Why Customer Testimonials are Crucial to Your eCommerce Store

One often underestimated part of promoting your eCommerce store is the power of customer testimonials. Hearing someone promote your business who is not sponsored can drive people to be more intrigued than they would otherwise be based solely on advertisements. Word-of-mouth testimonials have a higher influence than you may think. So, why are they so important and what can you do as a business owner to increase your customer testimonials?

Why Do They Matter?

Whether word gets around via physical word of mouth, written reviews, or recorded testimonials, they will have a profound effect on your potential consumer market. You want your eCommerce store to gain as many views (and purchases) as possible. Bringing attention to the perks of your business from unpaid fellow consumers helps incoming potential consumers make their decisions. These are all forms of expression that simply add to your credibility as a business owner. Both good and bad reviews can help your business. However, you need to carefully manage your reviews in order to get this benefit.

How Do I Use Testimonials to Better My Business?

First and foremost, differentiate between positive and negative reviews. Positive reviews are (usually) able to be presented as is. With negative reviews, be sure to use them to further promote your business. Publicly address the concern listed and work closely with the disappointed client in order to better your relationship. This shows a sense of genuineness that can draw people in and keep old customers returning for more. Once you have testimonials that you are pleased with, find the perfect way to display them to your anticipated audience.

Proper Placement Can Make or Break a Testimonial’s Influence

As important as location is in real estate, it is equally as important for any website. The layout of your site and the specific placement of these reviews can make all the difference. Online traffic follows patterns. If you can monitor these patterns, you can tweak where your reviews are displayed in order to give them the best chance of being seen. Apart from that, studies have made a science out of online shopping. We have even learned how a consumer’s eyes travel over a page. This means that we can choose a prime position, such as alongside the product pages or in a sidebar.

Using a tool such as HotJar can help you monitor traffic. Their heat-maps, for example, track how cursors move over your interface, showing where they often land, which in turn shows how your potential clients navigate the pages. You can see where their attention most commonly lands and can utilize the space as needed. It also gives you the ability to manage your interface to keep it as user friendly as possible, showing analytics and options for customer feedback. Once you find the places people most commonly look, click, or the most popular pages, you can find prime advertisement locations.

These patterns can also show you the type of people looking at your site along with what they are interested in. This way, you can match potential consumers with reviews relevant to the products that they are interested in. It shows effort on your part and a concern for your customers’ best interests. It will undoubtedly be noticed!

Pick and Choose as Needed

As a growing business, you have the unique ability to pick and choose what is posted on your site and what is not. Some bigger sites do not have that luxury. This means that you can direct your potential client’s attention the way you want to. While you do not want to get rid of bad reviews entirely (use them as a stepping stone), you can use other reviews to keep attention positive rather than drawn to the bad. You can also present more personal testimonials, such as those that reference specific employees or representatives by their name. This makes the reviews more genuine and influential.

Also, consider mixing media. Some written, some recorded, and some photographic reviews can make the page more alluring, convincing, and personal to the audience. Make sure you publish reviews on the site itself. However, also consider posting some stellar reviews on other facets of your marketing scheme as well. This should include places such as on your social media pages or published in physical advertisements.

Your potential clients will more than likely look at reviews before purchasing from your eCommerce store. They want to know that your site is valid and predominantly approved of. The more you show people giving their two cents, the more influential your testimonials will be. Showing the good reviews first gives a great first impression, which just might be enough to convince them you are what you say you are. Don’t let negative testimonials get out of control.

Need Some Guidance With Your eCommerce Website?

Never underestimate the power that testimonials have over incoming clients! It’s essential to gather as many reviews as you can and to treat them all with the same value.

Cultura Interactive agency is an award winning Fort Lauderdale web design studio, and verified WooExperts for WooCommerce, that strives to create unique and attractive websites, develop strategic internet marketing campaigns and even generate a successful mobile app business plan for our clients.