Before a host of online options emerged, busy professionals either found time to bend over and do it themselves — or visited a brick-and-mortar prep office where they could look the prepper in the eye before handing over scrolls of personal information.
It’s safe to say that all fintech companies (and especially those focused on personal financial data) need to show, not tell, that other customers have had great experiences with their product.
This is exactly why TaxSlayer not only partnered with Trustpilot, but decided to highlight Trustpilot reviews throughout the entire customer journey. Interested in how their customers’ words turned into trusted social proof, better ROI for retargeting campaigns, and even some profitable business decisions?
We caught up with Melissa Best, Director of Digital Marketing at TaxSlayer, to get a better understanding of why, after some positive early traction, they chose to double down on Trustpilot content for the 2018 tax season and beyond.
Every year the digital marketing team at TaxSlayer zeroes in on new client acquisition. But with so many competing products on the market — all making similar claims come tax season — it’s not always easy to get noticed with traditional advertising. As it turns out, no one can speak to consumers the way other consumers can.
Before partnering with Trustpilot to collect customer reviews as its primary form of social proof, TaxSlayer used to outsource consumer research and customer feedback generation for testimonial content.
These days, there’s no need to outsource consumer information because Trustpilot has quickly become a one-stop shop for consumer information, social proof and testimonial content to support their advertising and marketing claims.
But it doesn’t stop there: The marketing team sees every new review in real time. Access to real customer sentiment allows them to refine their marketing messages and deliver ad copy that’s sure to resonate — especially when it comes to campaigns designed to win new high-intent customers.
According to the TaxSlayer team, “our customers are already talking about us exactly the way we want them to” — and that helps them cut through the noise in an age where consumers see right through slick advertising or marketing.
In fact, this is why they feature Trustpilot on their website and email campaigns too:
TaxSlayer uses Trustpilot reviews on site
With so many options out there for every imaginable consumer need, it’s not hard to believe that only 2% of people will convert the first time they visit a website to view a product or service. To help bring back the remaining 98% of taxpayers, TaxSlayer decided to make the most of Trustpilot’s social proof with a ridiculously effective retargeting campaign.
Once TaxSlayer tested two versions of its ad creative for this type of retargeting campaign, the winning ad variant was clear.
Retargeting ads that featured Trustpilot reviews resulted in a staggering 50% lower CPA on average — although in some months, the drop in CPA was as significant as 82%. It’s safe to say that adding reviews to your retargeting ad creative can increase the ROI of your entire campaign.
But amazing ad performance doesn’t stop at retargeting. The TaxSlayer team has also seen huge improvements in Google Ads performance as a result of collecting reviews through Trustpilot. Once they completed Google’s requirements to earn Google Seller Ratings, they saw their CTR increase immediately.
Thanks to those shiny gold stars appearing at the top of the SERPs, TaxSlayer has seen an impressive 60% increase in CTR on broad match campaigns and a solid 17% increase in CTR for exact match campaigns.
Why is this so important? Boosting CTR to this extent can do a lot of good for an ad’s Quality Score, which in turn improves the performance of the entire campaign.
Once TaxSlayer took steps to customize their Trustpilot profile page, they saw another spike in performance.
After adding their company information, social media profiles and promotional links, they saw an incredible 500% increase in referral traffic to their website, directly from their enriched Trustpilot profile page.
Improving referral traffic is one of the most often overlooked tactics for generating qualified leads — and it’s great for organic SEO, too.
If it wasn’t already obvious, TaxSlayer lives and breathes customer experience — so much so that almost every department has access to Trustpilot reviews. From general counsel, to the marketing team, to customer support, to product and UX — TaxSlayer is one of those companies that really listens to their customers.
Thanks to the use of Trustpilot’s Review Tagging feature, tracking customer sentiments about their product is now simple and actionable. The ability to analyze reviews by theme and topic has made it easier than ever to pivot based on customer feedback and ensure their customers are happy with the changes they present, taking their customer loyalty to the next level.
In general, Trustpilot reviews have changed the way TaxSlayer responds to customer feedback — and as a result of hundreds of reviews coming in, they’ve come with a brand new team and SLA to manage this steady stream of customer feedback.
What started as a marketing initiative (with generally impressive ROI) has evolved into a corporate customer support initiative — and it’s no secret that companies that listen to their customers are the best at both retaining and attracting new customers .
Ready to join TaxSlayer and learn more about all the ways reviews can improve your marketing and help you become a better business? Create a free Trustpilot account below.