How to get testimonials is a process that required paying attention to quite a lot of details. In a very short definition, a testimonial can be described as a recorded or a written statement in favor of your level of expertise, reputation and credibility. When making a purchasing decision, people are mostly influenced by the opinion of other buyers as they are. This is why a testimonial can be extremely powerful: because it speaks about the purchasing experience of others. Think of your own shopping habits and what convinces you the most: a good commercial or the opinion of someone who already purchased and use that product/service?
Testimonials need to come from your best customers.
Your best customers are the one who have a story to tell. You must have shifted something in their lives since they have acquired your product or turned to your services. Testimonials contribute to a lot of things: like raising brand awareness and building business credibility.
As you are building the sales message of your webpage, brochure, flyers, blog or wherever this message will be posted, it is important to know that you need to disarm the customers pre-conceptions about that purchase. Testimonials are a mean to help you achieve just that: disarm concerns. When you start gathering testimonials from your previous customers, keep the following questions in mind:
- What has changed since they started using your product?
- How would you describe the product in one simple word/phrase?
- Would you buy it again and why (if applicable)?
- What specific results did you get from using this product (if they could provide numbers, that would be even more convincing to the reader)?
- Would you recommend this product to your friends?
When putting all this information together, there is one important step that most people skip as they are looking to build credibility. If you post a testimonial without mentioning the client’s name and posting a picture or them, the quote loses credibility. Being able to attach a name and a face to the testimonial is exact proof that you didn’t come up with those words by yourself.
A controversial aspect with these testimonials has always been whether to correct them or not. If a person makes a typo or some other mistake when writing/verbally giving you the testimonial, should you change it to its correct form? Some experts advise you to leave it just the way it is because it is a proof of authenticity. Everyone knows that people can make mistakes from time to time and a small error is proof that there is a real person behind those words.
Another very interesting and attractive testimonial is the video.
Assuming you use these testimonials on your website and not your printed materials, video proofs are interactive and even more convincing. Why? Because the viewers gets to hear the tone of voice of the person sharing the experience. Because they get to see the mimic and gestures and will find it easier to see that the person making the statement is authentic and not someone you’ve bought to stay some nice words.
Do you have any more thoughts on how to get testimonials? Don’t be shy – leave us a comment and let us hear your point of view!
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