Landing Page Customer Reviews: The How the What and the Wherefore

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Are you working glowing customer reviews into your landing pages? Are they making it clear to your landing page traffic that your business is the bee’s knees and working with you is a privilege?

If you are doing this, that’s awesome. For you, this article will help you understand why customer reviews work and ensure you’re following the most current best practices.

If you’re not, that’s not so awesome. For you, this article will teach you why reviews are actually one of the most important elements on your landing page.

I’ll be dropping tips on how you can get customer reviews and also discuss why not all customer reviews are created equal (and how some can actually decrease your conversions).

Let’s get rolling.


The Wherefore


Why are customer reviews so important? Why are they (genuinely) my favorite element of landing page optimization?

Because they’re versatile:

  • They feature real and relatable people, increasing the personality of your page
  • They feature people similar to your landing page traffic, increasing the chance of that traffic trusting the rest of your message
  • They can showcase specific value points of your product or service you may not otherwise mention
  • They can be specific, offering almost case-study-like metrics, KPI’s and analytics in real-world and concrete terms (“We increased our site traffic by 74% in three weeks and had an overall ROI of 522%. Awesome!”)

I like the honesty of them. I like how you can (if a customer agrees to it) feature a customer review as your landing page’s main image and that image will speak to everything you’re trying to communicate.

The value of engaging with your business is never clearer than when a previous customer is willing to stand ahead of you and say “Seriously, this business behind me had a huge influence on my own success.”

I’ve said a few times in previous articles (but it’s worth repeating) that what “a person like you” says online is becoming more and more important to customers. We don’t buy a thing on Amazon unless it’s been given an average of at least 4.2 stars. We don’t watch a movie unless Rottentomatoes, IMDB and all our friends have said it’s good.

What makes you think your business is any different? Word-of-mouth marketing has always been the best, most reliable, and most influential marketing possible. Customer reviews are online word of mouth.

The How


Customer reviews, like case studies, are primarily an incentivized piece of content. They’re valuable to your business, and your customers know that. Just like most forms of lead gen, you have to give something of value in order to get something in return.

Sometimes you can convince a previous customer that the awesome success they found or impressive ROI is reward enough, and they’re happy to return a little favor with a few sentences of endorsement. But, by in large, you’ll need to give a little to get a little.

Here’s what I recommend:

  • If you’re B2B or SaaS, go over your merchant accounts or talk to your account managers, ask if there’s a client who has found noteworthy success in the past month or so
  • If you’re in ECommerce, keep an eye out for glowing reviews in your review section, or periodically send out online questionnaires to your previous customers
  • Incentivize reviews with an offer of 50% off their next purchase, credit, or anything else you can think of
  • If you’ve found an especially noteworthy case, send a personal email asking them their story
  • Don’t be afraid to be straightforward with your customers so long as your incentive is valuable or their success was particularly impressive
  • Try taking a point of your client’s success (for instance, a screenshot of your analytics graph showing their success) and asking them to tell you what they did and how it affected their business

The What


Are there actually customer review best practices? Does it make a difference so long as the review says your business is awesome?

It does, actually.

Without a few often overlooked elements, no visitor to your landing page will trust your customer review any more than they’ll trust the rest of your page. In fact, if they have the slightest suspicion that you’re making up a review yourself they won’t trust another word you say from there on in.

How to ensure your customer reviews are believed:

  • Feature the full name of your customer (as well as job title and business name if we’re talking B2B or SaaS): This increases the chance of your landing page traffic relating to the customer on a personal basis
  • Feature the face of your customer:  This has a huge effect on whether or not your testimonial is believable. A testimonial without a corresponding face next to it (your landing page traffic thinks) could easily be fabricated
  • Ask that they under-sell it: Something subtle like…

landing page customer testimonial

  • Ask that they get specific: The recommendation I gave above (of screenshotting an analytics graph and asking, specifically, what a customer did at a certain point of and how it benefited their business) is a great of getting real-world insight and real-world numbers

Not every customer review is created equal. Don’t think that you have to accept a review that won’t actually increase your landing page conversions. If it’s overwhelmingly positive it’s possible it will cause your landing page visitor to doubt what you’re saying. Don’t be afraid to send a testimonial back or prompt with specific, straightforward requests.

For instance:

  • You mentioned in a review that you found our tool easy to use. Can you speak specifically to what made it so simple or compare it to tools you’ve used in the past?
  • You mentioned in our chat that you appreciated how helpful and personable our customer service team was. What was it about us that stood out to you?
  • Our analytics graph show that on December 7th you guys doubled traffic to your site with online ads. Did this result in a positive ROI for you? Would you mind giving us numbers?
  • You mentioned that you’d been looking for a tool like ours for over a year now. Can you be more specific about what part of our tool really made the difference? What were the problems you were facing before?

Don’t be scared to be straightforward!

Conclusion


Customer reviews are an incredibly powerful force behind your landing page’s success. They offer value, increase personality, showcase existing customers (so traffic knows, on the most basic level, that they’re not the first people who have gotten involved), and speak to the most human part of your business.

Remember that – no matter if you’re incentivising or not – your customers have gotten (or are going to get) something from your business. Successful clients will often be entirely open to giving a review, so don’t be afraid to prompt and direct them clearly.

Further Reading:

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