Have you tried all the available advertising strategies yet failed to get the desired traffic and customers? Look no further. We have a unique and different approach that not only brings customers through your advertisement but also builds trust and loyalty for your company. You must have experienced that people are more inclined towards reviews and experiences of your existing customers rather than your general information. To serve them what they want, the best strategy is Testimonial advertising.

Moreover, it is believed that more than 89% of customers want to check the company’s testimonials to make an informed and confident decision about purchasing. Therefore, testimonial advertising is believed to be one of the best ways to present your brand in front of customers. But to leverage the power of testimonial advertising, marketers have to understand how to use testimonials in advertising and satisfy the customers. In this article, we will discuss some successful testimonial advertising examples, best practices in testimonial advertising, and the impact of testimonial advertising on businesses.

What exactly is Testimonial Advertising?

It is a kind of social endorsement that amplifies the voice of your old, satisfied customers and influencers to promote your products. You can showcase their positive experience with your company in the form of testimonials that aim to build trust, loyalty, credibility, and authenticity for your company. They work as social proof to influence the target audience to make positive buying decisions. The impact of testimonial advertising affects their mind and gives them the confidence to invest in your brand. Testimonials can be in the form of written statements, videos of those customers, social media posts, influencer promotions, and audio recordings.

Testimonial Advertising Examples

Testimonial advertising is an important aspect of online marketing that has helped many companies to shine and grow unexpectedly. But what kind of testimonials work for your brand is the question? To clarify this, here are some successful testimonial advertising examples of some popular brands. Based on that, you can create testimonial advertising strategies and filter out the most useful testimonials for your advertisement.

Basically, there are 5 main types of testimonial advertising.

• Written Testimonials
• Video testimonials
• Celebrity or Influencer based testimonials
• Success Stories Testimonials
• Expert Recommendations

Check out some effective testimonial advertising examples of successful brands.

Calm

Calm is a popular YouTube channel and app that posts daily videos related to meditation, deep breathing, and relaxing music for sleep. They use written testimonials that are simple text-based consumer reviews in a dialogue box, an image, or simply the text on their social media page. Now, as the channel’s potential target audience is people searching for peace, mindfulness, relaxation, and sleep, they filtered out testimonials from the employees and used it to promote the app among office people. Written testimonials are usually present in the form of a dialogue box with the review, a small photo of the person, and his designation.

The testimonial they selected has the following lines “Calm is a great reminder to just take one moment to breathe, and that can really reset my mind during a hectic day.”

Adding such testimonials gives the message to employees and workers that the app can relieve the stress of the whole day, gives you a peaceful sleep, and a refreshing morning mood to tackle the difficult tasks of the next day seamlessly.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an SEO tool that provides useful options like keyword research, link building, tracking, audits, competitor analysis, etc. Ahrefs has added many written customer testimonials that show how it benefited companies to achieve their SEO goals. One of the testimonials is as follows “When it comes to backlink analysis, Ahrefs is my #1 go-to tool. I have tested 25 link analysis tools, but none came near to Ahrefs in terms of index size, freshness, and overall usability. If you are serious about SEO, you need Ahrefs.” This testimonial works as a recommendation and encourages all website owners to begin using Ahrefs as a tool for comprehensive SEO strategy.

Dove

Dove, a well-known soap brand, experimented with video testimonial advertising. They have merged 3-4 testimonies into one ad in which customers describe the product’s benefits after experiencing it. Finally, they end the video with a written testimonial that says, “3 out of 4 women recommend.” When such visual advertisements appear, potential buyers are more easily attached to them and develop an emotional connection that works in the favor of the brand.

Apple

Apple, the most popular mobile brand among the current generation, once ran the “apple switch campaign”. One of the most effective case studies of testimonial advertising is Apple’s campaign, which featured real customers who have shifted from PCs to their Macbooks. The people included in the campaign described the reasons why they have shifted to how Apple’s Macbook changed their life and work. By doing so, they were able to deliver the benefits and requirements to shift to their products with the help of existing customers and their reviews. They were successful in connecting with the people who were struggling with PCs and were finding a better alternative.

We Work

We Work, a stunning and comfortable co-working space, has opted for the influencer testimonial strategies to reach and bring more people to their workspace. They asked the popular and satisfied business owners to upload their experience of working in their workspace. Someone added a picture of a coffee mug with “We work” written on it along with a strong caption like “Recharge your Spirit with one mug of coffee.” When such successful people add something about your brand, the credibility and reputation automatically increase, which brings more potential users and increase conversions.

Peloton

Peloton is a fitness brand that prefers effective testimonial advertising for social media. They add their customer reviews and testimonials in the form of an image and promote them on social media. The testimonials include the photo of the person as before and after, along with the benefits of connecting with the brand and how it helped the person to achieve their fitness goals. One of the most effective testimonials examples is, “Peloton has completely transformed my fitness pathway. Their high-quality equipment and online platform have taken my exercises to new heights. Strongly recommended!” When people read such realistic testimonials that show that the brand has the potential to actually transform health from worst to best, they become more inclined towards it.

Infolinks

Infolinks is an exclusive ad marketplace that allows websites to earn money from their site or blog from smart ads. The company used image testimonial advertising on its social media page by adding a testimonial of a satisfied client and giving it a form of a graphic. The testimonial was, “I made an extra $500 this month from my site with Infolinks”. Such testimonials show the actual value of their services and to what extent they help bloggers earn money. When the exact numerical value is mentioned, it further increases credibility and encourages people to connect.

Best Practices in Testimonial Advertising

To leverage the complete benefit of testimonial advertising, it’s crucial to understand the best practices of it. Give it a check and try to implement these strategies in your testimonial advertising campaigns.

Align with the Advertisement Goals

Testimonials should align with the purpose of your advertisement and the target market. For example – if you want to sell a product, the testimonial should include the positive experience of a customer using the product and the benefits he is getting.

If you are a higher secondary school manager and want to bring new teachers for additional subjects, the testimonials should be from already working teachers and their experience.

To show your product’s or service’s versatility and applicability, include testimonials from various demographics, industries, locations, or case studies. This practice leads people to believe that the product/place/service has the ability to benefit many different segments of society.

Add at least 6 testimonials.

Generally, customers don’t get satisfied with just one or two testimonials. To make an informed and confident decision, around 86% of people read more than 6 reviews on a page. In the case of social media, try to add at least 3 reviews about your products or services simultaneously.

Ensure that the testimonial covers the benefits of your offering.

Sometimes the testimonials can even be too generic to bring any customers. For example – “Great product!”, “Fulfills the purpose,” etc. So, check all the reviews and filter out some best testimonials that speak for your company, product, or service’s benefits, features, and uses. For example – “The Healthify app keeps me focused and motivated to achieve my fitness goals by measuring my daily steps, analyzing my calorie intake, and delivering personalized workout routines.” Now this testimonial includes the features as well as benefits of the app, which are more likely to grab attention.

Use Different testimonial formats.

Experiment with several types of testimonials, such as written quotes, social media testimonials, video testimonials, influencer testimonials, expert testimonials, success story testimonials, audio recordings, and case studies. Choose the desired type according to the purpose and main motive of testimonial advertising. For example, contacting an expert dentist is beneficial if your motive is to sell the medicine that cures toothache. Connect with him and showcase your product. If he feels that the product has the ability to fulfill the purpose, request him to add a testimonial for the product. When the recommendation is from an expert person, credibility also increases, leading to more confidence and trust among potential customers. This type comes under expert recommendation testimonial advertising. Therefore, mix up your formats to keep your content interesting and relevant to your audience’s interests.

Include the relevant customer information.

To win the trust of the potential customers, add some basic personal information like the name, company, location, occupation, designation, and a small photograph in a testimonial. Such things enhance the authenticity and credibility of the advertising and become more genuine and relatable to customers.

Add Visual Elements

Visual elements amplify the voice of text-based testimonials. Images of customers, before and after comparison, images while using the product, images of results achieved, a visually appealing background of the product, etc., can grab more attention than simple text.

Impact of testimonial advertising on Businesses

Testimonial advertising is an effective strategy to use customer reviews as a marketing tool to build trust and credibility about the brand. They are present as social proof that instills confidence in the customers about your brand. Check out some impacts that it has on businesses.

Building Trust and Credibility – 72% of customers claimed that reviews and testimonials make them trust the business more. Testimonials provide validation to the business claims about its features and benefits. When potential customers read positive feedback and evaluations from previous customers, they develop trust and credibility in the company.

Work as Social Proof – Testimonials are social proof that your company delivers genuine and authentic products and services. People are influenced by famous personalities, and testimonial advertising targets the pain point of customers. Through influencer or celebrity testimonial advertising, businesses can multiply their sales and grow their business. For example – when a famous cricketer recommends a particular protein drink, the sales of such a product drastically increase. This is a significant impact of testimonial advertising.

Enhance Brand Perception – When customers review worthwhile testimonials about your brand, they develop a positive perception about your brand. Testimonial marketing allows businesses to establish a positive reputation for their brand and outshine competitors. Along with that, they also increase brand value and authority in the market. When there are 100s of positive reviews about a particular company, it is evident that the company gains a considerable market share due to an increased customer base.

Increase Conversions – According to BigCommerce, customers who respond to a review are 58% more likely to purchase. Testimonials influence the buying decision by showing the positive experiences of customers and the benefits they get. Such testimonials create a sense of reassurance and confidence and convert a lead into a customer. It’s beneficial to add what problem the customer was facing and how your product helped him to solve it.

Conclusion

Testimonial advertising holds immense power and the ability to instill trust and confidence in your customers. When customers see positive and satisfied clients, they get assured that the brand has the capability to satisfy their desires. This method shows how leveraging customers’ voices helps brands build trust and credibility, increase conversions, enhance reputation, and work as social proof. Testimonials that emphasize specific benefits assist firms in overcoming purchasing obstacles, objections, and questions that potential customers may have. The examples discussed above show how different brands use different types and formats of testimonial advertising according to their purposes. Today, if you want to stand out from the crowd, this unique and most successful advertising technique needs to be implemented.