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How to get the most out of your customer testimonials
It's no secret that customer reviews are one of the most engaging forms of marketing around. Customer testimonials speak directly to other customers, making them a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. Today, we're going to explore some of our favorite examples of customer testimonials pages.
What is a testimonial page?
A testimonial page is a space on your website to show off your customer success stories. This is where your best reviews and customer interactions live. It gives other customers a chance to see what other customers think of your business.
More than that, a testimonial page should resonate with potential customers, and not just any old review can do that. Testimonials should highlight the things that your business values and the ways that it enriches your customers' lives.
There are several different ways to incorporate testimonials into your website, many of which go beyond the traditional testimonials page. Throughout this article, we'll discuss the importance of and strategy behind customer testimonials, as well as show you some of our favorite examples of testimonial pages.
Why customer testimonials matter
One of the most rewarding aspects of running a business is hearing about the value it's providing to others. These stories can give you the motivation to work harder and achieve more, and in many ways, they're the backbone of every great business.
Customer testimonials are a way to share these stories and moments with others, inspiring that same excitement in your customers. Testimonials put a personality to your business, showing your customers that you're more than just a money-making machine.
When it comes to marketing, testimonials become a powerful tool. Few things in marketing are as useful as word of mouth. People want to know what other people think about your business. By adequately utilizing customer testimonials, you'll be putting your best foot forward.
The different types of customer testimonials
Quotes
The simplest and most direct way to show off your customer testimonials is through quotes. These are snippets just a few sentences in length. They're easy to read and give prospective customers a quick look at the experiences of your past customers.
One of the best aspects of using testimonials in quote form is that, because they're so short, you can implement them almost anywhere. This means that quotes aren't limited to a testimonial page. You can scatter them throughout your website strategically, partnering them with CTAs and other marketing tools.
Just make sure that you have permission before using customer quotes throughout your website, as you don't want to leave past customers feeling exploited.
Case studies
If you want a way to show off testimonials in long-form, look no further than the case study. A case study is an in-depth look into a particular situation. In this case (pun intended), you would be using a case study as a way to examine how one person used your service.
Case studies often follow a structured format, setting up the scene, the customer, the problem, and how your business was able to solve the problem for them. However, you could just as quickly turn it into a short-story style blog. It's your website after all, so market the case-study however you see fit.
The one thing to keep in mind with going the case study route is that it's usually best to turn the focus on your customer rather than your company. Only mention your business in the points where it comes up, and make the majority of the story about your customer.
Audio and video
One of the most engaging ways to use customer testimonials is in the form of audio and video. Though these formats are going to require a little more work up front, they're also going to pay off big time in the long run.
For audio testimonials, you can interview your customer over the phone or in-person and release the testimonial as a short podcast. Alternatively, you could get a few statements from them in audio form and use these throughout your marketing. The beauty of audio is that it's much easier to edit than video. And, because it takes up less storage, they are easier to share as well.
If you want to aim for maximum engagement, however, then using video is the way to go. Video testimonials are the most relatable and exciting for your customers, though they do take the most work. You can share these videos on your website, mailing list, and YouTube channel.
Social media
The easiest and most modern way to share your customer testimonials is through social media. Social media is so ubiquitous these days that you're guaranteed to reach your desired audience when sharing testimonials this way.
To effectively share testimonials on social media, be sure to keep things short and powerful. You don't want to post a long-form story to Facebook or a multi-part story on Twitter praising the successes of your business.
Instead, share a short quote from one of your customers, maybe even a photo of the person, tag them in the post, and thank them for their business. This helps paint you in a positive light without pointing too much attention to yourself or boring your followers with a lengthy story.
9 Great customer testimonial pages
Codecademy's customer testimonials are great for two key reasons. One, they utilize different formats. You can watch videos over their "Learner Stories" or read about them as interviews.
Two, and more importantly, they prove that Codecademy understands why people use their website. These stories help take the intimidation factor out of coding and show that anyone, for any reason, can learn to code - and Codecademy is the place to learn.
Xero is another excellent example of a business that understands why customer testimonials are essential to their company. Unlike Codecademy, Xero's market is a little broader, which means anyone could be looking through their website and considering their service.
So, rather than showing everyone who visits their website the same testimonials, they feature unique testimonials for each of the different types of customers they serve. This allows prospective customers to experience a story that's relevant to them.
Bizzaboo is a great example of a fully-fleshed out customer testimonials page. On this page, you can find just about every style of testimonial that we mentioned before, aside from audio. This accomplishes a few important things.
First, having so many different types of testimonials means anyone can find the kind of testimonial that they're looking for. People who prefer case studies can read Bizzaboo's case studies, and people who prefer videos can watch a video.
Second, it shows that Bizzaboo genuinely cares about their customers. So much effort has gone into their testimonials page, proving that they care about these stories. The variety of mediums and the number of stories, coupled with the fantastic artwork, make prospective customers feel valued before they've signed up for anything.
Dribble has taken a creative approach to their testimonials page that perfectly suits the artistic nature of the company. Using a pseudo-social media testimonials pages, they've incorporated several different styles of testimonials into their customer stories page.
Not only does this create instant visual appeal, but it draws attention to different stories in different ways. The most exciting and inspiring stories are made to stand out the most, while short quotes and snippets support the other stories surrounding them. It's a great example of turning a testimonials page into a creative work of art.
HubSpot is one of the bigger companies in the SaaS space, offering its services to massive corporations as well as individuals and startups. As such, a traditional testimonials page would have a hard time catering to each of their audiences. So, how did they address this issue?
They created two different testimonial pages.
The first testimonial page is a much more corporate one, featuring familiar logos and statistics centered around business and marketing. The goal of this page is clear: to communicate to companies how HubSpot can help them improve their bottom line.
The second testimonial page is a much more human one. It features short paragraphs by customers of HubSpot talking about their experiences with the service. A photo and name accompany each of these quotes. This page is more engaging for individuals and startups who likely have a hard time relating to the corporate jargon of the first testimonials page.
Hootsuite's customer testimonials page solves the same problem as HubSpot in a very different way. Like HubSpot, Hootsuite's service is used by a wide variety of individuals and businesses, both in terms of size and industry. However, rather than separating these different customers like HubSpot, Hootsuite uses its diverse customer base as a selling point.
At the start of Hootsuite's testimonial page is a video mashup, showing all of the different kinds of people and businesses that can benefit from Hootsuite. As you scroll down, you can find testimonials and case studies from these different businesses, highlighting how flexible and personal Hootsuite can be.
If less is more, then no one ever told that to ZenDesk. Their customer testimonials page is one of the biggest one the list, allowing you to scroll on and on and on through customer stories. You may think that this is excessive, and it would be, without ZenDesk's thoughtful design.
See, ZenDesk has used one simple, standard tool to make sense of all of their customer testimonials: the filter. Using ZenDesk's filter, you can search through their multitude of testimonials by region, industry, and products. By using this tool with their testimonials, prospective customers can quickly see that ZenDesk is a massive platform with lots of happy customers while still seeing the information that's most relevant to them.
Casper's testimonial page is an excellent example of how to keep things simple, clean, and direct. Rather than going for flashy, unique design, Casper has perfected the standard testimonial page, creating something that tells you precisely what you want to know in as concise of terms as possible.
They have plenty of customer reviews and ratings that make skimming through their testimonials easy, as well as quotes from recent tweets about their mattresses. They also feature stories covering their beds in the news, establishing their credibility. This is a great point of reference for anyone who wants to create a simple, toned down testimonials page.
Finally, at number nine, we have ChowNow. ChowNow's testimonial page is a great example of how useful a testimonials page can be when it focuses on one style of testimonial. In this instance, ChowNow has decided to use video testimonials exclusively.
Using only videos of their customers' stories (partnered by a quote and short description of each customer), ChowNow has created a personal and engaging testimonials page that tells customers exactly what they're about.
Start sharing your own customer stories
Creating a testimonials page is one of the best ways to share your customers' accounts with the rest of the world and highlight the things that make your business truly one of a kind. For more tips on how to improve your website and strengthen your customer bonds, check out the rest of our blog right here at B12!
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