How Testimonials Can Boost Your Affiliate Program

The affiliate marketing industry is bigger than ever. As more and more businesses launch affiliate programs, we’re seeing a huge influx of new affiliates, influencers and content creators looking to get involved. Testimonials can boost your affiliate program growth, but it’s important you understand how best to make use of them.

In this guide, we take a look at how collating affiliate and partner testimonials can help your affiliate program grow. Taking full advantage of positive reviews your partners can supply will ensure you are leveraging program promotions to secure new applicants.  Read on to learn more about why testimonials are an easy way to help support your program growth.

The Psychology of Reviews and Testimonials 

The digital age has completely transformed the commerce and retail sectors. Instead of heading to the high street, people now do most of their research for both business and consumerism online. Having a solid brand reputation and commentary for your program can improve your growth and influence affiliates to find your opportunity and join your program when doing new brand discovery.

Another crucial way in which customer-business relationships are changing is through the proliferation of reviews and testimonials. Research has revealed that as much as 95% of customers check online reviews before purchasing or engaging with a new product and service. Another 58% say they are more likely to buy from a brand with good peer or business based reviews.

This clearly demonstrates how important reviews are, but what does it have to do with affiliate program marketing? The simple fact is that your partner  testimonials can boost your affiliate program popularity and encourage more partners to apply to join yours.

The affiliate marketing industry is highly competitive. You’re going to need some way of standing out from the crowd to ensure that potential partners choose your program over your rivals. One of the most effective ways to do this is by collecting and displaying reviews and partner testimonials your affiliate sign up page.

If a potential affiliate visits your platform to find out more about your program, displaying reviews and testimonials can ensure they perceive your program as being reliable and legitimate. Trust is key in affiliate marketing; testimonials can demonstrate to new partners that your program is authentic and could prove vital in encouraging them to convert and become a partner.

The power of reviews and testimonials is a result of the psychology of social proof. They help allay the concerns of potential partners by demonstrating that others have confirmed the veracity and reliability of your service. They can also trigger a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out), highlighting the best parts about your program and motivating others to sign up.

Furthermore, testimonials can be used to convey additional information, such as aspects of program management and payment processing arrangements, giving potential affiliates a clearer picture of the program as a whole.

Different Types of Testimonials 

Now that we know how testimonials can boost your affiliate program, let’s discuss the different kinds of testimonials and reviews you can use.

Word-of-mouth (WOM) is one of the most effective forms. This involves existing program partners actively recommending your program to new affiliates. You can encourage your partners to recommend new affiliates, perhaps with rewards for successful referrals, but ensuring your program is high-quality will help kick-start the WOM process organically.

Proof of concept – where partners can demonstrate the reliable earnings they have received since joining your program helps too.

You can also collect testimonials from existing affiliates who have had great experiences promoting your brand. One method could be to distribute forms among partners who have been with your program for a certain period of time. You can then take the best reviews and display them on your platform for visitors to see when investigating your program.

Tools to Use

You can also use tools and platforms to maximise reviews and testimonials.

VideoAsk is an interactive video tool that quickly and easily gathers feedback and can be utilised to connect and communicate with partners. It can be used to collect and collate testimonials for your program, as well as for things like lead generation and partner recruitment.

Another important platform to look at is TrustPilot. This is a review aggregate platform that records and displays reviews for a huge number of products and services, affiliate programs included. This will often be the first port of call for consumers and affiliates who are looking to learn more about a particular service. Ensuring that your program is represented on TrustPilot and that the reviews there are positive can be incredibly beneficial.

In Conclusion… 

It’s impossible to overstate how important reviews and testimonials are for your affiliate program. It certainly does help to showcase where your partners succeed in working within your program and helps support your brand prominence in a sea of programs affiliates now have the choice to promote. The benefit of this is that testimonials are given free and there’s no better form of marketing than a positive message enforcing your program strengths!