Most business websites have a testimonial section but why is this done and what is the benefits of displaying customer feedback? Do people actually read them and do they influence their decisions to buy from the company?

So what are the benefits of adding reviews and testimonials to your website?

Adds fresh website content

Search engines love new content on websites and adding testimonials, reviews or case-studies are a great way to add fresh content. Consider adding the location of the reviewer to help your localised SEO at the same time.

Increases confidence and conversions

90% of consumers say they are influenced by online reviews and they can increase conversions by 17%. However, most people prefer independent reviews from services like Facebook, Google My Business, Yelp, Tripadvisor, Trustpilot, Feefo etc than those simply typed in by the website owner, as they are more likely to be real. Reviews in these areas (particularly on Facebook or Google My Business) help increase the ‘click through rate’ (i.e people visiting your website from a link somewhere else).

Increasing social confidence

If the reviews are somewhere like Facebook then people are more likely to like or follow you on social media which in turn can influence your search engine ranking and increase your domain authority. But, this article is about adding reviews to your website…isn’t it? Well…you can embed testimonials from other places on your website. We have Google reviews on our homepage but there are ways to embed Facebook reviews and Trustpilot, Yelp, Freeindex and Feefo have widgets available.

Increasing overall search engine ranking

Studies show that having customer reviews, either on the website or on other platforms, does help to increase search engine ranking, most likely because of the points mentioned above.

People are more likely to leave a review

Displaying reviews on your website can often encourage people to leave reviews, especially if you sweeten the deal by linking back to their website in the process. Make it super easy for people to leave you a review by providing details on how they can do it near where you list your reviews. Or have a strategy built into your workflow to ask for a review from your customers. For example, after a purchase, send a follow up email asking for a review with a link.

Even more reasons and stats!

And, if you’re still not convinced, check out this infographic from Invesp which gives a whole load more statistics on the benefits of reviews.

As you can see from this blog, it’s very beneficial to add reviews to your website and a very worthwhile job next time you’re refreshing your content. Get in touch if you need help adding a testimonial page to your website or embedding reviews from another source.