Using customers names on website - helpful or not?

[Banksbroo]

I run a company which produces and sells a range of specialist paper to other businesses, so a fairly typical B2B niche product setup. I've been doing this for nearly 20 years, and in that time have built up a large and varied customer list. Some customers are very prestigious, some easily recognised household names. Leaving aside companies who have required a non-disclosure agreement, I was wondering about the pro's and cons of listing some of these companies on our website (with their permission).
Pros - new customers can see we can handle the capacity and quality standards of big companies. They can see companies similar to themselves. I expand my market.
Cons - The small handful of competitors in this market can then pursue the same companies. Admittedly contacting the right person in a large corporate can be difficult, but not impossible. Owner run regionally well known companies would be much easier to contact and pose a higher risk of poaching.
It's a niche product, and new market entrants have already duplicated my products to the exact fraction of a mm, and used my exact product web descriptions, so the site is under close scrutiny.
Any thoughts?

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I think most people ignore the logos and client lists - they might react to testimonials!

 

[Banksbroo]

I think most people ignore the logos and client lists - they might react to testimonials!

Fair point, I maybe over focused on the visual impact of the company logo. I don't seek out testimonials or have any standard trust pilot thing, so would need to ask directly.

 

[Mark James]

Don’t put them on, your right your competition will swoop in especially as you say your niche.

 

[IanSuth]

You can put things like

"Most amazing paper ever, no bleed when we print and the paper cuts are like no other" - marketing Director of International FMCG supplied by us for 12 years

And something like "we are able to put potential customers in touch with existing clients if you want first hand testimonials"

That shows you can deal with big clients etc and even provide direct references BUT you won't do it until you have qualified the lead

 

[fisicx]

Tell the story. Write a blog post about what you did for them and how brilliant it was and how happy they are.

If your competitors are plagiarizing your content take action. A cease and desist from your solicitor can work wonders. Don't let them get away with it. And watermark all your images.

 

[MarketingQuote]

We have seen brand new companies with testimonials and big names, most of us just ignore them.

 

[WaveJumper]

I love it when you see a site crammed with company logos, like "we work with" Rolls Royce, Tesco, Boots etc etc then I look them up on companies house and they are worth diddly-squat.

Don't go down they route, you have not needed it for 20 years, some wording along the lines suggested by @IanSuth would have more impact in my humble opinion.

 

[Gyumri]

As I happen to be looking for a special paper and have been for some time I would be interested to know what you could supply. I'm on the scent for possibly Bond paper 50-60 gsm maximum with a rough texture, good for colour printing old Masters etc but capable of being rolled up into a tube and then unrolled without too much memory so that the print can be hung on a wall without much "curl" in the paper.

 

[Blood Lust]

I run a company which produces and sells a range of specialist paper to other businesses, so a fairly typical B2B niche product setup. I've been doing this for nearly 20 years, and in that time have built up a large and varied customer list. Some customers are very prestigious, some easily recognised household names. Leaving aside companies who have required a non-disclosure agreement, I was wondering about the pro's and cons of listing some of these companies on our website (with their permission).
Pros - new customers can see we can handle the capacity and quality standards of big companies. They can see companies similar to themselves. I expand my market.
Cons - The small handful of competitors in this market can then pursue the same companies. Admittedly contacting the right person in a large corporate can be difficult, but not impossible. Owner run regionally well known companies would be much easier to contact and pose a higher risk of poaching.
It's a niche product, and new market entrants have already duplicated my products to the exact fraction of a mm, and used my exact product web descriptions, so the site is under close scrutiny.
Any thoughts?

In business science customers look for the following information when deciding whether to choose you or not:

Costs
Quality
Flexibility
Reliability
Speed

Reliability is ticked by having 5 star reviews and happy customers who have let you use them on your website. If you look at times you have purchased things you`ll notice you have ticked off the above, maybe not all at the same time.

And you`ll also notice you have skipped potential companies who don`t tell you what you need to know, and focused on those ones who did.

You need to keep it on, and don`t worry about smaller competitors. If you are competing on price they lack your economies of scale, and if you are competing on differentiation just keep focusing on doing a great job satisfying your niche.

 

[Banksbroo]

In business science customers look for the following information when deciding whether to choose you or not:

Costs
Quality
Flexibility
Reliability
Speed

Reliability is ticked by having 5 star reviews and happy customers who have let you use them on your website. If you look at times you have purchased things you`ll notice you have ticked off the above, maybe not all at the same time.

And you`ll also notice you have skipped potential companies who don`t tell you what you need to know, and focused on those ones who did.

You need to keep it on, and don`t worry about smaller competitors. If you are competing on price they lack your economies of scale, and if you are competing on differentiation just keep focusing on doing a great job satisfying your niche.

We don't have any review system on the website, so there are no reviews to show. It's not something I pay much attention too on other sites as I'm doubtful how many of them are genuine. I don't think we have ever left a review for another company. We do all of the 5 points above, but we don't do any marketing to tell new customers this, so I suppose that's the crux of the issue, as we aren't standing in front new and existing customers, and the listing some high profile customers was an attempts to address this.

 

[Mark T Jones]

It very much depends on how / why people are visiting your website and whether the names will resonate with them. As @fisicx says, a case study is more likely to resonate than a logo.

Whilst you want to jump on competitors blatantly copying, you also have to accept that it's inevitable that they will come close and, if they have anything about them, will already be canvassing your customers.

 

[japancool]

I work with people like Hotpoint, Dyson, Vodafone, British Gas and Tesco.

In the afternoon, I often work with Greggs.

 

[Blood Lust]

We don't have any review system on the website, so there are no reviews to show. It's not something I pay much attention too on other sites as I'm doubtful how many of them are genuine. I don't think we have ever left a review for another company. We do all of the 5 points above, but we don't do any marketing to tell new customers this, so I suppose that's the crux of the issue, as we aren't standing in front new and existing customers, and the listing some high profile customers was an attempts to address this.

`We guarantee a reliable and dependable service or your money back`.

But make sure you are reliable and dependable first, if not thats an area to focus on and improve so you can add it to your website.

 

[fisicx]

You don’t need reviews. You need to tell stories. Tell prospective clients about the journey between the order being placed all the way to delivery. Use instagram to show the paper. Have YouTube videos of the machinery in action.

Have you ever watched Inside the Factory or Made in Britain? Have you thought about taking part?

Marketing takes many forms. If you don’t do something your competitors may one day suddenly take your business.

 

[Nick@Daydot]

I think I have a slightly different slant from the other replies. The comments so far are entirely sensible and make sense but I think miss the emotional and unconscious factors that influence purchase. People will say that they ignore the logos and it has no impact, but people aren't always reliable reporters of their own motivations and causes.

The best thing you could do would be to A/B test the approach if you have enough traffic to the site. That way you'll find out what actually works. Blogs, testimonials, logos etc are all forms of social proof - which works best in a given context depends.