Asking and Receiving Customer Testimonials: How to Do It and Why It’s Important

Thank You sign for giving testimonialCustomer testimonials offer a powerful means of building trust and credibility, but many companies ignore the rich possibilities client endorsements offer. This is especially common among small businesses, who act as if adding client testimonials to their websites is bragging or boasting.

It’s only bragging if you say it yourself. With a well-written testimonial, you’re not tooting your own horn: a customer toots it for you.

Customer testimonials sell your services better than you ever could. A testimonial describing a previous customer’s results resonates with potential clients, because they’re looking for similar outcomes. Your words may be dismissed as marketing, but a testimonial is a peer’s experience, and as such carries significant weight with new customers.

Provide Quality Service

Unless you’re providing excellent service, your clients won’t be willing to provide testimonials. In fact, they’re likely to do just the opposite and post unfavorable comments in social media or on review sites. Customers are only willing to provide testimonials if you impress them with the quality of your services and produce tangible results.

Asking for Testimonials

Again, it seems obvious when you see it in type, but you won’t get many testimonials unless you ask for them. The occasional client may offer a spontaneous testimonial, but if you’re serious about building a collection of endorsement, you need to request client feedback.

Asking for testimonials can take several forms, but one strategy should be avoided. Never contact your client and ask directly for testimonials to put on your website. While some may do it, this makes you look more interested in collecting marketing content than sharing your clients’ stories, and their response will usually be lukewarm at best.

Instead, watch for openings in conversations with customers. If a client shares her positive results with you at the end of a project, ask if she would mind sharing her story with others on your website. The difference is subtle, but simply asking for testimonials makes the process all about you, while asking her to share her personal story and results puts the customer in center stage.

Help Customers Write Testimonials

Providing guidelines and advice to customers writing testimonials sounds like cheating, but all you’re doing is offering some support to the customer (writing your own testimonials and trying to pass them off as your own — now that’s cheating). Remember, not everyone feels comfortable writing.

Suggest the testimonial include three main points: the client’s situation before your services, his experiences with you, and the positive results he saw from your services. If the customer really feels uncomfortable, ask him for a bulleted list of these three topics and work with him to massage the information into a few short paragraphs. The client, of course, gives you the final approval for the finished testimonial.

Another option is to create a case study: a short survey or interview exploring your customer’s response to your work. Ask questions encouraging clients to discuss their experience with your services, and ask permission to incorporate study results into your website content.

Reward Testimonial Writers

Be sure to thank customers for their time, whether they’re providing a written testimonial or participating in a case study. How you thank your customer is up to you. Some companies offer discounts or small tokens of appreciation for testimonials, but often a sincere hand-written note of thanks is enough to show your appreciation.

If the customer is in business, offer to include a link to their website below the testimonial. You both benefit. The client gets added exposure, and you get marketing material.

Other Sources of Testimonials

While asking for testimonials will bring in the best results, sometimes testimonials fall into your lap. If a customer sends an email praising your services and results, contact him and ask if you can use a quote from the email on your website and in other marketing materials. Here’s an example of testimonials of a product. Some products, even when you think they wouldn’t need testimonials, do! Get creative like this mosquito trap review and give your customers the freedom to write what they want!

Searching for your company name, services and products is an important part of market research. Since you’re running searches anyway, keep your eye out for positive comments in reviews, forums, and social media. Contact the person who write the review and ask if you can quote them.

Value-Added Authenticity

Some companies, unfortunately, make use of fake customer comments, causing potential customers to question the veracity of any testimonial. Fake endorsements tend to have three things in common:

  • The “author” is often only identified by first name or initials.
  • The testimonial is about how great the company is, not the client’s own experience.
  • The website overused testimonials, often providing page after page of endorsements.

Lack of a full name on a testimonial makes it look fake. A customer testimonial should include his full name and his city of residence. Instead of “M.M., New York,” your customer is described as “Marty Mitchell, New York,” with a photo or Marty if he wants to provide one. Make sure your readers identify testimonial writers as real people.

The second point is also telling. A fake testimonial often centers on the company, and how terrific or absolutely miraculous the business is. A real testimonial is written from the customer’s perspective, and focuses on their experience and results.

Finally, use testimonials sparingly. No-one’s going to read six pages of testimonials. Place your testimonials in text boxes near page content related to the endorsement. This way you use the testimonial to add to the reader’s understanding and put in context. Here are a few examples of different types of testimonials and how to address the layout on your page. Clarity Way uses texts boxes and includes the person’s first name and last initial along with their state. They include the state to show that they service people from everywhere! It’s a great strategy to show that people are willing to travel for them.

Courtney Gordner is a passionate blogger who loves giving advice about all thing marketing and internet! Read more from her on her blog, www.talkviral.com

 

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Gary

CEO at 3Bug Media
Gary Shouldis is the founder of 3Bug Media, a web marketing company that helps businesses create 360 Marketing Strategies to dominate their market. His blog is read by over 20 thousand small business owners a month and has been featured in the N.Y. Times Small Business, Business Insider and Yahoo Small Business.