Small Business Design Resources

Why Authentic Customer Testimonials are Important for Your Small Business

Your website is seriously outdated. You need to hire someone to do small business website redesign for you. You’ve researched your options online and narrowed them down to three promising candidates. How do you decide between the three?

One of the best ways to make sure someone can deliver on their promises is to check their references, and when it comes to online businesses, third-party testimonials are the best references. Of course, you need to make sure the testimonials are valid before you can trust them.

Why Testimonials Work

What works for you as a small business owner when you hire a service provider also works for you when you want to get hired. Prospects will have an easier time trusting you when they see that your previous customers were happy with your services and are recommending them. Again, the best way to demonstrate that you are trustworthy is to use client testimonials.

Third-party testimonials are powerful because they are believable. When you tell prospects that you’re good, they won’t necessarily believe you – after all, you’re trying to sell something and could be lying or at least exaggerating.

But your customers don’t have to say good things about your services. They don’t have to say bad things either – they can say nothing at all. That’s why when they do go out on a limb and tell the world that you’re good, the effect, in terms of your reputation and trustworthiness, is significant.

Not All Testimonials are Believable

Of course, not all testimonials are created equal. Written testimonials on your own website are easy to create but are the least effective, simply because they’re not very authentic – you can write them or edit them yourself. At the very least, to give them some validity, these basic testimonials should include the customer’s full name.

Video testimonials are much more effective because they can’t be faked, but they are time-consuming and many customers are reluctant to give them. Audio testimonials are also an option, although – again – many customers won’t be too cooperative when it comes to providing them.

Authentic testimonials on a Third Party Website

One of my favorite methods for collecting authentic testimonials is to place them on a third-party website such as RatePoint. There are several benefits to doing this:

1. Typically, third party sites save you the work of updating testimonial web pages manually by automating the process of collecting client testimonials.  Clients post the testimonials directly to your page and you can approve them before they get published.

2. Using a third party service for collecting and displaying your customer testimonials is far easier and less time consuming than creating video testimonials.

3. Above all, these testimonials are significantly more effective than placing written testimonials on your own site, because they are authentic – prospects know that they cannot be faked.

If you own a small business, don’t forget to harness the power of authentic customer testimonials. They are one of the best tools you have for convincing prospects to trust you and to choose you over your competitors.