Creating Effective Customer Testimonials
Customer testimonials are an excellent
marketing tool
that can
help substantiate the claims you make on your website about your
products or services.
If you are offering a product,
it's easier for prospects to compare your products with
competitive products. They can easily check features and prices of your
competitors and compare different products and find proof of your claims.
For service companies, it's a bit more difficult. Testimonials can help you support your claims about the benefits of your service.
Creating Meaningful Testimonials
Everyone knows testimonials are useful, but the challenge is
getting your customers to give you meaningful, believable testimonials that
ring true to your site visitors. In reality, anyone can make up testimonials
and put them on their website. The goal is to make your testimonials believable.
A testimonial is only as good as the person who
gives it. If
your customer won't allow you to put their name on their testimonial,
then
there's really no point in accepting a testimonial from them. The more
specific
you can be about the source of the testimonial the better. If your
customers are businesses, include their name, title and company and offer to include their
logo
with a link to their website. If they are individuals, include their full name and town.
Garnering
Testimonials from Customers
The first step is to get the testimonials in the first
place. If you've tried to do this yourself, you know it can be like pulling
teeth to get your customers to write something about you. It's not that
they don't want to help, it's just that they are busy and it's not a priority
for them. They also don't know what to say, so they put it off until they have
time and it doesn't get done.
Often times, when you do get a
testimonial, it's often not the
endorsement you would have hoped for. You know that your customer could
have
made a stronger testimonial, but they just gave you something quickly
and
didn't think much about it.
Most likely, your customers will welcome
your help in
crafting their testimonial. They don't have time to think about it and
they
want to sound intelligent. This gives you the opportunity to develop a
strong
testimonial that contains their opinion and more. All they have to do is
approve it.
Shaping your Customer's Testimonials
To get quality testimonials from your customers, take
control of the process. First, ask your customers if they would be willing to
give you a testimonial. You may get lucky and get a great testimonial this way
that needs little editing. If they agree but don't have the time to write the
testimonial themselves, offer to write the testimonial for them. Ask them what
they like about doing business with you. Then offer to write the testimonial for
them based on what they said, assuring them they will have the opportunity to
approve the testimonial before it's posted.
Examples of Effective Testimonials
Here are some good examples of strong testimonials from
companies:
Both of these companies got these testimonials from their
clients based on their relationships with their customers. All they needed was a light edit and they were ready to go. These are particularly strong because they include companies that prospects will recognize with real names and titles.
In this testimonial for a construction company, a happy customer created an entire website to describe his experience with the company. This is the ultimate testimonial!
Here are some testimonials for a painting contractor. In this case, the customers are homeowners and we put their name and town to give them credibility.
Using Testimonials
Once you have your testimonials, of course you'll want to put them on your website on a special page. You can also take
your strongest testimonial and put it on your home page, in your email newsletter or direct mail piece as an attention-getter and lead-in. Be creative!
