What can testimonials do for your business? The pros and cons of using customer feedback in your business promotions.
Although it is easy for you to see customers’ satisfaction with your pest management services, it can be difficult to communicate that success to prospective customers. Customer testimonials can be a valuable way to show people the positive feedback you have received from your current customers, whether in the form of an article, video, or even an audio recording.
To see if collecting and publishing customer testimonials are a fit for your business, consider the following pros and cons:
Pros:
· Genuine, trustworthy reviews: Prospective customers may be more likely to trust an opinion about your business from someone who doesn’t work for you. The words of a third-party individual can increase your business’s credibility in the eyes of those who may be considering your services.
· Creating a connection: Working with a customer to obtain a testimonial can extend the window for customer service beyond just the treatment. It gives you the opportunity to further cultivate a relationship with a customer, who may end up using your services again or even recommending your business to their family and friends.
· Opportunities for unique promotion: Although customer testimonials themselves are not necessarily unique, you can be creative when deciding how to display them. For example, you could create a handout sheet featuring testimonials to give to prospective customers, or you could also highlight certain testimonials on the homepage of your company website.
Cons:
· Time-consuming: Best practices for obtaining customer testimonials include recording the testimonial, whether it is conducted in-person or over the phone, and then editing the video footage or transcribing it in writing. It will also be necessary to obtain source approval from each customer before you use their words or images for your business.
· No control over the response: When a customer agrees to provide a testimonial, you are taking a risk because you may find that the response is not as thorough or positive as you wanted.
· Ethics can be called into question: People can sometimes become suspicious of testimonials published by a business. They have no way of knowing whether a business acted ethically or not; for example, it is okay to pay someone for providing a testimonial, but inappropriate to not disclose the paid agreement. However, the validity of any kind of company promotion has the potential to be questioned by consumers.
It is ultimately up to you to decide the best course of action for the growth of your business. However, this list may help encourage you to explore the use of customer testimonials and other unique ways to promote your business’s efforts in providing environments free from the nuisance of pests.
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