As a mortgage professional, your business depends on quality lead generation to achieve success. One tool is often overlooked, despite being a valuable lead generation tool. Satisfied clients often offer reviews, and these can be powerful in the world of lead generation. Why are testimonials important when targeting new leads?
Key Takeaways
- Testimonial marketing can be a valuable tool for lead generation in the mortgage business.
- Reviews and testimonials are important to potential clients, with 98% of people reading online reviews for local businesses.
- Testimonials can be used in various ways, including email marketing, website, blog posts, social media, and video testimonials.
- It’s essential to ask for client testimonials and provide examples, but don’t ask too early or pester your clients.
- Adding testimonials can boost your marketing efforts and help deliver a more personal appearance to potential clients.
What is testimonial marketing?
Testimonial marketing is nothing new and has been around for years. This advertising method involves using positive comments about a product or brand being shared by others. This type of advertising aims to help create and strengthen your business’s credibility.
For example, think about some of your favorite commercials that highlight famous celebrities or sports icons talking about how great a product or service is. While you may not have access to a celebrity spokesperson, everyday client testimonials can work in exactly the same way.
Why are testimonials important and effective?
While you may simply think of reviews as a nice touch to your website, they play a bigger role than you may expect regarding how a potential client views your business. A report on customer review trends for 2022 shows that 98% of people read online reviews for local businesses. In fact, 78% of people use the internet more than once a week to find out information about their local businesses.
This shows that these reviews and testimonials are being read. But what difference is it really making? How could it affect your mortgage business? Reports show that online reviews are important to very important for 76% of consumers when choosing a business.
Strategies for testimonial marketing
Testimonials can be used throughout your marketing strategy, in various ways, and on different platforms. Here are a few different ways a well-placed testimonial can help boost your lead generation.
Include testimonials in email marketing
Adding quality testimonials to your email marketing drip campaigns can help you tell a story, introduce prospects to your business, promote cross-sells and upsells, boost engagement, and help convert leads into customers.
Add testimonials to your website.
Testimonials are essential on every webpage as this is often how new prospects will find your business. It is a good idea to offer a wide range of different types of testimonials (we cover this below) and sprinkle them throughout the pages of your website. If a testimonial is service-specific, include it on the service page. Consider adding a testimonial page on your website that features all your testimonials, making it easy for a prospect to find the information they want.
Add testimonials to your blog posts.
For mortgage businesses, blog posts are a great way to educate your potential clients, but they can also be a great way to highlight the services you offer and how your previous clients rate your service. Adding testimonials to your blog posts can help tell the story within the blog or highlight specific services you are covering within the blog.
Use testimonials on social media platforms.
Social media is a great way to engage with followers, making it the perfect place to share testimonials. Social media platforms are also a great place to ask your satisfied clients to leave testimonials regarding your services.
Create video testimonials
While written testimonials are a great addition to your marketing efforts, they can be vague and leave a lot to be desired. Adding video testimonials allows your clients to answer scripted questions that really provide information to potential clients. In addition, seeing a live person adds more of a personal touch.
Tips on how to request client testimonials
While some may volunteer a testimonial, you will have to ask for a testimonial in most cases. Here are some do’s and don’ts when requesting a testimonial.
Do’s
- Wait to ask until your client has provided positive feedback to you
- Ask for reviews through email
- Always get testimonials in writing to avoid any legal or privacy issues
- Ask if they would be interested in creating a video testimonial – this can be as simple as a selfie video answering scripted questions you create
- Provide examples of testimonials so your clients understand what you are looking for
- Ask them to simply talk about their experiences or answer questions such as “what problems were solved with our services,” “what made our service stand out,” and “what made you happiest about working with our team?”
- Ask them to post testimonials on your Google My Business account or other similar accounts
Don’ts
- Do not ask too early – wait until you receive feedback from your client
- Do not pester your client – if you do not receive a testimonial when asked
Testimonials offer a business boost
While all your marketing efforts target lead generation, adding testimonials is a great way to boost these efforts and deliver a more personal appearance. With statistics showing how many potential clients put heavy stock into testimonials, it is essential that you add this beneficial tool to your arsenal.
The Team at Good Vibe Squad is all about helping businesses boost their lead generation, and we know the importance of testimonials.
