One of the most valued features in email marketing is the fact that we can promote two-way communication.
That means that you can receive feedback from your users, with relevant information about your business in general.
Unlike in the offline environment where advertising is displayed indiscriminately without giving us the option to respond or stop receiving it, through the Internet and its wide range of channels, brands generate dialogue (and not simple monologues).
So much so that social networks, forums, and even our websites, have become showcases of personal experiences and consumer opinions.
This has led us to a situation where:
Currently, hardly anyone makes a purchase without reading reviews from third parties. Can you understand the importance of sharing the opinion of your customers? Their experiences will give credibility to your brand, so in this article, we will talk about:
- The benefits of publishing success stories based on achievement.
- Tips to present the testimonials credibly.
- How to take advantage of the testimonials in your email marketing strategy.
· Benefits of testimonials and success stories
The best way to engage users in some action created by a brand, is always offering something in exchange.
In that sense, you could send a message to your most loyal customers, inviting them to participate in your testimonial panel. To convince them to send you their opinions, you could offer them a discount voucher that will be delivered directly to their inbox after they participate.
For example, if you have an e-commerce, you can send a message asking for a testimonial in the thank-you email that will be sent after the purchase. If the client doesn’t respond, you could send a reminder a few days after the transaction.
● Credibility:
Prospective customers prefer to know what other customers think about your company when compared to what the brand has to say about itself.
● Attraction:
A large number of positive testimonials serve as a foundation for getting new customers.
● Reputation:
Having positive opinions has a direct and positive impact on the reputation of the brand.
●Empathy:
The testimonials don’t give information about the products or services, they transmit experiences and feelings, which directly influence the purchasing decisions.
● Conversion:
Success stories reinforce the call to action and strongly influence in the purchase decision, which is vital to convince users who are not confident about whether or not to trust our brand.
· How to give credibility to your testimonials
oOne of the requirements users will consider when reading testimnials or success stories on a website is the truth and disclaimer of the review.
Consumers can quickly realize when opinions have been written by the company itself, which means that using this type of strategy can bring terrible results to the image of your brand.
For this reason, you should make sure not only that the published testimonials about your products or services are real, but you also need to show them reliably. In the next paragraphs, I’ll explain how you can do that.
► Compartilhe informações sobre seus clientes reais
The first thing you must do to give credibility to your testimonials is to include actual data from people who are talking about you. And I’m not talking just about the first and last name.
If possible (with prior consent), it would be essential to include links to their profile on social networks or their website.
And if they don’t have social profiles, share relevant data about their relationship with your business, such as:
- When they became your customer.
- Products or services that they usually buy.
- Frequency of purchases
► Use photos of real people
The face is the mirror of the soul, and your potential customers will like to see photos of people who have worked with you.
Adding the face in words behind each testimonial not only gives credibility, but also encourages empathy.
Here I recommend that you contact your customers to ask them for a recent and high-quality photo.
If they can send photos that are published in their social profiles, this will be even better.
► Capture success stories in video
While it is true that we can manipulate the written word (take sentences out of context or change them in favor of what we are trying to prove), with videos that are not so easy.
Therefore, it is the ideal format to attract and convince the most suspicious users.
With video testimonials, you will build credibility.
The words come directly from the mouths of those customers who are willing to tell people about their consumer experience, which will be very positive to demonstrate the quality of your services.
But, do you think many customers would be willing to record a video telling their story about your brand?
In fact, it is not easy to collect this kind of testimony.
So if you succeed, it will tell customers a lot about your company or business.
► Encourage freedom of expression.
Never try to set the tone or style to fit the testimonials with the messages of your brand. You will need to demonstrate that the testimonials from your customers are not corporate messages, but real situations told by real people, in their own words.
To convey credibility, there is nothing like naturalness and freedom of speech.
► Don’t delete the negative comments.
If there is something that really shows that the testimonials you are including in your web and communication channels are real, is to show the objections a customer might have.
Sometimes we get feedback from trolls and spammers who just want to damage our business, but when we receive a review based on a real situation, we should not delete it.
On the contrary, we will need to work hard to minimize these complaints and strive to achieve 100% customer satisfaction.
In any case, don’t get obsessed with bad reviews, all major companies get them. Don’t forget that it isn’t possible to please everyone.
· Email marketing actions with testimonials
Maybe when I talk about testimonials, you imagined the typical “about us” page available on all corporate or e-commerce sites. Or maybe you remembered Google reviews.
However, there are many other ways to capture the opinions of your old customers, such as @mentions generated on Twitter through the #hashtag of your product or service, your page comments on Facebook or LinkedIn recommendations.
Anyway, it’s by email that I can think of many ideas to encourage your customers to give their opinion and send you their reviews. Would you like to get some ideas?
► Ideias para convencer os seus clientes a deixarem um depoimento sobre suas experiências
Ideas to convince your clients to leave a testimonial about their experience
Convincing your customers to send you their opinions and reviews without any action can be somewhat complex and even improbable.
Fortunately or unfortunately “anyone who wants something, needs to pay the price,” so I propose that you urge your subscribers to send you their testimonials and success stories.
Offer discounts or gifts.
The best way to engage users in some action created by a brand, is always offering something in exchange.
In that sense, you could send a message to your most loyal customers, inviting them to participate in your testimonial panel. To convince them to send you their opinions, you could offer them a discount voucher that will be delivered directly to their inbox after they participate.
For example, if you have an e-commerce, you can send a message asking for a testimonial in the thank-you email that will be sent after the purchase. If the client doesn’t respond, you could send a reminder a few days after the transaction.
Create sweepstakes
Through the creation of contests and sweepstakes sent by email, you can invite users who are not customers, but have a close relationship with the brand to send them their opinion about your business.
Receiving a prize in exchange for their opinion may be the perfect incentive to convince your subscribers to participate with their testimonials and send their success stories.
Invite your subscribers to an event
You can get 100% reliable testimonials in various formats, including video, if you invite customers from your region to an event (organized by your company or by third parties).
Possibly this is the more complex option because you will have to meet your customers face to face, but in certain business sectors networking is key (probably vital for everyone).
Imagine the effectiveness of the testimonials you can collect!
Let your users speak for you.
Several brands choose to give absolute prominence to users in their marketing actions. They don’t just listen to what they have to say, but they allow them to speak on behalf of the brand.
For this type of action, you need to create a space where the users who want to participate can expose themselves and talk about their experience.
For example, you could send a special email campaign every quarter with tips from other customers.
If you are selling food, you could invite your users to share their favorite recipes with your customers. You will give them the opportunity to give their testimony and, at the same time, you will be generating quality content for other subscribers.
Ask your subscribers to comment.
Finally, if all the ideas I gave here aren’t enough to convince you, you can always opt for an “easy” solution (though also the most used). Honest reviews work very well because users will find the information from other sources before purchasing from you.
For example, you could allow users to respond to your email or ad a web form that you could include in your newsletter. When you receive a comment, you could send it to all your subscribers on your next campaigns.
► How to include testimonials in your emails
After getting several testimonials, the next step is to start adding it to your email marketing campaigns to maximize your results.
Below I’ll share some options for including testimonials as an element of credibility in your email campaigns:
● Redirect traffic:
Email can be the channel you use to take users to a landing page where they can find your success stories.
● Comments about promotions:
Another option is to include a section with reviews or user testimonials about a specific product or service when you are promoting it in your email marketing campaigns.
● Send a success story:
Explaining a success story for your users is also a good option for sending quality content. Don’t just talk about your brand, share possible solutions for a concrete problem based on a real situation.
● Create your own section:
Just as we include related content, don’t hesitate to create a space in your newsletters to include and highlight testimonials and success stories.
● Remarketing:
If you are creating a campaign to attract new users who have shown some interest in your business, don’t waste this opportunity. You could include positive feedback from other users to persuade your readers to trust you.
Take advantage of this two-way communication online channel to listen to what your customers have to say about your company. However, you can do much more than that.
Building a “win-win” relationship will help you create a very solid brand and attract new customers.
And for that, the success stories, the reviews or the opinions, constitute a key resource to convey credibility to potential customers who may have doubts or be confused by so many similar alternatives available in the market.
To help you with that, in this article I wanted to share with you a list of ideas for adding testimonials in your strategy And, of course, we could not forget to talk about email marketing!
Do you take advantage of feedback from your customers to improve the essential aspects of your business? How do you apply the testimonials in your marketing strategy?