Do you want to show off all the great feedback you've been getting from your customers? Do you find copying and pasting feedback from emails and social media is time consuming? Allow users to submit testimonials directly on your website with no extra work for you.
You know that feeling you get when you wake up to an amazing testimonial about your business? It's one of my favorite things. Whenever it happens, it really makes my day.
Not only are testimonials good for your mood, they're also good for your online business. Highlight user testimonials and positive feedback on your website to help show visitors that you are genuine and trustworthy. Testimonials also play a big part in boosting online sales and conversions. You don't even need an extra WordPress testimonial plugin. Formidable Forms makes is easy to add a testimonials page to your WordPress website.
But how can a WordPress form builder plugin help? Harness the power of Formidable with an online form for happy customers to directly submit their testimonials.
Step 1: Create a testimonials form
Make it really easy for your website visitors to add new testimonials, by keeping this form short and simple. I usually include the following three fields: name (text field), photo (file upload), and testimonial (paragraph). A star rating may be worth adding too.
Once your form is built, perhaps modify your forms success message to say "Thank you for the testimonial–you've made our day!" or something similar.
Insert your testimonials form on a page
Next create a new page on your site or choose a spot on an existing page. Insert your form shortcode to display your testimonials form for the world to see. Submit a few example testimonials to help set up the front-end display. These can be deleted later and replaced with new submissions.
Step 2: Create a testimonials page or widget
You'll need a View to display your testimonials. Go to "Formidable" → "Views" and select "Add New".
I'm going to call my new View "Testimonials View". Select your testimonials submission form in the "Use Entries from Form" box.
In this example, select "All Entries" for the View Format.
Add the content to display your testimonials
Remember that anything in the "Before" content box will be used once before the main content. Anything in the main content box will be repeated for every entry. Anything in the "After" content box will be used once after the repetitions of the main content box are complete. This allows HTML elements like table structure and styling divs to be opened and closed in the before/after sections without unnecessary repetitions in the main content.
The ID of my image field is [499], my name field is [496], and my testimonial field is [498]. So adding this to my content box works perfectly. Just change the field IDs to suit your form.
<div class="[evenodd] single_testimonial">
[if 499]<img src="[499]" class="alignleft">[/if 499] [498]
<span class="right">- <i>[496]</i></span>
<div class="clear"></div>
</div>
Create a testimonials page on your website and insert your new View into the page. Check your page and make any styling or layout adjustments needed. This is where having a few dummy testimonials really helps!
My display keeps the uploaded photo to the left, the testimonial text to the right of the image, and the name below the main text. Depending on your theme and styling preferences, you may wish to modify the HTML slightly to suit your needs.
Bonus Option - Create a random testimonial widget
A page full of testimonials looks great. But not all of your visitors will go out of their way to visit that page. Sometimes testimonials inserted into your main pages have more impact, simply because they are seen more often.
For this example take what you did above and modify it slightly to display a single, randomly selected testimonial in a sidebar widget.
- Change your view format. Select "Single Entry — display one entry" instead.
- In the Advanced Settings box at the bottom of the View page, click on 'Order' and select the Random option.
- Modify your view HTML slightly - I changed the 'alignleft' image class to 'aligncenter'. It looks neater this way when displayed in a narrow sidebar.
- Save your changes and copy your view shortcode
- Go to Appearance → Widgets, and add a new text widget to your sidebar. Add your View shortcode to this widget and save your changes.
That's it! In just 2 or 3 minutes you've created a testimonials widget that displays a single testimonial. Each time the page is loaded a random testimonial appears. Now your visitors get to see a selection of the great feedback for your business.
Step 3: Ask for new testimonials!
Don't forget the most important step! Let your customers know you value their feedback and would love to have their testimonial displayed proudly on your website.
One of my favorite ways to do this is the simplest. Add a line to your email signature that includes a link to your testimonial form and says "Happy with our service? Show your appreciation by leaving a review HERE". Now I don't even have to think about asking for testimonials, it happens automatically every time I reply to an email!
Easy WordPress testimonials
Adding a testimonial widget or page to your WordPress website has never been easier. All the steps above can be completed in about 20 minutes, so you really don't have an excuse anymore!
If you're not taking advantage of the powerful conversions boost that testimonials can provide, you may be loosing out! Schedule a few minutes TODAY and add this simple feature to your online presence. See the difference it can make!
The post How to Add Reviews without a WordPress Testimonial Plugin appeared first on Formidable Forms.