6 Smart Ways to Utilize Your Testimonials to Grow Your Business
Testimonials are gold in the real estate industry. People love to hear firsthand accounts about what it’s like to work with specific agents. There is truly nothing better than having a client write great things about the work you did for them. Word of mouth is, after all, the best way to gain referrals and grow your business.
In fact, a realtor.com® study found that client recommendations were among the top five characteristics that impacted a consumer choosing an agent to work with.
Here are six smart ways to utilize your testimonials to grow your biz
#1. Integrate testimonials into your email marketing
Each time you send out a drip email marketing campaign, make sure to include real estate testimonials in these emails. You can highlight one or more of your clients in a “client spotlight” section of the newsletter. Set up a bi-weekly or monthly email campaign that features a quote from a past client, a photo of their home, and a quick explanation of how you assisted them.
If you don’t want to create an entire section in your newsletter for testimonials, add a link somewhere in the newsletter that directs to the testimonials you have featured on your website.
#2. Dedicate a part of your website to testimonials
Dedicate a specific part of your website for showcasing testimonials. This can be a similar idea to the client spotlight in the email marketing campaign you send out, but it will live in a section of your website. If you want to take it to the next level, make this page searchable by the type of transaction so buyers can locate buyer testimonials and sellers can find seller testimonials. Or, consider video testimonials (more on that later).
#3. Promote testimonials on social media
Actively share your testimonials on social media so that clients can share these with friends and ultimately extend your reach. Ask your clients to give you a recommendation on LinkedIn so that your entire network can see the great work you have done. As part of the closing process, send an email as a follow up and ask them to give you a quick two or three sentence testimonial. Send a tweet with a short testimonial once a week, share a nice comment a client made on your LinkedIn profile, or even share the testimonials on your Facebook business page. This is a good way to promote your work to your social media audience without coming off as too salesy.
#4. Add a mention to your email signature
Beneath your email signature, add a link to your website’s testimonial page. You could add a line like “see what my clients had to say about me.” If you are like most people, you probably send a fair amount of emails every week. This can mean a lot of eyes on your testimonials — which can result in referrals and new clients.
#5. Add testimonials to national search sites
Don’t forget to add your real estate testimonials to your agent profile on national websites like realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia. There are thousands of potential buyers looking for homes and real estate agents to work with. Agent profiles on these sites are often ranked by their activity and reviews in search results.
Just think about how often people are looking at these national sites to find homes — if your good reviews are displayed on these sites, you can gain plenty of new clients. After all, the internet is the first stop for almost every potential homebuyer so use it to your advantage by showcasing testimonials.
#6. Explore video testimonials
It’s one thing to get a written testimonial, but if you have the ability to produce a video testimonial including a few of your happy clients, this can be a huge marketing tool for you. When a potential client can see the genuine emotions someone has when talking about how someone helped them accomplish their real estate goals, this can be a solid selling point for anyone on the fence.
The video testimonial doesn’t have to be lengthy or expensive — as long as it is produced well and gets to the point. You can use these video testimonials on your website, blog, and share them on social media.
These are a few great ways to help you expand your reach and grow your business with the help of satisfied clients and their testimonials. You don’t need to overdo sharing your client testimonials but try to sprinkle them in where you see fit, such as on your website, blog and on social media every now and then. If you have prospects who need that extra push to become a client, a testimonial may be a deciding factor.
