Customer feedback is the backbone of any successful ecommerce business. Positive reviews and testimonials go a long way in establishing trust with prospective customers by increasing conversions and leading to greater customer loyalty. But how do you display that valuable social proof effectively on your website?
Below are eight methods of effectively displaying customer testimonials and reviews on your ecommerce platform. Each method will provide real-life steps to use user experiences and customer success stories to create more sales and a more trustworthy shopping environment.
1. Add Reviews Directly onto Product Pages
One of the best ways to convert prospects into customers is to show them reviews on your product pages. When people are in a dilemma about whether to buy something, reading good customer comments can completely change the game.
- Why it works: Online reviews, specific to products, give potential customers a transparent view of how well a product works straight from the mouths of people who have made the purchase. Reviews reassure them that the product is working as expected, thus lessening hesitation.
- How to implement: Feature reviews below the product description or on a separate tab on the product page. Tools like RaveCapture make this super easy by pulling in reviews from third-party review sites like Google Business or even social platforms. Including reviews directly into product pages helps visitors make a purchase decision, and it also supports SEO because of keyword content.
2. Testimonial Carousel for Maximum Impact
The best way to represent feedback from customers who are satisfied with your company’s services is to use a testimonial carousel. This tool showcases multiple customer testimonials by highlighting them attractively in a rotating style that keeps the user’s feedback fresh and engaging.
- Why it works: A rotating carousel can display several testimonials within a limited space. Snippets of reviews, full client testimonials, or a mix of both are available for prospective customers to show their different experiences and opinions.
- Where to place it: Consider positioning the carousel on heavy-traffic areas of your website, like your homepage, landing pages, or specific product pages. Everything from simple quotes to more in-depth customer stories can range in the carousel. This tactic adds credibility without overwhelming your site’s layout and ensures positive reviews pop up as visitors dive into your site.
3. Create a Reviews Page
While product-specific reviews are important, having a page that can host all your reviews means it will be an all-inclusive resource for possible clients. This is where users can review all your customer feedback in one place, whether product-related or general reviews of your business.
- Why it works: A dedicated reviews page provides clear evidence of your business’s transparency and also helps to enhance your search engine optimization. The reviews will include keywords related to your business, helping to raise your visibility in the search engines.
- How to implement: Create a page to showcase your reviews using tools like RaveCapture, organized by product or service category. Add some filters or a search bar; this will be handy and help users find what is relevant to their needs faster.
4. Get Personal with Video Testimonials
While written testimonials are impactful, video testimonials take that authenticity to the next level. It’s one thing to read words on a page, but seeing actual customers go through their experiences via video just adds that personal touch.
Such testimonials will give your brand a human touch that text cannot provide, which might be quite helpful for prospects who prefer more visually oriented content.
- Why it works: Videos are interactive, and your audience can create an emotional bond with them. A testimonial video can have customers showcase their natural reactions, making them more relatable and real to other customers.
- Where to place it: Make sure video testimonials are very noticeable on your homepage or product pages’ front pages. You can add videos to blog posts or to your social media marketing campaigns. Embed video testimonials to your site, easily offering another effective means to share with your audience and showcase social proof.
5. Embed a Social Media Widget
Many customers trust social media reviews on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google Business Profile. The main reason for that can be the feeling that social media reviews will not be filtered or less filtered than traditional reviews.
- Why it works: Social media provides a real-time window into what people are saying about your brand. Displaying these reviews on your website demonstrates to potential customers that you are continually receiving great feedback via varied paths and further builds trust with them.
- How to utilize: Choose software that can take reviews directly from your brand’s social channels and embed them. Refresh it periodically so that it doesn’t ever look stale.
6. Add a Sidebar Ecommerce Reviews Widget
The sidebar review widget provides an easy solution to displaying customer testimonials on every part of your site without getting in the way of the user experience. It will appear right next to visitors as they browse along—constantly reminding them of experiences shared by real customers.
- Why it works: Sidebar widgets provide a non-intrusive way of exposing reviews to potential customers so they can continue seeing them as they navigate across various sections of your site.
- Where to place it: Consider dropping this widget into key conversion pages like checkout pages and product categories/special offers. This would help reinforce positive perceptions when visitors make purchase decisions. This keeps social proof at the top of mind and reinforces trust at every touchpoint of the customer journey without overwhelming other content on the page.
7. Tease Testimonials via Case Studies
Case studies are in-depth testimonials that detail exactly how your product or service helped solve a specific problem for a customer.
These success stories also come with a sparkling combination of social proof and learning to make them quite effective for products or services that are pretty complex and require longer explanation.
- Why it works: Case studies allow you to go really in-depth into the user experience and highlight real results and benefits. With the addition of screenshots, quotes, and data, you give potential customers a deeper understanding of what your product can influence.
- How to implement: Publish your case studies as blog posts or on a dedicated case studies page. Share them via email marketing so that even more eyeballs get those. Share these posts on social media platforms to bring more eyeballs onto your website.
Long success stories are of particular importance to B2B ecommerce businesses, but they can be adapted for B2C by focusing on the tangible outcomes that your products provide.
8. Showcase User-Generated Content Galleries
Let your existing customers create galleries of photos and videos of your products in use. You may call these user-generated content (UGC) or visual testimonials. UGC adds a layer of authenticity since it shows how real people use and enjoy your products.
- Why it works: UGC galleries create a sense of community and boost customer loyalty. This gives potential customers a view of how your products are being used in everyday life; this is visual proof that your brand delivers what it promises.
- Where to place it: Feature UGC galleries on product pages or create a separate section for it. Encourage customers to share their experiences with your company or products via social media using a specific hashtag and pull new content into the gallery regularly to refresh its content.
RaveCapture makes collecting and displaying user-generated content a breeze. This allows you to curate a gallery of actual customer experiences that strike a chord with your audience.
Final Thoughts
Customer testimonials and reviews are some of the most important things you could ever build for trust and more sales on your ecommerce site.
From product page reviews and video testimonials to UGC galleries and case studies, each one is a different way of showing customer feedback that speaks volumes to your prospects.
Each of the eight ways illustrated in this piece will help an ecommerce business unlock the inner secrets of social proof, allowing prospective clients to become loyal customers.
With tools like RaveCapture, collecting and displaying feedback becomes easier, making your brand stand out in a competitive market.