How to Create a Compelling Testimonials Page

A compelling testimonials page could mean the difference between a bounce and a conversion. Your brand’s website is about one thing: Converting visitors into customers. Whatever that conversion looks like — a sale, a repeat visit, the completion of a lead form, signing up for a course or something else — your main goal is to motivate your visitors to act in the way you desire.

With this goal in mind, you’ve probably done everything you can to turn your site into a conversion machine. You’ve strategically placed ads, you create content on a regular basis, your call to action is clear and posted everywhere; but do you let past customers speak for you anywhere on the site?

Learn more about the importance of testimonials and check out some great examples below.

The Importance of Testimonials

You can say what you want about your brand on your website, but, your visitors know that that information is coming from you. Of course you’ll have great things to say about your products and services, but visitors will trust what others have to say even more.

Statistics back up this idea. Seventy two percent of Internet users feel that positive reviews from other customers mean more than what the business has to say. Only 10% don’t pay attention to online reviews at all.

Why not leave it to review sites? Sites like Yelp, Google and other directory listings allow customers to post reviews and to interact with customers. That eliminates the need for a testimonials page on the actual website, right?

Unfortunately, the answer is no.

External review sites mean customers have to take extra steps to research your brand; this pulls them away from you and could potentially point them in the direction of a competitor. Furthermore, 63% of customers are more likely to buy from sites with reviews on them than those without. Having a testimonial page is critical.

Creating a Compelling Testimonials Page that Converts

Testimonial pages should be like all other pages on your site. They should be easy to navigate, clear and to the point. Visitors should know exactly what they’ll find when they click on your “testimonials” link. But to make your page stand out, you can go a few steps further.

1. Use Full Names

How hard is it to fabricate a review and throw a “Jane” or “John” at the end? Not very. To avoid skepticism, publish full names along with any information the reviewer allows: email addresses, city of residence and anything else you find important.

2. Gather as Many as You Can

A few testimonials are fine, but many testimonials are even better. To avoid clutter, separate testimonials by product or create an index. Ask all preview customers to leave reviews and provide incentives for them to do so — monthly drawings, etc. The more you have to back up your brand, the better you’ll be.

3. Use Photos

Allow customers to include photos with their reviews: photos of the products in action, before and after photos, or anything else that provides credibility. A photo is worth a thousand words; this is especially true as it relates to testimonials.

4. Use Social Media

Users post reviews on social media on a regular basis. Try incorporating a social media feed into your testimonials page to gather reviews in real time.

5. Ask the Right Questions

Reviews that use words like “perfect,” “great” and other glowing terms over and over get old quickly. Instead, ask past customers questions that lead to detailed testimonials. Questions that relate to specific experiences, times when your customer service has come through and other items that relate to who you are as a brand rather than your “magnificent” product will give your reviews more depth.

Examples of Great Testimonial Pages

Making it Personal

Calibrate Rapid, a site that evaluates software as a service — SaaS — efforts and provides real-time reports, incorporates testimonials into their homepage. The testimonials include user photos and provide detailed information relating to how the service led to results. It’s a solid example for a brand new to the testimonial game.

Highlight Industry Professionals

The Resumator allows users to create professional résumés that are then hosted on the site and reviewed by talent scouts and recruiters. To back up the validity of this claim, the homepage includes testimonials from industry professionals from major companies that use the service to find employees.

Use Video

Who can dispute a video testimonial? Videos provide full transparency and allow customers to “connect” with other customers. The human connection you can achieve with video goes a long way toward creating a truly compelling testimonials page. Clover — a website design site for non-profits — uses video to enhance its reviews and add a personal touch.

Publish it All

Another way to add credibility to your testimonials page is to scan and publish actual reviews. In certain industries, customers are more likely to send letters than emails. Why not publish those letters? The impact will be impressive.

Back it Up

On their own, testimonials can only provide a certain level of detail. By publishing case studies along with testimonials, you’re able to provide the full picture: what your brand did, along with what the client had to say about that work. This is what Search Star does on its testimonial page, shown below.

Testimonials provide a level of transparency that can be hard to find in today’s world of online clutter and buzzword-enhanced web pages. To take your site to the next level, create a compelling testimonials page that follows in the footsteps of the examples above. You may be surprised by the results.