Spread the Good Word – How to Get More Testimonials for Your Business

For any business, a testimonial is a wonderful gift from a satisfied, loyal customer! All businesses need to get more testimonials.  When a customer gives a testimonial they’re basically saying, “I like this company, I’m a customer of theirs, and you should be too.”

Get More Testimonials so Customers Can “Trust but Verify”

The optimist in me believes that – in general – consumers want to trust you. But when I put on my own “consumer” hat and research a product, I also look around for confirmation of a company’s worthiness from additional sources. (Trust but verify: That’s the old journalism training kicking in.)

5 Reasons Why You Should Get More Testimonials

1. They can be incredibly effective for use in content marketing.
2. They demonstrate a customer’s emotional connection to a company – and other people take notice of those.
3. Even if they’re from “strangers” (other consumers), most people trust online reviews as much as they trust those from people in their social and professional networks.
4. Many people read multiple reviews on a regular basis.
5. They can have a strong influence on consumer buying decisions.

So How Do You Get More Testimonials?

It’s pretty simple, really.

You ask.

Sometimes, you’ll be lucky enough to have a customer give you one without even being asked. (These are the customers you need to cherish.)

But if you need to ask – and you do need to ask:

• Email is a great way to do it, because you can ensure that you’re accurately quoting people (via copy-and-paste). Writing down quotes with a pen and paper is a bit dangerous unless you know shorthand. (Question: Does anyone know shorthand anymore?)
• Speak from the heart and be complimentary. Tell the customer that their support is invaluable to you and your company, and that you’d love to share their positive experiences to help grow your business since they’re an influential person.
• Make sure you confirm their quote(s) with them and get permission to share it wherever you plan to share it – online and offline. (Offer several options for how you can attribute the testimonial to the customer. You can use just their initials and hometown, first-initial and last name, or full name – whichever they prefer.)
• It’s not necessary, but offering them some kind of incentive or compensation can go a long way too. Consider a 10% discount on all their purchases for a year to be a marketing expenditure that could get you some nice ROI.

How to Turn a Testimonial into Usable Content

You have dozens of options for turning a customer testimonial into relevant, shareable content. Some thought-starters:

• Website content = Have a “Testimonials” or “Reviews” page on your website? You should.
• Blog post = Just a plain old blog post featuring the testimonial. Feel free to add an introductory comment about how grateful you are for this customer’s kind words. (Then see the next section of this post for cross-promotional ideas.)
• Video interview = You might ask your customer to record a brief video (just a minute or two) that you can run on a loop in your location, and use as online content for your website, YouTube channel, social media and/or email campaign.
• Collateral materials = Definitely consider highlighting your testimonials in printed materials – flyers, brochures, sales kits, etc.
• Other sales and marketing materials = direct mail, case studies/whitepapers, etc.

Share It Far and Wide

I talked about sharing your content and cross-promoting it in my last blog. The gist of it is that even a simple piece of content like a short, two-paragraph testimonial can be shared across a wide variety of online and offline media.

You must share this kind of content everywhere possible. It can lead to great PR and media attention, it can turn leads into sales, and it can have a positive impact on your bottom line.

Make it Your Goal to Get More Testimonials

So many of us consult testimonials when making a purchase, and we share this practice with a large number of customers and customers-to-be! Testimonials allow you to build your reputation within your community and your industry. When it comes to your business, if you haven’t been giving testimonials the attention they deserve, add this very important component to your marketing to-do list today. You can get new referrals and convert them into customers, and it all starts by making a simple request of a customer who already likes you!

How do you get more testimonials? Share your thoughts in the comments.

(BTW…. we would love your testimonial for the Rocks Digital website. Here’s the link.)

Harley David Rubin

Harley David Rubin is a freelance copywriter, content creator and marketing strategist who has worked for both advertising agencies and corporate marketing departments for more than 20 years. He loves his family, pop culture, fantasy baseball and creativity in all its forms.

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