Five Reasons To Use Your Customer's Voice in Your Marketing Strategy

This is a guest article contributed by Chanell Alexander on behalf of TrustRadius. Chanell currently resides in Atlanta, GA. When she’s not traveling and trying new restaurants in the Metro Atlanta area, she writes about the latest technology and tools for TrustRadiusMarketers always hear that customer reviews and testimonials are essential to a successful marketing strategy, but it is easy to forget just how important they are. Knowing how to use your customer's voice to enhance communication with other buyers is a valuable skill to master. For that reason, TrustRadius, a trusted site for B2B software reviews, conducted a study to reveal how vital reviews were to the customer buying process. In a recent poll, 76 percent of respondents said they were in an active buying cycle using customer reviews to discover and analyze the products that were best for them. While the most useful stage of the customer journey for reviews was discovery, the influence of this real-world customer feedback remained strong all the way through to product selection and purchase, with 43 percent of buyers confirming they use reviews at this final stage. The main takeaway from this information is that consumers are using reviews throughout the entire buying process. Next, we'll look at how this relates to understanding your buyers and adopting their voice.Why You Should Use Your Customer's Voice in Marketing

Here are five reasons marketers should use customer voice in their marketing strategy.

Buyers Seek Transparency

According to TrustRadius’ 2018 B2B Buying Disconnect study, only 37 percent of buyers said in our study said the vendor they worked with was very forthcoming about where the product works well and where it is not a good fit. This type of behavior is causing consumers to use customer reviews for a complete picture of the product offering. Therefore, consumers are already approaching the buying cycle with a natural distrust of information coming directly from the company.

Increases Conversions

According to a 2011 study from iPerceptions, 63 percent of customers are more likely to buy a product from a site that includes product reviews. Including customer testimonials on landing pages can increase consumer trust, and immediately give them another source to refer to. As a result, companies have a higher chance to increase conversions among customers. Can Provide a Reputation Lift

Incorporating customer reviews on websites are an excellent next move. However, marketers should also keep their eye on third-party review sites to adequately respond to positive and negative feedback. Third-party reviews can increase the likelihood for word-of-mouth-marketing and can strengthen the influence of positive reviews on the company’s landing page.

Make the Job of Sales Reps Easier

If a company depends on sales reps to seal the deal, giving them access to customer reviews to help them make their case can turn an undecided buyer into a long-term customer. Demos are great, and they provide a lot of information for consumers to use to make the best decision for what to purchase. However, the words of others will always reign supreme in convincing consumers that a product is worth a look. One great way to help sales reps in this area is to use inbound marketing systems, such as Marketo, to outreach to current customers and ask for a review. This will help to build an arsenal of rich content that both sales and marketing can utilize to attract buyers with different use cases. Show Exemplary Customer Service

Not every review will be positive -- and that’s okay. In fact, 64% of buyers seek out negative reviews to gauge whether review feedback is balanced and authentic. Addressing negative reviews gives marketers the opportunity to find out if there is a common problem the company should pay attention to, how they can better serve their customer base, and ultimately create a dialogue for how to move forward and enhance the customer experience. Companies can do a lot of the legwork for customers by incorporating a variety of reviews, testimonials, and referrals to turn a potential buyer into a long-term customer. Understanding how and why your buyers talk about your product or service is a valuable way to improve your marketing strategy. Take some time to master the art of using your customer's voice to communicate who you are and what you do. [search-tag]