6 Simple Ways to Use Testimonials that Increase Sales

If you’re looking for ways to boost sales and convert skeptical leads into buyers, testimonials are the way to go.

They provide several benefits, like:

• Building trust and credibility with your products
• Humanizing your business, making it easier to relate to what you do or sell
• Helping your leads picture themselves enjoying the benefits of your solution

That’s why marketers agree that happy customers sharing positive experiences make for the most effective type of video content.  

But how should you use your testimonials? And are there better places than others to post them?

The great thing is there are several ways you can use testimonials in order to convert leads into buyers and increase sales.

Here are a few of the most effective ways to share customers’ stories of success with your product or service...

1) Share a Testimonial on Your Homepage

Your homepage may be the first place you think of to post your best testimonials.

And I have to say, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Testimonials are all about fostering trust and credibility — something every business should aim to build with their audience. So an unbiased endorsement on the front page of your website is a smart way to build trust with your visitors right away.

When you display a testimonial on your homepage, it should support your messaging and brand promises. If for any reason it doesn’t, then the homepage may not be the right place for it.

But when done correctly, testimonials can validate and support your value proposition, helping your prospects overcome objections and moving them one step closer to becoming a satisfied customer.

2) Create a Dedicated Testimonials Page

This is an obvious place for your testimonials to live, but it offers some critical insights into what your prospects are looking for. When someone visits your testimonials page, they’re often looking for an answer to this question:

Will your products or services be the solution to my problem?

That means that you need to be strategic about what you share on this page.

Uploading all of your testimonial videos and calling it good isn’t enough.  Instead, think about how you can organize your page to be more helpful for your visitor:

• Can you categorize your testimonials into topics?
• Would adding titles and excerpts help coax your viewer into watching?
• Will including someone’s job title increase the credibility of your video?

Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor and consider what questions and objections they may be bringing to the page.

For example, when we work with companies in the healthcare industry, they often will have a section for Provider Testimonials, as well as a section for Patient Testimonials.

In other cases, it might make more sense to let each testimonial have it’s own page. You could think of these like little case studies, where the video tells the main story, while the text provides background and explains the strategy.

There are many ways to create dedicated testimonial pages. You may even create several different types of pages for separate use-cases.

When you focus on creating a helpful page, rather than a page that intends to make your brand look good, you add more value to an already valuable page on your website.

3) Add Testimonials to Your Sales & Landing Pages

Are you sending traffic to a sales or landing page?

Adding a testimonial could help increase conversions depending on the objections your prospects may have towards buying or signing up. But that doesn’t mean every landing page should include a testimonial.

Unfortunately (for marketers), 90% of people don’t trust testimonials when paired with marketing messages. They often come off as phony and staged.

So if you’re looking to convert more leads into customers — which sales pages are designed to do — make sure you use video-based testimonials, which are more authentic and credible than their text-only counterparts.

4) Incorporate Testimonials Into Your Email Campaigns

Video increases your email open and clickthrough rates better than any other kind of content.

And higher open and click rates are an easy way to increase sales.

So if your prospects are following along in an email campaign, including a powerful testimonial is an effective way to boost conversions.

Maybe your prospects would benefit from that case-study about how Gary doubled his revenue in six months with your product; or how Lauren was finally worry-free with her retirement plan after switching from one of your competitors.

In terms of timing, you need to consider the type of testimonial you’re sharing. If it’s about your brand, then you might use it earlier in your automation sequence.

But if it’s very product-focused, then it could benefit you to wait until you’ve gone through the product pitch phase of your email sequence, and then use your testimonial to boost credibility and overcome any lingering buying resistance.

When you choose your message and method of delivery wisely, you’ll enjoy the benefits of increased sales by including your testimonial video in your emails.

5) Get the Most out of Your Thank You Pages

When your leads opt-in for a free report or that 3-day video course you’re giving away, you’re probably already sending them to a thank you page, right?

Well with just a little extra work, your thank you page can do two powerful things:

1. Show your appreciation for their interest in your offer
2. Move them further along in the buyer’s journey with more content

When you share a video about a satisfied customer, you’ll see higher engagement than a blog or image. Plus, you’ll show prospects how your business is helping real people with real challenges — building the trust required to increase sales.

6) Ask Your Sales Team to Send Testimonials in Follow-Up Emails

Your sales team is guaranteed to receive questions or objections before people buy. And how many potential buyers stall out after the first sales call?

They seemed interested and your product is definitely a good fit, but the prospect disappears.

What happened? You didn’t overcome the final buying resistance.

One of the best ways to reactivate stalled-out prospects is to re-engage them with a video testimonial. Because it’s a video, you can count on higher email engagement rates. And since it’s about your product and designed to bolster credibility, testimonials can be powerfully effective at reactivating your prospects.

But you know what’s even better? Sending testimonials as follow-ups to your sales calls.

Here’s an example:

Hi Mike.

Thanks for taking the time to talk today about our vacation packages.

Your question about finding excursions for the whole family is one we hear a lot — all for the right reasons.

I’ve attached a video below of another family that had a great experience after asking the same kinds of questions. After you watch it, let me know if there’s anything else we can help with in booking your stay with us.

Take care,

Jeremy

Again, when a satisfied customer can reinforce the messages you’re delivering through your marketing, it’s easier for your prospects to trust you.

And trust leads to more satisfied buyers.

The Goal of Testimonials

You have several options when finding ways to use your testimonials, so choose wisely and be strategic with them.

But the goal of testimonials is to build trust — that’s it.

And trust is a critical component for getting people to make a buying decision.

Did we forget any useful ways for getting the most out of testimonials? Let us know in the comments!