Attract new clients with a powerful testimonials page
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Displaying testimonials and reviews on your website reassures visitors that your business is the real deal, making them more likely to reach out to you. I’ve already suggested strategically placing testimonials on your home, services, and products pages, but what placing them on their own dedicated page?
It certainly can’t hurt, especially if you’ve received many positive reviews.
Let’s be honest though – most people won’t take the time to read a full page of testimonials, but seeing a large number of glowing reviews in one place will make a lasting impression.
Where do you get testimonials?
If you’ve been in business for a while, you may have received testimonials without even realizing it.
Look at emails from past clients, LinkedIn recommendations, blog comments, and reviews on Facebook, Google, Yelp, or other websites where you have a presence. Copy and paste potential candidates into a document, being sure to keep track of where they came from and who wrote them.
If you don’t yet have any testimonials or reviews, reach out to past customers and ask, as I suggested in How to Make Your Products Pages More Irresistible.
Going forward, make a practice of asking your clients for a testimonial when you’ve finished working with them – or after a period of time, if you have an ongoing working relationship. Provide a direct link to somewhere they can post it online, such as your Google My Business, Facebook page, or even a form on your website. You can then use an automated system to display the reviews on your testimonials page, or simply copy and paste them to your site.
You may very well have clients who aren’t comfortable posting reviews online, but receiving testimonials by email is perfectly fine too.
In some cases, you’ll get a better response if you draft something based on things your client has said and ask them to edit it however they like.
What information should you publish?
Obviously, you don’t want to post anything on your website without your clients’ consent.
If a review was originally posted publicly, I generally don’t ask for permission to copy it to my website, but if it’s coming from an email, I would definitely ask first.
Because I work in B2B (business to business), my clients are generally happy to get free exposure, so on my Testimonials page I include their full name, business name, website link and a headshot.
If you work in B2C (business to consumer), you normally won’t include that much information, especially when client confidentiality is at stake. Instead, you can use first names only, initials, or no attribution at all.
It may help with your search engine optimization to include your client’s location or job title if they reflect your target market.
Some clients will send you a long gushing email thanking you for your services. That’s great, but you don’t have to post the whole email. Select the parts that highlight the problem they were facing and the outcomes of your work in order to make it more readable and more effective as a marketing tool.
Lastly, be selective! I have an folder called Praise where I save emails from clients and others I have helped, but I don’t post all of them. Re-reading “Thank you, Janet! You’re so organized.” will perk me up when I’m having an off day, but I really don’t think it will impress anyone else.
Be creative with your testimonials
Displaying your hard-earned testimonials as plain old paragraphs will definitely not entice potential clients to read them. Instead, use multiple columns or text blocks to make the page more visually attractive ways. You can also break things up by organizing your testimonials by category.
Some of the sites I’ve created, including Career Impressions and Carrie Cooper Coaching, use text boxes with quotation mark icons.
Note that some of these sites don’t use Testimonials as the page title, but Success Stories or Results. Some of my other clients have chosen other options, including Participant Feedback and Fan Mail. Feel free to be creative with your headings, as long as it’s clear what information is on the pages. Keep in mind that the text in your navigation menu doesn’t necessarily have to match what’s at the top of the page.
Next Steps
- After reviewing the example pages mentioned above, check out Hubspot’s 14 Testimonial Page Examples You’ll Want to Copy for additional inspiration.
- Reach out to past customers to request testimonials.
- If you already have a Testimonials page, consider how you can make it more compelling. If not, create one.
- Schedule a telephone call or Zoom session if you’d like to talk to me about your Testimonials page.
Previous posts in this series:
- Is your website giving you strong results? Creating an Effective Homepage or Welcome Page
- Creating an About Page that Clicks
- How to Create an Effective Contact Page
- How to Create a Captivating Blog Page
- Do you have (or need) a Privacy Policy?
- How to Create a Services Page that Sells
- How to Make Your Products Pages More Irresistible
Janet Barclay
I eliminate stress for my clients by hosting, monitoring, and maintaining their WordPress sites so they don’t have to worry about security, downtime or performance issues. When I’m away from my desk, I enjoy reading, photography, cooking, watching movies, drinking tea, and spending time with my family.
Excellent! I do have a reviews page on my website!
I will be honest many clients read them and I have had many clients say to me ” I called because of a review I read on your page” It does help!! Do you think I should change the tab from reviews to testimonials?
Great advice Janet!
Lisa
It sounds like it’s working for you, so I wouldn’t change a thing.
I am guilty of almost never asking for testimonials. I appreciate your posting this advice today as I am aware this is something I want to do.
I have it as an item on my task list for each client project. I don’t always do it, but it helps me remember!
I totally need to update this… my testimonials page is stale. I liked looking at the examples you shared… more eye catching and interesting to read. I’m adding this to my list right now. I don’t think I would add locations to any photos, though. I think it poses a security risk. Probably fine with just verbal testimonies. Thanks for this!
It’s good to add new ones from time to time, and I agree that you probably wouldn’t want to include locations when there are photos involved.
I like to add a short testimonial at the top of each of my services pages. It’s quick, direct and to the point about that particular service. I have a complete list of testimonials on another page. Potential clients will be able to see a quick testimonial on the service they are searching for. I agree about not including the client’s last name, especially when it is not a business. Asking permission to those clients is also essential. Great tips!
I like that you put a testimonial at the top of the page – I haven’t seen that often, if at all. What a great way to draw someone in!
Clients have been generous with offering testimonials, but there have also been times that I’ve asked for them. With the website redesign early this year, I include testimonials in a few ways. I have a full testimonials page with client quotes. They are attributed with the client’s first name and occupation. In addition, single testimonials are on the bottom of specific pages- About, Services, and Contact. There is a separate page for my book. That page includes book reviews and one larger testimonial about the book.
While I don’t have specific confirmation of this, my sense is that when potential clients read the testimonials, it gives them a further sense of what it would be like to work together. And if they like what they read, there and on the other pages, it helps to create a sense of trust and confidence.
And…there’s a testimonial on the Home page too.
That’s the goal! And that’s why I suggest only including those that describe what you helped them achieve or what it was like to work with you. “Thanks for all your help” doesn’t tell anyone anything other than the fact that you had a client who was happy enough to write you a note about it.
I get such great emails from clients and ask them if I could use them as reviews. They are kind enough to say yes. I too have asked for some reviews as well 🙂
Lisa
Great advice! I always try to think of myself in the consumer context when it comes to how I present my work.
I value reviews so I made sure to have a testimonial page.
I appreciate your tips for other places on my website where I should be linking!
Thanks!
Smart thinking! I was thinking similarly at a networking event last night where we were discussing what we do to encourage repeat business. Once we’d run out of ideas, I suggested we think about the businesses we’re loyal to and what they’ve done to encourage that loyalty. It really helped!
Thank you for this post, Janet. Shame on me but in eighteen years of business, I barely have collected a testimonial! Your post has actionable ideas and resources that I will definite refer back to in the near future–as soon as I ask a client for a review…
Make sure you do! I’m sure you have LOTS of satisfied clients and most won’t write a review unless you ask them to.
Testimonials or reviews are important to me as a consumer and I have them on my business website. Lately, I have been focusing on getting reviews on my Google My Business page to help with SEO.
Great strategy, Janet!
Thank you, Janet for this. You’ve given me some fresh ideas and other ways to use my testimonials. As a matter of fact, I’m inspired to do one right now!
Yay – I love inspiring people. 🙂
It’s a good idea because it really works! Many consumers make their choice based on the reviews.
They sure do! Whenever I’m interested in a product or business, I usually google the name along with the word “reviews” – you can learn so much that way.