If you online shop like me, you likely scour the review section of a product before deciding on what you’ll buy. In fact, around 90% of customers read reviews before purchasing a product or service. This is because it’s important to see a real person’s experience with a product or service before taking the leap and trusting if it’s right for you.
From a business standpoint, providing future and current clients with testimonials and case studies can be your own version of a customer review process. Clients want to see real people who used your services, how this helped them and their business, along with what specific problems you helped them overcome.
Testimonials
A testimonial is much like a simple Amazon review in that a person directly quotes whether or not they were satisfied with a service or product and why. So, providing client testimonials through a third party website like Google can be an honest and easy way to show why a prospect should work with your company. Direct quotes show exactly why a client hired you, sticks with you, and loves your products or services! We recommend showcasing these directly on your website, in brochures, press releases, and more to highlight various types of testimonials displaying your range of work.
Direct Client to Future Client Contact
As said above, future clients want to see what people are getting out of your business. No matter how good your pitch to them may be, they know you are biased and want a real person’s experience. Testimonials provide real opinions from past or current clients, making it an easy way for prospects to view honest reviews of your services from people outside the company.
Demonstrate Your Client Relationships
It’s obvious that a review of your services is crucial to luring in new business, but it is also important to show how your company handles business relationships. Clients want to be respected and enjoy their business relationships — testimonials can show how past customers feel about working with you on a more personal level. Show them you are a fun and exciting business to work with, not just a great service to hire!
Case Studies
Case studies are more in depth company written reviews, where the business can specifically point out an obstacle or shortcoming a client needed to overcome and how their services helped the client accomplish that. These long form pieces show future clients exactly what you can do for them by highlighting what you’ve done in the past. Numbers speak the truth — this is one of the many reasons case studies can help convince readers of your point.
Provide Material for Sales
Case studies can be a great resource for your sales team to showcase your company’s talents. It can be as simple as linking a relevant case study in their email signature or creating drip campaigns to clients so they can see real life examples of your work. Keeping a library of case studies on hand makes it super easy for sales to find relatable content for whichever type of client they’re hoping to engage.
Showcase Your Brand’s Voice
Writing a case study can be similar to a story about a client’s experience with you. You want it to be engaging and interesting, but also useful for similar prospects. This can be a great opportunity to showcase your brand’s unique voice. Whether you prefer to be matter of fact or fun and conversational, your readers will get a sense of who you are as a company.
Both testimonials and case studies provide an important part of marketing your business — client experience. Word of mouth has always been a key aspect to bringing in new clients, and providing that “word” yourself is an easy way increase sales without relying on customers to do it in their free time.
To learn more about how your business can benefit from testimonials or case studies as a regular aspect of your marketing, contact us today!
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