Testimonials: Selling Yourself
We spoke a bit last year about the benefits of allowing and encouraging product reviews. As important as it is to acquire positive feedback from buyers about the merchandise or services you provide, some would argue it’s equally important to gather positive reviews and comments about you as a company. For instance, some shoppers will always have a certain degree of apprehension about placing orders online, whether it is concern about timely shipping, the potential return process, or needing to modify an order after it’s been placed, among other questions. A page displaying positive reviews or testimonials that generate confidence in these areas can be an effective tool at reassuring customers that not only are they getting quality products at competitive prices, but that the overall experience is bound to be a favorable one. In this way your business can obtain a higher degree of professionalism and credibility. This practice may predate the ever popular Facebook Wall and Like feature, but by no means is it something to be overlooked. Some of the most credible businesses in the world have testimonial content accessible right on their homepages or use it in their marketing efforts. It’s also a way to gather constructive criticism to ensure that your operation is running smoothly and remaining user friendly.
Nexternal customers can initiate testimonials in a number of ways. Perhaps most appropriately, automatic Order Confirmation and Shipped emails can be customized to include a link to a form of your choice where questions can be posed and customer feedback can be obtained. This is beneficial for a number of reasons: they go to customers who have just placed orders so their experience is fresh and because these emails are automated, there’s little preparation. Consider adding similar options in the signature of things like newsletters and bulk promotional emails. You can even compile feedback in a Nexternal Article and link to it right from your homepage and throughout the store itself.
Chris is a Senior Account Executive at Nexternal and has been with the company since 2005. Before joining Nexternal he worked in the cloud-based educational software industry. Chris enjoys establishing new relationships with online merchants and working closely with those clients as they grow.
