Testimonial Writing Tips

When you are presenting your wares to a prospect include a page that simply lists four or five references for contact instead of your traditional glowing testimonial page. Urge your prospect to contact each for more information on how you or your product performs. (I've even gone as far as writing a list of suggested questions they might ask the reference - it helps them focus on benefits) In some cases your prospect may request this anyway. Write a RESULTS oriented testimonial. The more you highlight specific benefits, and the more measurable results you include, the more credible your testimonial becomes, and the more likely the product owner will want to highlight your testimonial. If they have done great work for you, which presumably is the reason you're feeling grateful, giving them a great testimonial is one of the most valuable things you can do for them. It will be far more appreciated than almost anything else you may give them, with the possible exception of a huge bonus. That's because it will help them get that bonus for themselves, since testimonials are a key to attracting more and better-paying clients. Distribute a customer survey and ask what they like about doing business with your company. Be specific and ask open-ended questions. "What are the top three reasons you chose our company?" or "Would you recommend our service and why?" Make it easy for your customers to reply. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Be sure customers are aware you may use their comments in your marketing message. People don't browse the Internet to buy products. They come looking for information. They come searching for solutions to their problems. Using a testimonial too early in your copy reveals the fact that you're trying to sell them a product, which puts them off instantly. As a small business owner you need to be aware that your prospects are exposed to over 4,000 ads every single day. They are forced to sift through TV ads, radio ads, newspaper ads, billboard ads and internet ads." This is what makes customer testimonials so different. They are happy unintentional advertisements that stand out from the crowd because of their honest, person-to-company format. Customer reviews on the other hand are slightly more formal and are usually a person-to-person format, but keep that same raw honesty. Good feedback from the past or current users help boost the image of the product or service offered by the site. The positive feedback in form of good customer testimonials are good enough to drive up the online sales of the product or service. The visitor can trust what is said is the site and have no need to worry about the quality or performance. This also considerably reduces the risk as they are assured of the capability of the product to deliver results in form of reliable customer testimonials presented on the site. When you are reading the guides, the over-arching thing to remember is that the FTC is trying to get truth and transparency in advertising. They want all claims to be backed up with documented proof of sufficient quality that people can then make up their own minds whether or not to buy the product or service. Effective testimonials go beyond the "Working with you was great!", which really tells the reader very little, to a longer statement with specific information about specific outcomes the client received as a result of working with you or using your product. They could use a "before and after"scenario to paint a more dramatic picture of how effective they found your product or service to be. Or, simply incorporating the five Ws (Who, What, Where, When, and Why) that describe their dealings with you is also an incredibly effective way to write a testimonial.