Learn Best Practices for Managing Testimonials

With a new year upon us, now’s a great time to start new habits that can help your business thrive. One of the best ways to promote your company is by highlighting the top marks you’ve earned through customer reviews.

Customer reviews strongly influence buyers’ decisions. In a 2020 Local Consumer Review Survey by Bright Local, 94 percent of those who responded said they are more likely to patronize a business if it has positive reviews. Meanwhile, 92 percent responded that they are less likely to use a business with negative reviews.

That’s why KickCharge Creative encourages our clients to follow best practices for requesting, responding to and promoting their testimonials. For example, we ensure that dynamic feeds of reviews published on third-party websites are an integral part of the website design and development services our NJ agency offers.

The first step in acquiring plentiful positive reviews is, of course, to provide praiseworthy service. Once you’ve mastered that, you can use these five tips to make sure prospective customers know about it.

1. Use software to automate the process of requesting reviews after you complete a job or sale. Platforms such as Podium thank your customers for their business and invite them to share their experiences in written reviews. The message will include direct links to your company’s profile on platforms such as Google and Facebook where they can use their existing accounts to post their reviews.
   
2. Give customers options for where they will post their reviews. Customers are less likely to leave reviews if they have to go through the inconvenience of creating accounts first. By linking to more sites, you cast a wider net, making it more likely they’ll find a platform where they’ll be willing to sing your praises.
3. Respond to every review, positive or negative. When prospective customers read reviews and see that you’ve taken the time to thank reviewers, answer questions and address concerns, it shows you care about good customer service. It also establishes that you listen to your customers and you communicate well. When you receive a critical review or one that makes false accusations, if you respond professionally and clearly, it will counteract the criticism and demonstrate that customer satisfaction is a priority for your company.
4. Feed reviews onto your website from the third-party sites. Customers today come with a healthy dose of skepticism about online reviews. However, they’re more likely to trust these comments if you don’t directly control them. Setting up a dynamic feed of reviews from sites such as Yelp or Google creates credibility. Plus, they update automatically, meaning your page won’t grow stale. The custom web design by our NJ experts uses a plugin on the customer reviews page to showcase these assets.
5. Repurpose glowing reviews as content to ensure your followers see what others are saying. There’s nothing much more convincing than a great, authentic review, so be sure to maximize their exposure. Share them on social media and in newsletters and express your appreciation. And remember to provide the links to the sites where people can post their own reviews.

If you make it a priority to groom your online reputation, more leads will follow. You might even consider making it a habit to post supportive reviews for the companies you trust—to help them and to help others enjoy similar services.

To talk to the KickCharge Creative team about upgrading your web presence to include a dynamic feed of customer reviews and much more, contact us today on our website or by calling us at 908.835.9000. But first, perhaps you want to check out our reviews.