Does my business need customer testimonials?
Short answer: Yes, your business needs customer testimonials.
Your customer testimonials will slightly differ per platform, and the delivery and aesthetic will vary between different industries and individual businesses. But at its core, all customer testimonials contain the same information, and work towards the same goals
- To build current and potential customers’ trust in you and your business
- To clearly demonstrate how your product or service benefits your customers
- To lead to new and recurring sales
Why does my business need customer testimonials?
Short Answer: It builds trust and shows how your product or service works.
TRUST
Customer testimonials, or case studies, serve to build trust in your product or services. They are effective in the middle or later stages of your sales funnel when you need to establish credibility. Credibility is something that is built through years and years of branding - you should work on this too - but it is something that can be borrowed in the short term from things like customer testimonials and reviews. Video testimonials are a great way to showcase first-hand what you have to offer consumers in a creative and compelling way.
You can’t always control who reviews your business and what they say, but by showcasing your best customers you can exercise some influence over how your business is perceived.
SOCIAL PROOF
Customer testimonials help to provide social proof. Social proof is the principle that people think it’s appropriate for them to feel, believe, or behave in a certain way if others – especially those who are similar to themselves – are doing that thing as well. (it’s what the cool kids are doing) By showing those similar to your targeted customers in the testimonials, you are conveying to them that people just like them enjoy using your products and/or services. If people learn that either individual people or a certain company within the industry they operate in are working with you, it makes them feel as though being your client is more feasible and realistic. (For more information on Robert Cialdini’s Law of Social Proof, check out Buffer’s article on the Psychology of Marketing.)
DEMONSTRATES HOW YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICES PROVIDES VALUE
Some products or services are complicated or their benefit is not immediately apparent.
Your customer testimonials can be a 1, 2, 3 punch if the customer tells the story of how your product or service positively impacted them.
If you select a customer that is similar to your target, they offer a compelling story, and that story makes clear how you benefited them - You've nailed the 3 essential points of a testimonial.
Be sure to make every piece of content – including your video testimonials – matches your brand image - More on that here.
Is there data to show testimonials are effective?
Short answer: Yes!
- Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to only 10% when reading it in text (Wordstream by LocalIQ)
- 2 out of 3 people say they’d be more likely to make a purchase after watching a testimonial video demonstrating how a business, product or service had helped another person like them (Wyzowl)
- 92% of consumers read online reviews and testimonials when considering a purchase. (Vendasta)
- 90% of buyers who read positive customer success content claimed that it influenced their purchasing decisions. (Dimensional Research)
Still not convinced, and want more statistics? Take a look at these stats on video marketing compiled by LocalIQ. For more on what LocalIQ does with video, see this travel destination video.
Want to learn more? Read The Ultimate Guide to Customer Video Testimonials -- or contact us!
