Did you know that adding solid testimonials to your website can increase your credibility and lead flow in a big way? In fact tests have shown increases in conversion rate up to 34% just by adding testimonials on their website.
So, do you have solid testimonials on your website? Or are you trying to ram your message through to your website visitors minds all on your own?
The 6 types of effective testimonials we dive into below are…
Character Based Testimonials
Situation Based Testimonials
Results Based Testimonials
“Squash The Objection” Testimonials
Social Testimonials
Interview Testimonials
And just so you know that we practice what we preach… you can check out our own Testimonials page on this site as an example as you go through this post.
Let’s dive in!
Why Testimonials On Your Real Estate Investing Website Are Critical To Standing Out In Your Market And Closing More Deals
Robert Cialdini, Professor of psychology and bestselling author of Influence: The Psychology of persuasion, says…
“If you can get people who are similar to the person you’re trying to persuade to speak on your behalf, it’s a lot easier for you than if you have to try to hammer your message one more time into a reticent mind.”
Think about it yourself… are you more apt to believe a company when they tell you how great they are or when one of their customers does?
In an analysis of conversion-influencing factors, CrazyEgg (a company that specializes in conversion rates) reported that the addition of the right testimonials on your website can increase website conversions by as much as 34%. That’s one-third more seller, buyer, or tenant leads because of testimonials.
Or, here’s another example that probably hits closer to home:
When you buy something on Amazon, how important are the reviews to you? Reviews are a type of testimonial and for many people, a 4 or 5 star review will heavily influence the purchase of a book while a 1 or 2 star reviews will influence in the other direction. Amazon knows the importance of its reviews to helping their website visitors make the purchase decision, which is why you’ll see reviews all over their website for their products.
Amazon puts a lot of energy into making sure “testimonials” & reviews are front and center to build trust and social proof for products
We encourage everyone in the Carrot community to stand out and actively collect testimonials from each and every person you can (on the motivated seller side AND on the cash buyer side!) and add those throughout your website.
If you want to increase lead generation on your website, start collecting testimonials right now. Here are 7 types of testimonials in real estate advertising that you can use to vary your testimonials and add engaging variety of social proof to your site.
6 Types Of Testimonials You Can Use To Increase Your Credibility In Your Real Estate Advertising
When you think of testimonials, you might only think of client testimonials but there are actually 6 types of real estate testimonials that you can use.
A Quick Note: Build More Trust – Use the first and last name, plus the location of the person you are quoting. For example, Ryan Theriot, Miles City MT.
1. Character Based Testimonials
But I’m a new investor and don’t have any testimonials because I haven’t done a deal yet.
That’s one of the biggest objections I hear when it comes to newer investors and testimonials.
But here’s the thing… no matter what level of investor you are or how many deals you’ve done… you still have experiences and relationships that can show your prospects that you’re honest, trustworthy, do what you say you’ll do, and are great to work with.
As an example from a Carrot clients site
Did you notice that it doesn’t say anything about any deals in that testimonial? Just about Connor as a person.
I call these “feel good testimonials“. They make you feel good about the person you’re working with.
Who can you get a character based testimonial from?
Pretty much anyone who knows you well enough to attest to your character. A colleague, a co-worker, friend, your banker, mortgage broker, insurance guy, a person at your REIA, your real estate coach… pretty much anyone.
To get a solid character based testimonial go and ask someone this…
Hey [name], I’ve started up a real estate business and am really excited about growing it and helping homeowners. You and I have known each other for a little while and you’ve gotten to know my work ethic and know that I’m a high integrity person… would you mind writing down why you think I’d be a great person for others to work with?
Of course you can adjust it to fit your needs… but it’s as easy as that. You’ll find that most people would love to give you a testimonial.
2. Situation Based Testimonials
One of the things we do here at Carrot when we’re building out testimonials for our high end clients or our own websites is we jot down all of the main selling points that we want to make sure our prospects know we offer.
Then, for each one of those selling points or “situations” we go out and find a great testimonial for it.
For example, as a professional home buyer some of the advantages you can offer are a quick sale, the home owner doesn’t have to worry about repairs, you’re not getting bank financing so don’t have to worry about getting an appraisal, etc. etc.
So what we do is dig out those tidbits about those advantages and point them out in testimonials so our own clients are doing the selling for us vs. us trying to cram our messaging down a prospects throat.
If you can show people examples where you helped other people overcome the same issues they themselves have… it’s a powerful thing.
Here are a couple examples:
Testimonial focuses on the speed and stress-free home sale process
“Thank you for everything. The sale was extremely simple and was definitely stress-free. You guys were quick and easy to work with and I really appreciated how much you kept me updated on the status of each step of the sale. Everything was much easier and smoother than I expected it to be with me doing most of the sale from another state. I was extremely excited to complete the sale so quickly.
Thank you again, Betsy. It was a pleasure.” Derek M. Holmes
Testimonial focuses on the “inherited house” and “messy house” situation
Testimonial from a private lender on the “communication” and “due diligence” advantages our client offers
Pretty simple eh?
So just write down the situations you could help a house seller, an investor / buyer, a tenant… etc and pull out the parts of those testimonials that address the situations your own prospects on your site may be experiencing as well.
Wondering how to create your own seller testimonials page? Follow this example.
3. Results Based Testimonials (Success Stories!)
One of my favorite and one of the most effective types of testimonials you can put on your website is a concrete results based testimonial.
In this type of testimonial you’re going beyond the “feel good” and you’re going beyond just broad ways you helped your clients with specific situations. We do these a lot here at InvestorCarrot with our customers (because there are a lot of success stories to tell!)
Results based testimonials should be specific, concrete, and based on the outcome of how you helped them.
Here are a couple examples:
Notice how they give the specific result and situation how this investor helped them? That’s powerful.
Here’s one from Memphis Invest, one of the nations premier turn-key investment property companies
Here is a testimonial showing the results they experienced as an investor
”William established Capital Buyers LLC as an investment company and when he saw an opportunity to invest in a tax sale in DC he asked us to partner with him. William worked diligently and relentlessly with the DC tax offices and politicians to protect our investment and see the tax sale turn a 109.8% profit for our company.
I personally have invested with Capital Buyers LLC several times in the past three years and have realized a profit on all of my investments. William and I continue to discuss opportunities to assist people in their real estate needs while being able to realize a profit for investors. I would not and do not hesitate to invest with William and Capital Buyers LLC whenever the opportunity presents itself.”Chuck Green Managing Partner KC Assets LLC Baltimore, MD
See the power of showing specific results where you’re able to?
4. “Squash The Objection” Testimonials
The best types of testimonials are the ones that pull several different duties and span several of these “types” here in this blog post.
And when a testimonial can squash an objection your prospect may have before that objection is even an issue… even better.
With any business, there are always things going through your prospects mind that may make them leave your website in search of another solution.
For professional home buyers those objections that your prospects are thinking include…
“Will they offer me a fair price or are they going to low-ball me?”
“Will they actually follow through with what they say they will do?’
“My house is an absolute mess… it may be too much work for them”
“They’re probably going to hassle me once I put my info on this site or call them. Can’t I just find out what they’d pay me without any hassle?”
You get the idea.
So how can you squash these objections to make them a non-issue, which will improve the performance of your website?
Here are a few examples:
Let’s squash that “will they offer me a fair price?” objection with a testimonial
Let’s go back to Memphis Invest again…
This testimonial directly “squashes” skepticism and the “But
I don’t have time or knowledge to buy and manage rental properties”
What objections can you squash more effectively with testimonials?
5. Social Testimonials
Social testimonials are one of the more recent additions to the list of available testimonials.
When people write about you and your business on social media – whether they tweet about your business, your services, or about you, these are a great opportunity to leverage those on your website.
Scour Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media you use to pull testimonials from these sources.
We like to use a simple screenshot software to grab a picture of those testimonials called Skitch. Like these ones below that I grabbed from our own Facebook page and from InvestorCarrot clients and friends.
6. Interview Testimonials
If your client is not comfortable doing a short “monologue” in front of the camera, they might be more inclined to be interviewed by you. Prepare a short 3-5 question interview that you can ask them. If you choose to video the interview, you should sit off camera and ask them the questions and they can answer the questions on camera.
These interviews can be used in their entirety or, with the client’s permission, you can edit them and use smaller pieces in different places.
Here’s an example of a real “interview style” testimonial a Carrot client has on their website:
Overall, how was your experience with us?
Great!
What do you think we did well?
Made a reasonable offer.
Tell us about your situation and how we helped…
My son lived in the house since 1998, I live in Colorado. Son bought a new house and I needed to sell the Woodmere house in Bakersfield without coming to California. Great job.Thomas B. – Woodmere Dr., Bakersfield CA
Or Turn That Interview Into A Great Video Like Our Client ExpressHomeBuyers Does
Ways To Display Your Testimonials On Your Website
There are different ways to communicate testimonials on your website. If you only ever gathered short quote-style testimonials, you’d be well ahead of those who don’t gather testimonials at all but you’ll have more impact if you switch up the style and communicate your testimonials in different ways.
Quote-Style Testimonials
The short, written testimonial is the stand-by classic that everyone knows and loves, and they’re short enough for everyone to feel comfortable gathering them from clients.
Ask your sellers or buyers to describe the value of your service to them, and do so in 1-3 sentences. If possible, add a picture (which dramatically increases the power of the testimonials).
Quote-style testimonials are so versatile and you can use them as text on your website, and embed them over an image to use in social media.
“He got us exactly what we asked for the property and the house needed a LOT of work”
“Selling the property at 1031 W. Chestnut was much easier than I imagined. After contacting Mr. Moore, the ball was rolling from there and Mr. Moore made it easiy and as stress free as it could be and did what he said he was going to do. He got us exactly what we asked for the property and the house needed a LOT of work. I couldn’t have been more happy with the rapid results. I would recommend Mr. Moore to friends and family or anyone who needs to sell their house fast. I would also use his services again if ever needed. Thank you.”
Natasha West via Johnny Buys Houses
Long-Form Testimonials (turning written into digital)
Long form testimonials may be more challenging to get because they require a little extra thought from your client, but you probably have a few “raving fans” that you can ask to write a longer testimonial and they’d be happy to do so.
You can post the long-form testimonial on the testimonial page we’ve already built into Carrot, or (with the client’s permission) you can slice up the testimonial into “sound bites” and pepper them throughout your copy.
Here is what a top investor in Atlanta did…
Turning handwritten or typed testimonials into credibility boosters on your website
On his InvestorCarrot site, you can click each document and up pops the full version of the written testimonial. Pretty darn effective and a massive credibility builder.
Video Testimonials
Video testimonials are SO powerful right now but they are dramatically under-utilized. If I were just starting out in real estate investing, I’d make this my default method of gathering testimonials. They’re easy to record now, thanks to our mobile devices, and the informality of your client speaking to the camera will add a ton of credibility.
A Quick Note: Power! – Video testimonials are far more engaging and convincing. They will keep visitors on your site longer and increase the chances that they will convert into a lead.
Like This Video Testimonial On The Sidebar Of A Carrot Clients Site In Atlanta
Action Step: Start Using These 6 Types Of Testimonials In YOUR Online Real Estate Advertising
I’ve shared 6 types of testimonials in real estate advertising, but it can sometimes feel overwhelming putting it into action.
So here’s a simple action checklist to get started in under 10 minutes per week:
Always be looking for testimonial opportunities: When you show up to sign the papers, bring a reminder to yourself to get a testimonial from the client – perhaps a piece of paper that you’ll give them to write their testimonial, or a video camera to record their testimonial. (Hint: Prepare a testimonial template ahead of time so that the client doesn’t start at a blank sheet of paper and then write: “I liked working with Stan at XYZ Real Estate”. As much as possible, ask your client to report something measurable, not just report on their feelings. For example, a seller might report, “we closed in 3 days” or a buyer might report, “I earned 15% last year on my investment.”
Use it immediately: When you get back to the office, add it to your website immediately. (Don’t let them stack up on your desk or it will feel overwhelming – put the testimonial to work right away for you).
Save and use later: Store your testimonials in a central location on your computer and pepper them periodically throughout your other marketing, too, including brochures and social media.
Make it a habit at each and every signing… when you notice people say great things about you, recognize that as an opportunity to document it!
At first it won’t seem natural and you may not be comfortable doing it but as soon as you start seeing the boost in leads from your site, you’ll want to do more. And the best part is: you can never have too many testimonials – the more you have, the more effective they become.
You’ve built your website, added great fresh content, ensured that the SEO is optimized for your specific business, and marketed your site around the web. Now to take your website’s lead generation to the next level by adding a variety of these 7 types of testimonials in real estate advertising to convince your audience to do business with you.
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