Smart marketers know that they and their salespeople are not the most authentic and credible source of information to their potential customers, because they want to sell their products to their audience. Even if they would deny it, no one would believe it.
The most convincing sales messages come from customers who already bought and tried your product. Therefore, it is of life-or-death importance if you have satisfied customers or they never want to come back to you because you’ve failed at some point in their experience.
Show social proof
Nowadays, word-of-mouth is replaced by online reviews and social media platforms. Even one single negative comment can have a huge bad impact on your business and cut down your sales.
You may believe 100% in your products and services while your potential customers may still be skeptical and have these doubts in their head:
- “Is it the best value for this price?”
- “Does this product work, or is it just a scam?”
- “Have other customers been happy with this product or service?”
You should use your customers’ reviews to answer these questions in the most specific way possible. Testimonials allow your already-satisfied customers to leap forward and answer the objections and questions that fill the minds of your potential customers. So, their anxious minds are put at ease, recognizing that other customers who already bought from you are satisfied.
It’s like a bunch of your satisfied customers are cheering your potential customer on, encouraging them to go beyond the hurdle that is made of their objections. They cheer so much that your prospective buyer decides to jump over the hurdle, forgetting their fears and buying your product.
This is called “Social Proof” and probably the most effective sales tool to persuade others.
Salespeople use this even when there is no opportunity to showcase customer reviews:
- “9/10 dentists agree…”
- “Join over 20,000 others who have tried...”
Social proof means that people tend to do something when many other people did that before them (it’s also called the “bandwagon effect”). It’s especially true when those people are their relatives, friends, they know them or they are just simply famous people.
Why you should choose emotional and specific reviews
First of all, you should use specifics as much as you can. Use reviews that include non-rounded numbers, since the human brain feels 64.5 is more accurate than roughly 60, for example. Numbers make the whole review more credible.
Secondly, choose reviews with emotions and highly emotional adjectives.
“This amazing product was the red pill for our excruciating problem which painstakingly slowed down our development.”
According to neurological studies, people make their decisions based on their emotions and not in a logical way. As the author of Unconscious Branding, Dougles Van Praet says, “We feel our way to reason.”
Brands that can relate to their audience emotionally and persuade their customers in an emotional way, they beat their competitors.
Tears, excitement, happiness are a great way to convey emotions towards your prospective buyers and convince them. So, you should concentrate on how you make them feel, rather than the specifications of the product itself.
In the second part, we will show you statistics on how customer reviews can really change your business. Stay tuned!
