Using customer testimonials on your website and as part of your overall marketing strategy is a fantastic way to communicate the quality of products and services that your small business provides. People are naturally skeptical when encountering a product or company they are not familiar with. It’s just human nature! Nobody wants to be burned by bad service or waste their hard earned money on a product that sucks! Using testimonials establishes credibility, expertise, and the trustworthiness of your business. With that in mind, here are a few tips on how to get better customer testimonials:
Ask. We don’t mean to imply the obvious, but so many business owners are either embarrassed or too busy to ask their customers for a testimonial. Yet the truth is that most people are more than happy to provide you with a testimonial if they’ve received good products or services!
Use an interview approach. Ideally your interview would be conducted using video, if you can meet the customers in person. Using Skype is a great alternative to capture video if you can’t do it in person. Another alternative approach if distance is an issue is to conduct your interview questions by phone. Your customers may not have good writing skills or they may just not know what to say, so asking pointed questions allows you to get powerful information from them to use in the testimonial. Which leads us to our third tip.
Don’t be vague. Generic testimonials like “Jane did a great job!” are not what you are looking for. Potential clients are most influenced by specific, detailed testimonials. Ideally, you want the testimonial to have a problem statement, and the results achieved after the customer bought your product or used your services. That’s why the interview approach is so critical to use.
Use specific names. Why is this important? Well, we’re back to the skeptical nature of people. Testimonials with no name attached can be perceived by many potential customers as being made up…fake! If confidentiality is important to the clients in your small business, or if the customer might be embarrassed in some way to have their full name published, simply use their first name and last initial. This still portrays credibility while protecting the identity of your customers.
Armed with these tips, you’re ready to go out and get some amazing customer testimonials to add to your website and marketing materials!
