Have you noticed more and more websites harnessing the power of their customers’ experiences? Whether it’s a dedicated landing page of user testimonials or the integration of user-generated content (UGC) on an ecommerce website, brands recognize the influence their customers wield when it comes to helping other buyers make purchase decisions.
In fact, 92 percent of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase after reading a trusted review. When UGC is included as part of an ecommerce site, there is a 4.3 percent conversion lift from the impression – and a 108.4 percent conversion lift from UGC interaction, such as opening a user-submitted image or clicking “read more” on a review.
The bottom line is customer recommendations, reviews, and other user-submitted content are extremely persuasive. If you want to move your buyers closer to conversion, then you may want to consider how you can leverage these types of authentic feedback from your customers. Here are a few ways other brands are doing just that.
Customer Recommendations
Young Woodworkers
Customer recommendations, seen in the blue section above, are an effective way to help shoppers learn more about the product or service from the perspective of actual customers. Young Woodworkers includes recommendations on its homepage to build trust among potential buyers and persuade them to make a purchase. As you can see, this brand repurposes testimonials from customers on social media for the website.
Semrush
When it comes to appealing to a B2B audience in a highly competitive landscape, Semrush takes customer recommendations to the next level. Not only does the brand website feature them on the home page, but it also places them into categories like social media, marketing, and advertising. In this way, interested buyers can go directly to their industry category to see how similar companies are experiencing the product.
Codecademy
Stories pages are becoming a popular addition to brand websites, often curating testimonials and customer recommendations on a dedicated landing page. Codecademy uses video and stories from real customers to highlight the benefits of the coding program and how it impacts people’s lives on a professional basis. If your business is service-based, then this strategy could be a valuable way to persuade website visitors your brand is the right choice.
Customer Reviews
Rothy’s
A great way to leverage customer reviews on your website is by adding them to individual product pages. Rothy’s does this by adding a reviews section toward the bottom of each of its product pages, where shoppers can read more about real-life feedback. If you manage an ecommerce website, this approach can help you convince more visitors to go ahead with a purchase.
Airbnb
When your product is not actually a product but an experience, like airbnb, it can be helpful for customers to read reviews about what to expect. In this example, customer reviews are leveraged for every individual rental property, which goes a long way to assisting guests who may need more convincing than a property description can deliver.
User-Generated Content
Rothy’s
Not only does Rothy’s do customer reviews well, but they also feature user-generated content on their website to help impact purchase decisions and sell their products (each image links to the corresponding product page). What’s really creative is the brand borrows the posts its customers share to social media and then repurposes them for the website.
Simplilearn
When Simplilearn wants to toot its horn, it relies on students to do it for them. That’s because the online education brand understands the power of content centered on — and submitted by — its own users. Their website features a video full of customer testimonials to support the brand messaging and move the buyer along the path to purchase.
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Try It Out on Your Site
Whether you’re managing an ecommerce business or a B2B software service, the feedback and reviews from your own customers are important for informing future buyers. Purchase decisions are significantly impacted by the customer recommendations and UGC people find on your website, so give it a try. Ask for reviews from your customers and populate your product pages or create your own “Stories” page and feature videos or experiences from those you serve. You might just find these additions have a lot of influence on your bottom line.
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