No matter what business you’re in, perhaps the best method of adding credibility and believability to it is by collecting quality testimonials from your customers. Despite this, most advertising done by businesses contain no success stories. Just including a few quality testimonials can have a profound impact on your advertising response.
Collecting quality testimonials from your customers is a fairly easy process. We highly recommend using Site Survey as an affordable and easy way to collect this information. While some business owners are intimidated to ask their customers for a testimonial, in most cases a satisfied customer will be delighted to give one. But it can be a challenge to collect quality testimonials, as having plain and boring testimonials in your advertising won’t do you much good. Here are a few different techniques behind collecting great testimonials:
1. Have a testimonial contest. With such a contest you would give a nice prize for the person who wrote the best testimonial. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to give a small incentive to everyone who participates, and then a first, second, and third prize for the top three testimonials. By giving everyone a small incentive you will encourage more people to participate. And by having prizes for the best testimonials, those who do participate will make a greater effort to give a quality one.
2. Write the testimonial for your customers. This makes it a “win-win” situation for both you and the customer providing the testimonial, as what you can do is simply ask the customer a few questions about the service they received, what they like best about your company, etc. Then you can record this mini-interview on a digital recorder and have your staff transcribe the information. Then you would extract the quality content from it, run it by the customer for their approval, and there you have it!
The customer often prefers this method because all they are doing is answering a few simple questions. They don’t need to “strain their brain” thinking of what to write down, and the process is quick and easy. It of course benefits you in that you will ask specific questions that will enable the customer to talk about all of the benefits of your business, and then you can easily put together a quality testimonial from the information you’ve gathered.
3. Give an example of quality testimonials. In order to improve the chances of you receiving a quality testimonial, before you ask for one it’s a good idea to provide a few examples of quality testimonials. For example, if you were to have a testimonial contest and sent a letter to your customers asking them to write a quality testimonial, it would be a good idea to include a few examples of great success stories from your customers. This way they will get a better idea as to what you’re looking for.
Of course anytime you collect a testimonial from one of your customers you want them to sign a permission form. Such a form should clearly state the different methods you intend on using the testimonials (in your print advertising, on your website, etc.) This way if someone ever claims they never gave you permission to use their testimonial you will have this form as proof that they did in fact say it was okay.
In summary, try to collect as many quality testimonials as you can and include them in all of your advertising, post them on your website, and other places where your prospects might search for you. Doing so will have a huge impact on your conversion rates, and can be a big factor in taking your business to the next level and beyond.
