Customer reviews: essential and feared

Word-of-mouth is often the only sales function companies rely on to win new customers.

Particularly in the building sector and in BtoB and BtoC expertise.

And when it comes to applying the concept of word-of-mouth to your digital communications, we automatically think of the Google My Business or TripAdvisor reviews that some consumers of your products or services may leave.

But to stop there on how to obtain and leverage digital word-of-mouth would really be to limit the potential of a hyper-powerful sales support tool.

Customer references are an important tool in building brand confidence.

Word-of-mouth alone generates 5 times more sales than paid advertising, and 90% of buyers are more inclined to trust a brand recommended by a friend (source Invespcro 2021).

The problem of collecting customer testimonials

Here's a TOP 5 list of reasons why managers neglect to collect customer reviews for their digital communications.

Asking for customer feedback means exposing yourself to criticism that you may not always be ready to hear.

You need to have confidence in the quality of your performance, of course, but also in your ability to take criticism.

An unhappy customer will often (not always) let you know, and a satisfied customer will often keep his or her opinion to himself or herself unless you think to ask.

It's possible that your service or product hasn't lived up to the promise that accompanied it, and if you receive criticism, see this as an opportunity for dialogue and process improvement.

You can turn criticism into constructive criticism, and a mediocre customer experience into a highly satisfying one, by paying attention to feedback from the field and making corrections to your organization.

One executive told me that he avoids approaching his customers after his services have been delivered, for fear of being pushy or even noisy.

It's all a question of approach.

To make sure your customer doesn't feel rushed when you ask for their opinion, anticipate this process by informing them at the start of your collaboration that you'll be carrying out a satisfaction survey at the end of the project, thus eliminating the "unpleasant surprise" effect.

Also offer something in exchange for their testimonial: promotion of their business on your social networks or website, an additional service or a special offer on future services.

Offer this bonus first, before asking for advice, and turn what was originally a request into an opportunity for him.

If you're running a company, that means you're making money, and there's nothing shameful about that.

Explaining that you make sharing your customers' experiences part of your communication and customer acquisition process is nothing to be ashamed of.

On the contrary, you may be surprised to find that your customer is flattered to be elevated to ambassador status, and that his or her opinion plays an important part in your business development.

Take the plunge and free yourself from this misconception!

If you're still in any doubt, start the conversation by asking your customer what they think about word-of-mouth and you'll see that you probably share the same idea about the importance of having customer referrals, so the transition to your testimonial request is a cinch!

Sharing feedback on a delivered project isn't high on your customer's list of priorities.

That's right.

But that's no reason not to.

You'll need to follow up with your customers to obtain their testimonials, and you can automate these follow-ups with specific emails or SMS messages(contact us to discuss this) or limit customer procrastination by offering a sufficiently attractive bonus to speed up the collection of reviews.

Take this step as soon as you've finished your service, to minimize wasted time, and keep in touch so you don't disappear into your customer's daily routine.

A customer review is very important, but only if you do something with it.

Have a plan for how you're going to use the feedback you've collected.

Don't just leave it in a folder on your computer or on a page of your website.

You can convert a customer review into a graphic publication, a tweet, an argument in a digital prospecting campaign on the same type of business as your customer...
Contact us to discuss all the ways in which you can benefit from a customer testimonial, and when you do, you'll see how much time this high-value-added content has saved you.

How do you get an effective customer testimonial?

The aim of collecting a customer testimonial is to demonstrate the transformation the customer experienced after buying your product or service.

The desired effect is to make the reader of the testimonial feel concerned by the problem you've solved, and reassured that you're an expert in solving this type of problem.

Avoid at all costs classic testimonials such as "Very happy with their performance", "Good work", "I'm pleased with XXX".

This type of customer testimonial is good, but doesn't really influence consumer behavior.

Step 1: Make an appointment

The type of testimonial I encourage you to collect requires special attention from your customer when you ask your questions.

Make sure you have her undivided attention by asking her to set aside some time - ideally 15 to 20 minutes - to talk, and be sure to record the conversation or be present to immediately transcribe her testimony in writing.

Step 2: Ask 5 key questions

What problems did you encounter before discovering our product/service?

How did you try to solve this problem before you met us, and why weren't you satisfied?

What did you find special about our proposal?

Tell us about the moment when you realized that our solution would solve your problem and perhaps even exceed your expectations.

Tell us about your experience now that your problem has been solved, and about your level of satisfaction in general.

These questions are very open-ended and, above all, very focused not on the price paid or the current promotional offer, but on the problem you've solved.

It's important to position yourself as a solutions provider to increase your sales performance, whatever your sector of activity.

Step 3: Transcribe the text faithfully to the original

When it comes to transcribing customer reviews, there's no alternative to transparency.

At Rendez-vous Marketing, we share the text as submitted when we collect reviews for our customers (removing spelling mistakes where necessary), but we never rephrase a testimonial.

Testimonials collected over the phone or in person are recorded in MP3 format and then faithfully transcribed for written use.

Stay honest and never change your customer's word.

You can shorten a testimonial by cutting a text that is too long, but in this case, make the complete version available on a dedicated page of the website and indicate this to the reader with the following punctuation: beginning of testimonial (...) end of testimonial.

Step 4: think of a customer presentation to go with the testimonial

A quality report is good enough, but identifying the bearer of the message is even better!

At the very least, quote the customer's business sector and initials if they wish to remain anonymous. At the very most, use their LinkedIn profile photo, company name, business sector and link to their website.

Step 5: LinkedIn, recommendations

This publication does not cover LinkedIn recommendations, which are so popular that they will get their own article. Stay tuned, and we'll be sharing this publication in a few weeks' time!

PS: Make things easier for yourself by downloading our customer interview form in PDF format now!

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