You can now add a Testimonials plugin to your website which will offer a level of automation for your guests’ feedback. The plugin gives you the option to add a form for guests’ to leave feedback, which once approved by you, can automatically be added to a Testimonials page. Please contact us to activate this plugin for you.
Once the plugin is activated you will need to follow the instructions below to complete the setup, or alternatively you can request a quote for us to complete this work for you
Add Testimonials Page
Create a template for your testimonials
From your Dashboard menu you will need to go to Testimonials -> Views.
Click on the Add New button at the top of this page as below:
Give your testimonials view a name, and leave the Mode selected as ‘Display’.
For our example we will select ‘Multiple Testimonials’, displayed as ‘Newest First’, and the Quantity as ‘All’.
In the Fields section we would recommend to leave the settings as is, otherwise you are free to experiment with different options.
In the Extra section, we will select Pagination, and we will choose to display 5 testimonies per page. We will also choose to display the pagination links ‘Before & After’.
In the Style section we will leave the settings with default values. You are free to experiment with different styles as you wish.
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.
The page will refresh and at the top a ‘Shortcode’ will now be displayed. Highlight this with your mouse and ‘Copy’ as we will need this in the next steps.
Create a Testimonials Page
From your Dashboard menu go to Pages -> Add New Page.
Give the page your desired Title etc.
Paste the shortcode from the previous step into the content editor for the page.
Set your desired Page Type and Page Attributes for the page and click Publish. If you need help with creating a page you can follow our online instructions here.
Add Testimonials
Once the plugin is activated you will have some additional menu items as shown to the left.
To add your existing testimonials you will need to click on the Add New link.
Give your testimonial a Title, and add in your text content in the text editor as you would for any other website page.
There are a few additional options as outlined below.
Excerpt
You will notice the Excerpt option towards the bottom of the text editor when adding your testimonies – this is an advanced option which we recommend to avoid.
Client Details
Add in your clients details into the appropriate fields.
If you wish you can use the Featured Image option to the right of the page to add in an image for your customer. To do this click on the Set Featured Image link and upload your desired image.
Custom Fields
This is an advanced option and we recommend not to use this.
Once you have finished editing click the Publish button to save the testimony, and repeat the steps above to add in any additional testimonials.
Add Feedback Entry Form & Page
Create a form to receive testimonials
From your Dashboard menu you will need to go to Testimonials -> Views.
Click on the Add New button at the top of this page as below:
Give your form a title – for our example we will call this Form.
Select the Mode as Form.
Create Feedback Entry Page
You will now need to create a new page that can display the feedback entry form so that your guests’ can leave feedback after their stay.
From your Dashboard menu go to Pages -> Add New Page.
Give the page your desired Title etc.
Paste the Shortcode from the previous step into the page.
Set your desired Page Type and Page Attributes for the page and click Publish. If you need help with creating a page you can follow our online instructions here.
Your new form will be display on the page as shown in the example below:
Handling Feedback
Once you have added the form to your website your guests’ will be able to leave feedback directly through your site. Once they submit the online form the screen will give them a Thank You message, and inform them that their testimonial is awaiting moderation.
If you wish to receive an alert email notification then you will need to go to Testimonials -> Settings, and from the Form tab tick the check box for ‘Send an email upon testimonial submission’. Once you have updated this section click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
Once the guest has submitted their feedback you will need to go to Testimonials -> All Testimonials to publish any pending testimonies. Anything that is pending will be shown as below:
Click on the title of the Pending testimonial to edit/publish. You can edit the text if you wish, and then click the Publish button to the right of the page and the testimony will automatically be added to your Testimonials page.
You can combine the Guest Feedback form with the iBex Email Template and Email Scheduler functionality to automatically send your guests a link to your feedback form once they have departed. Please click here for instructions to set up iBex email templates.