MarketingExperiments Blog: Research-driven optimization, testing, and marketing ideas

Testimonials and reviews can be powerful tools on your website or landing pages. As external factors, they have the ability to relieve customer anxiety on almost any issue. From concerns on product quality to cost justification to usability, testimonials can be used to alleviate very specific areas of anxiety.

That’s why they can be a great element to test on our website. Testing testimonials came up at a recent Peer Review Session while MECLABS research analysts discussed testing ideas for a Research Partner’s website. Today’s blog will share six test ideas that can increase the force testimonials have on your website.

Test #1: Location on page

According to the MECLABS Landing Page Optimization online course, proximity is the degree to which your corrective measures – testimonials in this case – are placed so they are experienced at the same time as, or as soon after as possible, the moment the anxiety is stimulated.

Testing different locations on your pages, at different points of anxiety along the path to purchase, could help optimize the value of your testimonials and improve conversions.

It’s important to remember best practices don’t always apply. That is why testing is so vital. While you might think a testimonial on cost justification would work best next to the “Purchase” or “Add to Cart” button, another location on the page might have a stronger impact or perhaps your customers have already decided the price is acceptable before that point and the testimonial is wasted there. A cost justification testimonial could relieve more anxiety placed next to the location where the price is initially mentioned on the page.

According to the MarketingExperiments Blog post, “Landing Page Design: Eye path vs. Thought sequence,” testimonials can increase conversion “when used in close proximity to the value on the page.” The value exchange could be a form asking only for an email, a form asking for many fields for a price estimate, or simply an “Add to Cart” button.

Here are a couple of ideas for testing the location of your testimonials:

• Product page – Does a testimonial next to a bullet list of product benefits, providing real-life evidence of your product’s benefits, earn your company more conversions than a testimonial justifying cost close to the “Add to Cart” button?
• Sidebar – Even if previous testing has proven the sidebar is an effective location for testimonials on your site, it could be worth a test to see if moving the testimonials up or down the side bar improves conversion further. You should follow the thought sequence of your customers. So, in their mind, does seeing a customer review about the quality of service above, say, a security seal alleviate more anxiety?

Test #2: Long vs. short testimonials

Some testimonials are quick and to the point – others fill a page with every detail possible. While some audiences might only require a short testimonial to alleviate any worry, other purchasers may require more in-depth information.

A few factors could play into which might be better for your company and products: audience, product complexity and cost. If the product is on the less expensive side and is pretty straightforward, your audience may need only a simple, “[Your product] did everything I expected and more” type of testimonial. However, a CEO purchasing complex computer software might need more details to satisfy any concerns, even going as far as a full case study.

Try testing different lengths of testimonials on your website. You could potentially find customers at different points in the path to purchase need more or less detailed testimonials.

Test #3: Adding a rating scale

While testimonials can help relieve anxiety, the qualitative format can leave some prospective customers unsure of the reviewer’s final verdict on the product or service. A rating scale allows prospects to immediately recognize the overall opinion of pervious purchasers. They also allow for quick scanning, so those just browsing or in a time-crunch can instantly take those overall ratings into account.

Most likely, you wouldn’t be able to instantly do this test. You’ll first need to adjust the way you ask for reviews or testimonials so that a rating will be required.

Test #4: Geo-target testimonials

When potential customers look at testimonials or reviews, it can help them better relate to the experience if they feel connected to the reviewer. One basic way to do this is by geo-targeting your testimonials. You can do this in a variety of ways, including asking for a ZIP code, city, state or country, and determining the location based on the visitor’s IP, WiFi or GPS data.

For example, if I am looking at the website of a national home builder, seeing a testimonial from my hometown of Jacksonville, Fla., will have a much higher effect on me than one from Kansas. Knowing someone close by has had a great experience, with possibly the exact same people who will be working on my new home, will instill more confidence in my decision to go with that home builder.

Remember, you don’t have to rely on your analytics to do all of the work. You can also ask the customer to self-segment themselves as they go through the buy process, which will allow you to present them with the location-targeted testimonials. CubeSmart, a self-storage company, employs a similar strategy. Once you select a location, you see a testimonial from a customer who uses that same location. You get to see the experiences of people just like you with the same people you’ll be interacting with if you purchase.

While it’s not fool proof – after all, you could use my IP address when I’m researching home builders while on vacation out of state – it can certainly help establish a bond between prospects and current customers, as well as create more perceived value in that testimonial.

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On a recent MarketingSherpa webinar, sponsored by Paramore, I discussed statistical analytics techniques with Benjamin Fillip, Data Analyst, MECLABS …

Ben chose the techniques to feature on “Four Techniques to Improve Analytics Based on Customer Knowledge” from his experience working with MECLABS Research Partners. These are the same four techniques the MECLABS team of data scientists typically uses at the beginning of a Research Partnership to help guide testing and optimization.

Be Al Roker, not Tom Brokaw

Recent research in the MarketingSherpa 2013 Marketing Analytics Benchmark Report indicates 48% of marketers are using analytics platforms to customize reports, but only 24% are creating and testing hypotheses.

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I was listening to a story on the radio this morning about the investments in green energy Congress recently passed. I was really impressed with the ingenuity many entrepreneurs applied to the challenge of generating energy more efficiently – such as turning used cooking oil into diesel and creating electricity from naturally occurring underground hot water.

Well, marketing has a similar way to improve efficiency – conversion optimization.

Conversion optimization is essentially the science of doing marketing better. The result is better ROI on the money you’re already spending.

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Last year around Christmas, I decided to offer Hershey’s Kisses in a bowl at my desk to the people that regularly walked by my office and came in for calls. When the candy didn’t disappear too quickly, I felt like I needed a test to figure out what was going on. When I asked people, they didn’t really know why. They just either wanted it or didn’t.

Customer Theory Question: Why do people not take the candy? After all, it is the season of giving, and I want to give it away!

So, I started doing my research, and I came across our property manager, Mike W.  He had asked me where all the Hershey’s Kiss wrappers were coming from because he had been picking them up around the office.

Of course, I didn’t tell him it was me, but I then had a hypothesis:

Hypothesis #1: People do not take my candy because they fear the wrath of our property manager. Either that or there is just something about the Kiss’ packaging that gets on my prospects’ nerves.

Test #1: Hershey’s Kisses vs. Hershey’s Miniatures

Same chocolate — extremely similar servings — but the package of the Miniatures is easier to take off and throw away for some people. Will the packaging have an effect on how much chocolate disappears from my bowl?

FRICTION (difficult of wrapper), ANXIETY (wrath of property manager)

Results: More of my candy started to disappear! However, not a whole lot more (like 20% more). Thus, I could conclude that some people didn’t take candy because of the effect of the packaging (possibly due to anxiety) but there are still more people to reach.

So I then wondered … Now that I have the Miniatures up, why are they not taking more?

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We surveyed 1,915 marketers for the MarketingSherpa 2012 Lead Generation Benchmark Report, and asked them which methods were most effective for testing value propositions. Here is what the data says …

Q: Which methods have been the most effective at testing your value proposition? Select up to three responses.

click to enalrge

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