Testimonials

1. Testimonials How to get powerful testimonials for your business

2. Introduction

3. Why worry about testimonials? All businesses have a great hurdle to overcome: standing out from their competitors. When it comes to online marketing, the challenge to stand out is just as great. However, with the advent of Social Media giving rise to the concept of ‘Social Proof’, every business has a good chance of using this to stand out.

4. Benefits of powerful testimonials • Recommendations from peers are more trusted • Shows the type of business you work with • Demonstrates the quality of your service • Proves your business is well-established and knows how to look after it’s customers

5. Examples of powerful testimonials (And a couple of chances for The Webmaster Centre to blow their own trumpet!)

6. Following the launch of our website, our company required expert knowledge, guidance and understanding of how SEO works so we could maximise the potential of our website and improve traffic, leads and sales. We therefore hired The Webmaster Centre... to conduct a one-to-one training session and are very pleased with our decision. Everything WMC taught was specific to us, (having researched our company and our industry prior to the session) and I have come away with a much deeper understanding of SEO and a lot of their ideas too to implement! They also conducted a complete review of our website and not only were their suggestions specific and useful, they had identified critical flaws that may have effected our SEO ranking. The help Susie has given us is second to none; she has helped us to increase profits by 19%, and we have high hopes for an even higher return next year. We highly recommend her services. I chose WMC to build our website not only because theirs was the most competitive quote, but also because I was impressed by their enthusiastic and intelligent response to my briefing on what I needed. They made suggestions and asked questions I hadn't thought of myself! Communication has been fabulous and they've been able to use Drupal to meet the often complex requirements of a part secure/part public site. They've been great to work with and I'm thoroughly pleased with the results so far.

7. What makes these testimonials so powerful? • They are enthusiastic about the service • They indicate where they were at the start, and how the service affected them positively to change their situation • They are very genuine • They give specifics You can see the situation the customer was in before the service their experience during the service and the outcome at the end of the service

8. What to ask to get powerful testimonials

9. The crux of the matter! There are a variety of questions you could ask to get a great testimonial. Depending on your service you could pick and choose the most appropriate: • When considering [product/service], what concerns did you have and was there anything that might have prevented you from purchasing? This question will help you learn from your customers (there are always objections so if you know what they are you can meet them head-on in the future), but if a client mentions an objection and how you overcame it, that’s a great proof from someone other than you that you do what you say.

10. Describe your experience and the value that you received as a result of purchasing [product/service] This question is looking for specifics. It allows the customer to describe an individual experience, giving it that genuine feel and (with the right customer) pulling out things that you as a service provider may not have considered to be important. 3. What did you find as a result of buying this [product/service]? This is likely to give responses about the affect of the product or service on the person or organisation – a list of benefits. Lists of benefits are to be found in just about every good website, but if one of your customers has just backed up one or more of the benefits listed, others viewing the site will be more likely to believe it. 4. Would you recommend [company name] to others, and why? Or, Would you take a call from one of our prospective customers? A really important question for you as a company! If this question is repeatedly ignored, you know there’s room for more investigation. Recommendations and referrals from happy customers is the ultimate in easy sales – this is what we’re all aiming for. If people wouldn’t recommend your product or service you’ve got a great opportunity to find out why and make some adjustments. Externally, if you’ve got a well-known client who would recommend you, that is something that you not only can put onto your website and literature, but use as a quote when speaking with other potential clients. Similarly, if your target market is local to you, getting recommendations from a number of local businesses can work in the same way.

11. When to ask for a testimonial

12. When’s the right time to ask? There’s no direct answer to this question: it really depends on your service and the industry you work in. It can be daunting at first to ask for testimonials, so have a plan when you’re going to do it. Here are a few suggestions: • Seize the moment when a client has voluntarily praised your service in the course of conversation • At the end of a project • If your service is staged, you might want to send a feedback survey out at the end of each stage to check satisfaction levels. Testimonials could come out of these. • A week after a product has been received by a customer • For rolling contracts, 6 months into the service

13. Where to put your testimonials

14. Spread the word! Obviously, your website and company literature are the first places to put your great testimonials. Make sure you include a name and organisation with them to increase their power, and if possible, a picture of the person giving the testimonial. The examples we gave above were not named as this is a publication, however, if you look on our website (http://webmastercentre.co.uk/testimonials) you’ll see that we have put a name and organisation where appropriate, and in a lot of cases we’ve used the logo of the organisation to get around the fact that no-one was able to supply a photo of themselves. In the spirit of peer recommendations you should not stop at your own website with testimonials, but use Social Media platforms to your advantage. There are many niche review websites now that you could investigate and point people to, eg TripAdvisor.com for tourism and leisure, but the first you should try are listed to the side. Try them out and decide what’s relevant for your industry. These will help you to get the word out further and provide valuable referrals back to you. Facebook.com (use the reviews tab on your FB page) LinkedIn (for personal reviews) Google+ Page YouTube video reviews Google Places, Yahoo Local, Yelp Yelp, Yell, Scoot

15. Template request

16. Template email • Its all very well reading about questions you can use, but there’s nothing like an example to get the juices flowing. Below therefore is a template email you can use and adapt as appropriate for you, to get those powerful testimonials you need. • “Dear [HAPPY CLIENT] • Thank you for choosing [YOUR BUSINESS] for [PRODUCT/SERVICE]. We were very pleased to help further the success of your business. • As it is now [THE END OF THE PROJECT/SIX MONTHS INTO THE SERVICE/A WEEK SINCE RECEIVING PRODUCT] I wondered if I could trouble you for a few minutes of your time to send us a testimonial? We put testimonials onto our website and also use them to improve our service, so if you could drop me a couple of paragraphs I would be very grateful. To help you, the following are a few things you might want to consider: • When considering [product/service], what concerns did you have and was there anything that might have prevented you from purchasing? • What did you find as a result of buying this [product/service]? • Would you recommend [company name] to others, and why? • If you would like to put your testimonial straight onto our Facebook page you can do so by going to [ADDRESS]. If you prefer, just send it straight to me and I’ll put it onto our website. • Thank you very much, • Regards • ZZZ”