Why testimonials?
In your opinion, what is the purpose of having testimonials online? Let’s look at this subject for a second.
- Testimonials Build Trust. When somebody reads a testimonial, and they’re looking for something online. Let’s say they’re researching your company and they read a testimonial from one of your delighted customers. What it does in their mind and their subconscious is, it builds trust. If somebody else believes in you and was satisfied with your service or your product, then “I probably will be satisfied also,” is what they think. And so their trust goes up.
- Not Salesy. Testimonials aren’t salesy, and yet they help buyers buy. It’s not a salesman speaking. It’s a neighbor. It’s a person in their shoes, and they’re saying “I had a good experience here” and therefore, it becomes a sales message without being salesy. It helps buyers buy without having to talk to a salesperson.
- Overcome Buyer’s Skepticism. Another thing that testimonials do is to help buyers overcome buyer’s skepticism. You know how it is, whenever we encounter sales scripts or other marketing messages, our inner flags go up don’t they? However, when we read testimonials, those flags come down because we are engaging with someone who is a real person in our space, wearing our shoes, having a real experience with you and your product. That’s why testimonials are so powerful. They help build trust. They’re not salesy and they help overcome buyer skepticism.
The key here is to get genuine testimonials. You want your customers to tell the truth. You want them to leave a genuine testimonial.
How to get good testimonials
So what are some ways to get testimonials? Let’s look at a few examples:
- Give Them A Call. That is if you know them by name and have their number.
- Write A Short Letter. Simply write to them and ask them, “Would you please take two minutes out of your day and write a testimonial of what you experienced in dealing with us?”
- Be Grateful. Show thankfulness or gratefulness to your customers and to the people you’re asking testimonials from.
- Give them some questions . Maybe they don’t know how to word it and so, giving them a few questions to think about is a great way to get them started. And it’s okay to edit it. For instance, if somebody writes half a page and you only need a small paragraph, you can cut it down. You don’t have to put the whole thing on your website.
- Use All That You Get. Try to use all that you get, meaning if you get 10 testimonials, try to get all 10 of those on your website.
- Keep A Testimonial File. Keeping a literal physical file is great. You can put it in your office and then you are able to pull them out when you need them. In addition to that, keep a digital file as well. Have a file in your backup drive of all your testimonials because you’re going to use these in your digital marketing. You’re going to use them on your website. You’ll use them in your social media. You’ll use them in your radio ads. You’ll use them in your email marketing. You’re going to use them throughout your marketing, so get testimonials and then save them.
Get Video Testimonials
Video testimonials are a great thing to get because they have a genuine feel. When you hear somebody, or see somebody in a video, speaking of their experience with a service provider, or some experience they had with a certain business, you believe it, right?
Video is powerful.
Video is very powerful because it incorporates both sound and sight. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million words because you get sight and sound. You get to see the eyes of the person talking, you get to see their mouth moving. You can tell that it’s not made up. It’s not just some written sales message. This is a real person talking and you get to see the genuine honesty and integrity in their eyes.
Video testimonials are easy to do. It is very easy, with the technology today, to get in front of the camera and leave a testimonial.
This blogpost is an excerpt from our latest book Digital Marketing Secrets for Small Business. It tells about the latest in digital marketing and what you need to know to grow your business.
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