how to get your glowing customer reviews working for you.
Why showcase reviews?
It builds trust for new customers
The hardest part for any business is getting new people through the door, as returning customers are easy.
To them, you’re a known substance. They know who you are, what you do, and the value you provide.
Those advantages will keep them returning to you, however, for new customers; they don’t know you, and years of being bombarded by adverts and marketing has conditioned people to be suspicious of what businesses themselves have to say.
Showcasing bypasses trust issues
By showcasing reviews, you are removing a layer of that suspicion. Whilst of course, you have a vested interest in convincing people to commit to a sale, the same is not true for your customers.
Case study: High price-tag sales
A good example to showcase Adamantine Global’s security training courses page, as it showcases reviews that really help to convert.
On the page, their courses range from a £££ to ££££ price-tag. Therefore, if a potential new customer landed on their website and didn’t see any reviews showcased, they may question the company to confirm the legitimacy of the payment and services.
However, what’s great is that they do showcase reviews, and this does help convert customers — by building trust, honesty and authenticity.
The reviews seen are presented as genuine, verified and of real people who have taken the course. All helping to build the narrative of a sale easier for new potential customers.
You know your value already
When you showcase your reviews, you’re making a statement that you stand by the quality of your products or services so strongly, that you’re willing to let other people speak for you.
When 95% of customers hesitate to buy anything without reviews, showcasing reviews shows that you have absolute trust in what you provide, and that will get new customers coming through the doors.
It improves SEO rankings
The king of all things web-related, improving your SEO rankings makes or breaks your success online.
With 75% of people never looking past the first page of Google, getting front-page is vital, and as it turns out showcasing reviews can help you on your quest for those higher search results too.
Reviews hosted on 3rd-party platforms (such as Google Business and Feefo) are what’s known as ‘off-site SEO’. Google and other search engines don’t just analyse your website directly to determine how trustworthy your business is, however, also check links from other sources. Review platforms are ‘high value’ sites: verified and proven trustworthy, when these link back to your business they increase SEO.
Showcasing these reviews on your website via APIs or widgets further increase your SEO as they provide more text on your page (one of the metrics tracked to determine the ‘value’ of your website), whilst they also help to organically introduce more relevant keywords that help boost your SEO value.
Now, not every review widget or API will contribute to your SEO, therefore, make sure that when you add a review showcase to your business, that you’re choosing the right one. Luckily, we have a list of good, easy-to-use review platforms that you can add directly to your website
Review platforms to use
Google Business
Being the biggest search engine on the planet means its own review platform holds a similar sway.
The largest platform by far, and the one most users will likely use when trying to find your business, Google Business is a massive platform for generating reviews.
Google Business also has handy APIs and third-party WordPress plugins, allowing you to embed your customers’ reviews directly onto your website.
Feefo:
A relative newcomer to the review scene, Feefo has made a name for itself with a rapid accumulation of accolades and awards.
Partnered with Google, Feefo is a high-value review platform renowned for its tough stance on integrity and fake reviews.
Whilst it is a paid-for service, a good review on Feefo is somewhat guaranteed to be genuine and therefore provides good reassurance for prospective customers.
Embedding a Twitter carousel on your site is highly recommended for boosting SEO. The hashtags and phrases used will naturally boost the number of keywords on your website pages, and with each Twitter profile easily accessible to look up for authenticity, makes for a trustworthy review source.
Showcasing as many reviews as possible (yes, even the bad ones!), can not only boost your SEO and sales, however, also showcase your brand values too.
With these tools, you’ll be getting more customers in no time!