Use Your Testimonials to Grow Your Business
Marketing is not about selling, it is about caring: Marketing is about knowing your customer well, listening to their feedback and delivering on your promise.
You need to make sure you get the results you promised your clients and can prove them to those who are interested in your services or products!
Are you collecting testimonials and are you doing it effectively to grow your business?
If not, then you absolutely need to check out my tips below!
If you’re building a collection of glowing reviews written and shared by your happy customers, that’s great news! You’re doing something right, and it looks like your business model is working and you’re finding a way to provide quality service at a sustainable profit, which is every new business owner’s dream. God job!
Now that you have these testimonials, what should you do with them? How can you leverage these successful relationships in a way that attracts MORE successful relationships?
If you have some happy customers who haven’t shared their feelings in writing, how can you convince these people to add to your list of testimonials? And a tricky final question: can you start collecting testimonials if you don’t yet have any paid clients? You can! We’ll explain how.
To find more details about these tips below, click here to listen to the related podcast episode.
The Value of Testimonials
Testimonials bring three huge benefits to your outreach strategy and the success of your business:
- Trust
- Credibility
- SEO and high rankings in internet search results
Outside of friends and family, people don’t usually leap feet first into a relationship with an untested business, especially if the cost of the business or service is high enough to warrant a close review. But a well-written, well-placed testimonial can break the ice. And a boost to your credibility also means a boost to your search rankings.
When to Ask for a Testimonial
Usually testimonials are asked when a transaction with a client is ending. But you do not need to wait for that to ask for a testimonial!
For example, it’s a good idea to ask for a testimonial:
- When a client reaches out to you specifically to tell you how much they enjoyed your product or service
- When you can see that your client is gaining results. You don’t have to wait until your transaction is finished; in fact, it can be wise to make your request when the results and victories are fresh in your client’s mind. This may happen before your interaction is over.
Note: You can use testimonials even if you do not have paid clients yet! As long as you managed to provide results to someone, you can use it as a testimonial.
You can also request testimonials for other things than just your paid products or services. Examples:
- Your free resources
- Your speaking engagements
- Your content (articles and blogs)
How to Get an Effective Testimonial and Make it Easy for Your Client
Make sure to make it very easy for your client to give you an effective testimonial! (quote)
When you make the request, share easy questions the client can answer to. An effective testimonial is simply a testimonial that shows:
- What was the situation before a client uses your product or service
- What is the result after a client uses your product or service
You can prompt the client with questions like these:
- What are the challenges you were experiencing with XXX before you started using XXX?
- What are the results you obtained after using XXX?
With your questions, try to direct your client to use numbers and specifics if possible. You can also make things extra easy by giving your client a feedback form with specific questions to answer and blanks to fill in.
Click here to see examples of testimonials that were obtained thanks to these questions.
Note: It might happen that your clients share with you very spontaneously their enthusiasm or satisfaction for your service or product. Make sure to show your gratitude and ask if you can use their feedback as a testimonial!
If you don’t have any paying clients just yet, you can still collect and use testimonials! Here are a few ways to do this:
- Ask for feedback from those who have used your freebies or free downloads
- Ask those who have engaged with your content on any level. What did they think of your articles, guides, photos or information?
- Ask for reviews or feedback in the comments sections of your posts.
What Format Can You Use to Share Your Testimonials?
There are few ways you can ask your clients to share their testimonial, depending on what they are most comfortable with:
- Written format: Ideally featuring the name and the picture of your client!
- Video format: Adding in the video or below the name and website of your client!
- You can also have a longer format which is more of a case study, where you show step by step how you helped your client get results.
Click here to find an example with a client case study.
The more human and real your testimonial feels the better it is to really showcase the results you provide.
Note: Make sure to get your clients’ approval to use their name, but also their picture if they share a written format. Also, if your clients have businesses, it can be a great incentive to offer them to also feature the testimonial the link to their website.
Where Should You Share the Testimonials?
You can share your testimonials in various places:
- Home page
- Services/products description page
- Testimonials page
- Sales page or Landing page during a promotional campaign
- Social media posts (including LinkedIn recommendations!)
- Brochures
- Proposals
Take Action Now:
- Nomad Nation, are you now ready to use the full powerful of testimonials for your business? Share with me below what is the key-takeaway you’ve learned from this episode!
- Do you find this podcast show useful to you? Please leave your review on your podcast app:
THANK YOU NOMAD NATION, I APPRECIATE YOUR FEEDBACK!