The Complete Guide to the Psychology of Testimonials (and How They Drive B2B Sales)
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People seek physical and emotional security.
We all like to feel safe, and we like to know what to expect.
In fact, we are more likely to stick to what we already know than risk making a change that might not work.
While trying a new product or service might not have the same impact as, say, finding a safe cave to sleep in, it still disrupts our feeling of security.
From a psychological standpoint, testimonials provide customers with a feeling of security, giving them the confidence to take a risk and try a new product or service.
When it comes to B2B, this feeling of security is even more important. Most businesses are risk-averse. Even well-funded startups have to explain to someone where the money is going. And established companies need buy-in from executives, team leaders, a board, etc.
Testimonials provide the security and confidence decision-makers need to dive in. But how can you leverage testimonials and ensure your brand stays on top in an ultra-competitive market?
Here is what you need to know to successfully employ the psychology of testimonials and increase sales for your B2B company.
The Psychology of Testimonials and the Benefits of Adding Testimonials To Your B2B Marketing Strategy
A testimonial is any type of content written or spoken by a customer about a brand or product they have used. This might include Google reviews, online product reviews, or testimonials listed on websites like this one on Content Stack's site (an online content management tool):
Testimonials can take many formats, including written testimonials, hero image and text, and even videos.
B2B businesses can use the psychology of testimonials to encourage sales and help prospects overcome skepticism. Here are several more benefits your company may enjoy by leveraging the power of testimonials in your B2B marketing strategy.
Build Trust With Prospects
For businesses, trust can be hard to come by these days.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, there has been a steady decrease in the trust people place in government, media, and businesses.
When you talk about the benefits of your company people may not put much stock in what you have to say. After all, you are trying to get them to buy something.
Testimonials from people who used a product or service, on the other hand, are not seen as marketing, but as social proof that can be trusted.
When current customers talk about how your business helped them, they are telling prospective customers your company can be trusted, you are reliable, and that their investment is sound.
Overcome Skepticism
As a company, you believe in the products or services you provide. But your potential clients may be a bit skeptical. They may not be sure if you can help with their unique challenges.
A good testimonial has the power to convince even "tough sell" visitors that you can make a difference and help them overcome the challenges they face.
For example, Housecall Pros, a software program designed to help home service companies like electricians and plumbers, overcomes skepticism through testimonials like this one.
A customer who is skeptical that the cost is worth the benefits is reassured by someone they can relate to finding success with the company.
Also, because testimonials aren't written in marketing-speak, they stand out as candid and unbiased accounts of how well your product or service works for real companies.
Rank Better in Search Engines
In its infancy, SEO was all about key terms. Today, SEO is far more complex, due in part to the 200 different ranking factors Google uses to decide who makes it to the top of search results.
However, key terms still matter a great deal, and reviews and testimonials naturally include terms related to your industry.
Even better, reviews on specific products can drive search traffic and keyword rankings. According to BigCommerce, businesses with ten or more reviews see a 15 to 20% increase in search traffic.
While testimonials (or reviews) shouldn't be the entirety of your SEO strategy, they can definitely help your website rank better.
4 Types of B2B Testimonials (and when to use them)
When it comes to testimonials, there are a variety of different formats you can use. The easiest method is to embed Google reviews on your website. However, this doesn't give you any way to adjust design elements — such as adding photos or shortening long testimonials. You are also limited to the format Google uses (which is text), and you're not able to include video.
For more engaging testimonials, we recommend using one of the formats below to fully utilize the psychology of testimonials.
Text Only
Text only testimonials are not as visually appealing as other formats, but they can be quite effective. For example, take a look at the text-only testimonial on mHelpDesk, a field service management platform.
The testimonial addresses specific pain points and lists the location, which helps customers relate to the reviewer and inspires trust that the review is real. It also links to a longer review, so prospects can choose to read.
Use this format when: Maximizing space or when you want to include short snippets of longer testimonials.
Quote with Hero Image
To make testimonials even more trustworthy, consider using the quote with hero image format. This includes a quote and an appealing photo of the reviewer, often of their face.
The design elements (such as the image border or text background) can use brand colors to increase cohesion. Do not use stock photos; this can make your testimonial look faked.
Shopify, an ecommerce software platform, uses this format on their website:
The photo shows the unique personality of the reviewer and helps inspire trust that the review is real.
Use this format when: You want to increase trustworthiness and help short testimonials stand out. Very useful for making shorter quotes look professional.
Video Testimonials
Video is exploding in popularity. In fact, the average person spends around 6 hours a day watching videos. Video testimonials let prospective customers see other customers speak honestly about your offerings in their own words, which lends your brand a strong sense of credibility.
NewStore, an omnichannel system for stores selling across multiple platforms, uses video testimonials to share how their platform helps real business owners provide a better sales experience for everyone. This format lets prospects better relate to the testimonials and is more persuasive.
Use this format when: You want to leverage the power of video or include more detailed information from a reviewer.
Case Studies
Case studies are long-form, detailed reviews that cover the exact process used and statistics to back up benefits. They may also offer more of a story-telling vibe, which can make the reviews more appealing and more persuasive.
Salesforce, for example, uses a case study format to share in-depth details about how their software helped a label manufacturer streamline its global operations, resulting in better communication and more effective reporting.
Use this format when: You want to include a wide breadth of information or highlight benefits such as stats or detailed processes.
What Makes a Good B2B Testimonial?
While any type of testimonial can inspire trust, you'll want to use a few features that fully uses the psychology of testimonials to make your B2B testimonial really stand out. For starters, a great testimonial should avoid being fluffy and instead be clear and to the point. Make sure you don't coach reviewers and let them talk about your business in their own words.
Here are a few other features you should include in your high-quality testimonials to drive conversions.
- Focus on Key Benefits of Your Product or Service: What challenges did the reviewer have and how did your product help solve those? What specific benefits make your company stand out from your competition?
- Back up Claims with Data: The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. When possible, share stats on how your product helped a customer to increase sales, drive profit margins, or reduce time spent on tasks. Hard numbers provide the proof potential customers need to overcome skepticism.
- From a Person Your Audience Can Relate To: People are more likely to be persuaded by someone who looks like them or faces similar challenges. For example, a small business owner wants to know how your product helps small businesses, not just large corporations.
- Capture Objections: Objections hold customers back. For example, a customer considering a billing software might think "Oh, but doing it on paper is simpler, plus, it will take too long to set up!" A testimonial can address those objections, "We were hesitant to change our process, but this software helped reduce the time we spend on billing by 40%!" which is far more effective than your copy saying "We will save you time!" 
3 Tips to Get More B2B Testimonials
It should be clear by now that testimonials are one of the most powerful marketing tools available to B2B businesses. While asking for referrals might feel uncomfortable at first, work to make it part of your process and it will feel more natural over time.
Here are a few tips to use the psychology of testimonials to get more high-quality testimonials from your customers.
1. Ask Immediately After the Job is Done
Don't wait for weeks to ask for a review, instead ask customers as soon as your job is complete when the benefits are still fresh in their minds. Consider sending out an email reminder right after the job is done and another a week later if they still have not responded.
If you can automate the process by creating a trigger email, even better! TradeGecko, for example, sends out this email to encourage reviews.
2. Make it Easy
Your customers are busy running their own business. They don't have time to spend 30 minutes answering questions about your product, no matter how useful it might be. So, make it easy for them to give you a review, and provide a time estimate when you can.
For example, Clear lets customers know that taking a survey will only take one minute.
Even if your survey takes 5 to 10 minutes, providing this information makes it more likely that customers complete the task because there is a definitive end time.
3. Ask the Right Questions
The key to getting great reviews starts with asking the right questions, but how do you know what the right questions are? It starts by understanding your customer's pain points and objections. What holds them back? What tasks do they struggle with the most every day? Then ask your customers how your company solved those problems.
For example, say the main objection you hear from prospects is that your software system will be too complex to launch. You can ask reviewers about the setup process--was it easier or more complex than they expected?
Consider including one or more of the following questions in your review requests:
- What problems were you looking to solve and how did we help you solve that problem?
- What was your biggest objection when looking to purchase an X solution?
- How would you explain this product (and what it does) to a friend?
- Would you recommend this product? If so, why?
- Did our product help you <task that your audience struggles with>?
Use questions to guide reviews, but don't overly manage the process. To be believable and trusted, reviews need to sound authentic and be in each customer's own words.
Final Thoughts on the Psychology of Testimonials for B2B Companies
As a B2B company, it is important to keep in mind that people are still the ones making the decisions, not faceless organizations. And, those people are susceptible to the same psychological triggers as all humans. So use the psychology of testimonials to your advantage.
Testimonials inspire trust because we assume the reviewer has no reason to lie or mislead us. They feel authentic, which is refreshing in our 24/7 connected social media world.
Despite understanding the power of testimonials, many companies struggle to get high-quality reviews.
Dan shares on:
Brokers no longer need to spend hours each week tagging conversations manually and adding notes after each call—ZRA does all that for them.
During customer calls, brokers, salespeople, and customer success agents can easily see AI-generated notes from previous interactions and continue the conversation, whether it involves offering the customer more information about a particular token or solving a simple troubleshooting issue like two-factor authentication.
Using ZRA has streamlined customer processes, from sales to customer service calls to onboarding. “When we go through a customer onboarding process, we need a lot of information from the customer to remain compliant,” Dan explains. “With Zoom Revenue Accelerator, our onboarding team can easily see what’s been collected and what’s missing.”
After each call, ZRA will automatically create a summary and generate a list of the next steps to complete the onboarding. “Our onboarding team can now save time. When engaging with a customer, they can focus and prioritize that customer conversation.”
With automatic, AI-enabled insights into customer calls, Caleb & Brown now uses the intelligence gathered from conversations to guide business decisions. “When we want to start a new customer acquisition campaign or explore a new business line, we have insights into what matters most to our customers,” Dan says. “We can adjust our acquisition strategy and the key messages we use in our comms to match what we see.”
ZRA makes data sharing between teams easier, so brokers can share customer feedback with product and engineering teams—something they couldn’t do easily before. “In the past, it was quite clunky to pull a clip or audio file to share with other teams. Now, they can easily search through transcripts and provide those snippets as text snippets. It’s been a huge improvement to our workflow,” Dan says.
The enhanced collaboration—furthered by the adoption of Zoom Chat and Zoom Meetings—has also improved security. Teams can communicate faster and use ZRA to share data and call recordings to identify bad actors and confirm client identities quickly.
"Our teams can look at the data and make sure the voice and conversation style matches previous conversations. The auto-generated transcript that ZRA provides makes it much easier to search previous conversations." — Dan Johnson, Head of product, Caleb & Brown
In addition to tightening security, ZRA has made it easier for Caleb & Brown to track potential compliance issues and conduct quality assurance.
Along with ZRA, Caleb & Brown adopted Zoom Phone.
As a distributed company with global teams, it was important to ensure that distance didn’t impact customer experience. According to Dan, their previous provider “had significant latency issues and delays in the conversation. It made conversations quite disjointed and felt very unnatural.”
Switching to Zoom Phone solved those issues, and with the seamless integration of ZRA, they’ve gained data analysis capabilities they didn’t have before.
Since they’ve started working with Zoom Phone and ZRA, Caleb & Brown has gathered valuable data from every single customer call. “Previously, only a fraction of those calls were analyzed and reviewed. Now it’s 100%, and our team doesn’t have to do anything—the software does it for us. It’s quite magical,” Dan says.
This analysis has led to significant time savings and given the team a deeper understanding of their customers.
“Understanding those conversations and what topics matter most to our customers at scale has been absolutely phenomenal. We can’t put an exact number on it, but days, months, years of work have been saved.” —Dan Johnson, Head of product, Caleb & Brown
Caleb & Brown have gotten so much value from Zoom Phone and ZRA that they’ve expanded their Zoom ecosystem.
One such integration involves Salesforce. ZRA integrates directly with Salesforce, which means agents no longer have to spend time searching for the information they need. When a customer calls, their profile pops on the screen, allowing agents and brokers to swiftly navigate through that customer's data for additional context for a particular request. “If a customer wants to update their address, for example, the agent can click see and change that information directly in Salesforce. The useability is phenomenal,” Dan says.
Another addition is Zoom Contact Center, which provides a better way for the global support team to service customers. Rather than having support team members to have unique phone numbers, they leverage intelligent routing to streamline call volume through a single phone number. This capability makes reporting much clearer, as it's easier for leadership to understand the types of conversations being had and who is having those conversations.
With so many solutions to offer, Zoom enables Caleb & Brown to improve productivity, know their customers better, and get deeper deal insights to drive more revenue.
“One of the biggest benefits of working with Zoom is their complete product line. Having one provider that you can go to for many solutions makes things quite easy.” —Dan Johnson, Head of product, Caleb & Brown
