Testimonial Ads: Why are they so Effective?

If you want to know everything about testimonial ads, this article is for you.

While testimonials are an effective marketing tool, testimonial ads can be even more impactful.

Simply put, testimonial ads are ads that showcase customer testimonials to build trust and credibility for your business.

Not only that, but you can use them to boost your sales and build a loyal customer base pretty quickly.

Done right, they can be a game-changer for virtually any business. But, you do need to take the right route to get the results.

Let’s dig deeper now.

 

Why Testimonial Advertisements Still Matter?

Testimonial advertisements still matter because they leverage your existing customers to win the trust of your prospective customers.

In simple terms, they let you bring more customers to your business through your existing happy customers.

Notice the word “happy”? This is where you need to put in all your effort initially. Because only your satisfied customers can lend you a supporting hand.

 

A Type of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Testimonial advertisements are a marketing strategy that is like word-of-mouth. But, unlike traditional word-of-mouth, testimonials are permanent.

Consumers trust digital reviews more than they trust a brand’s marketing message. Most consumers consider an online review the same as a personal recommendation.

The word-of-mouth nature of testimonial advertisements also lets a business persuade hesitant prospects to make a decision and go through with their purchase.

 

Testimonial Advertisements Build Credibility

It’s important for a business to establish trust and credibility in the industry. To make prospects trust your brand, you must position yourself as a trustworthy one.

Testimonial advertisements are a great way to do that. Not only do they establish your trust in your industry, but they also let you boost your conversions.

 

Testimonial Advertisements are Cost-effective

While you’d need to invest a good chunk of your marketing budget into other forms of marketing, testimonial ads don’t require much investment.

If you utilize an ad platform to put your testimonials in front of a larger and new audience, it’d cost a bit.

But, the return-on-investment (ROI) you get with customer testimonial advertisements is substantially higher than other advertising strategies.

The reason for that is obvious: Consumers tend to trust businesses that have happy and satisfied customers. And, showing testimonials to them is probably the best strategy to build that trust.

So, even when you show an ad to a sizeable audience that doesn’t even know your brand, a positive customer testimonial shall convert a majority of it.

And, as it’sconsumer-generated content, you are not paying anyone to produce it. Your satisfied customers are happy to give an endorsement because they had a positive experience with your product.

Therefore, customer testimonials still matter because they foster trust for a brand and bring more customers cost-effectively.

 

What are Testimonials Good for?

As a brand, you can use testimonials for several purposes. They can help you generate any type of conversion for your business.

Let’s see what testimonials are good for.

 

Increase Sales

If you are seeing a dip in your sales, gather positive testimonials of your customers and create an ad. You can easily improve your sales with a small ad budget if you use testimonials in your ads.

 

Build Brand Trust

You can also put your business in front of prospects through customer testimonials and position your brand as a credible one in your industry.

 

Make Customers Feel Valued

You can not only get new prospects to trust your brand but can also strengthen your current customer’s loyalty. See, when you ask them for a testimonial, they’d know that their opinion matters to you. It would be difficult for them to leave you then.

 

Improve Employee Morale

Testimonials can also boost a brand’s employee’s morale. This can help your staff’s productivity and service delivery.

 

Opportunity for Improvement

Honest testimonials also enable you to identify any loopholes in your strategy or product and improve them continuously. See, even if your business is on the right path, there is almost always room for improvement.

 

Build Business Profile

Testimonials are also good for building a business profile, especially on social media platforms. When your business makes a good name for itself, you’d be getting referrals on autopilot.

 

Do Testimonial ads Work?

Testimonial ads don’t only work, but they are one of the most impactful ad types for virtually any type of business.

The effectiveness of a testimonial ad might vary depending on the format. There are generally four types of testimonials that a business can use.

Let’s look at them.

 

Text Testimonial ads

This is the most popular type mainly because it’s easier to get your customers to type in a few words about your brand.

On the flip side, if you ask for a video testimonial, you probably won’t get the same response as it requires effort. Plus, many of them might not want to be on camera as well.

Text testimonials can be quite effective. People tend to trust testimonials more than they tend to trust businesses.

 

Video Testimonial ads

While text testimonials are effective, a video testimonial’s impact is unmatched. This is because they appear more legitimate; it’s not easy to fake them.

This is why a video testimonial is a more effective format as compared to a text testimonial. Plus, a video is also more engaging and visual.

People love to watch videos. So, it’s easier to persuade your prospects into acting on your offers with a video testimonial ad.

 

Influencer Testimonial ads

Done right, these can be even more effective than the previous two. See, influencer marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for a reason. It leverages the trust an influencer builds with their audience over time.

With an influencer testimonial, you can attract their audience to your brand. Video testimonials are already more persuading. You can achieve even more with influencer video testimonials.

 

Success Story Testimonial

A customer success story is something that tells your prospects that your product actually works. It provides solid proof that if they did business with you, their investment will certainly not go in vain.

 

Do Testimonials Increase Sales?

Absolutely! Testimonials can help your potential customers put their trust in your product, which can easily lead to more sales.

But, you do have to target the right people and with the right strategy.

This leads us to the question “How and where to use testimonial ads to generate more sales?”.

 

Use Testimonial Ads on AdWords

If you have positive testimonials from your existing customers, you can place them anywhere you think your prospect is present.

For instance, if you think your target customers are searching for your service or product on Google, an AdWords ad with a testimonial can be a great strategy.

Research suggests that an average AdWords ad gets a click-through rate of 1.91%, whereas it touches 10% when you place a testimonial there.

This can easily lead to more conversions and more sales for your business.

 

Use Social Media Advertisement

With over 3.6 billion social media active users around the globe, it’s probably the best place to run testimonial ad campaigns.

If you have a sizeable audience already, you probably don’t have to run ads to expand your reach. Especially, if a majority of your audience aren’t your customers.

However, if you have the budget, run testimonial ads on the social media platforms where your target customer hangs out.

This can not only expand your business’ reach but will also bring in more sales. And, catching prospects on social media is relatively inexpensive too.

 

How to Approach Customers for Testimonials?

How you go about approaching your existing customers for testimonials affects your results as well. After all, you can only show testimonial ads and get more sales if you can successfully acquire testimonials in the first place.

Let’s look at some effective strategies to do that.

 

Ask for a Testimonial in a Follow-up Email Sequence

The most popular and impactful strategy is to ask for a testimonial a few days (or weeks) after the purchase. This increases the odds of successful testimonial acquisition because your product is still fresh in the minds of your customers.

There is nothing that should keep them from giving you a positive review if they are satisfied with your product and customer service.

 

Offer an incentive in return for a Testimonial

Testimonials are assets for your business. They don’t go away with time, and you can use them anywhere you want.

So, a little investment can go a long way in this case. What you can do is, offer an incentive to the customer in return for a testimonial.

For instance, you can offer 15% off on their next purchase.

 

Ask for Details

You don’t want a testimonial that says, “great product”. It doesn’t tell much about your product to the target customer.

While approaching for a review, ask your customers to be a little detailed about your product. What you can do is, send them a short Q&A form to cut the guesswork for them.

It might sound a little tricky to get a detailed testimonial. But, it would be easier if you provide an incentive in return for it. You might not even have to offer that if they are happy with their purchase.

 

What is an Example of Testimonial Advertising?

Brands use different types of testimonials to win the trust of their prospects. Let’s take a lookat an example.

Testimonial Ad with an Image and Call-to-Action

The ad is simple and effective. It shows the reviewer and a little detail about the product as well. There is a call to action at the bottom. When viewers click on it, you can move them deeper into your sales funnel.

It could also be a video of your customer talking about how they loved your product or a blog post that goes into the depth of its effectiveness.

 

How is Testimonial Advertising Effective?

Testimonial advertising is effective because it eliminates any doubts that your prospect might have about your product.

Testimonial advertising not only helps with trust-building but it’s also great for positioning your brand as an authority in your industry.

Plus, testimonials work as they are not marketing messages or sales pitches. They are genuine user-generated reviews that prospects can trust. Of course, they need to be honest and reflect the quality of your product.

Otherwise, you might convert someone at first, but you’d be hurting your business in the long run.

 

Tips to Get the Most Out of Testimonial Advertising

Don’t forget Your Buyer Persona

Your buyer persona tells you what information you should showcase in your testimonial ads. Consider your target customer’s pain points and desires while asking for customer testimonials.

 

Target a Pain Point or Desire

When you are selling a product, it’s important to identify your audience and what pain point or desire your product can address.

A generic testimonial might be great for establishing trust for your business. But, a more targeted approach can help you boost your product conversions.

Try to address the pain points of your target customers through testimonials so that they feel more drawn towards your product.

 

Include a Picture

Research suggests that a picture can increase your ad’s CTR (click-through rate) significantly. Make sure you show a picture of the reviewer so that you can bring more and more prospects to your landing page.

 

Conclusion

Testimonials are an incredible way to establish yourself as a credible brand. A great way to utilize them is by creating targeted testimonial ads.

Testimonial ads let you get in front of a sizeable audience. They let your prospects know that your product really delivers on whatever it claims to offer.

Consumers tend to trust testimonials from customers more than they tend to trust marketing messages from brands.

Solicit testimonials from existing customers while keeping in mind your buyer persona. Ask them to talk about whatever pain points your product solved for them.

You can then use that pain point (or desire) in your testimonial ads to not only build trust but also to boost conversions.