After a site takes off, it’s nice to incorporate a testimonial page. A testimonial page gets formed by including great quotes from current customers who make a site and products sound amazing because they are. Even new companies need to think ahead about how they can get customer testimonials in the future. As we’ve mentioned in our free webinar training, great testimonials can attest to a company’s hard work and how people see great results from the service, product, or website. While setting up an online business, keep these foolproof ways in mind to score some excellent testimonials right out of the blocks.
Blog Tyrant recommends using Twitter as a fantastic way to get testimonials for a blog or online business. The blogger explains how to gather testimonials on this social media site below:
Okay so Twitter is an amazing source of testimonials for almost any type of blog or online business. People go there to vent, socialize or praise things so (if you’re doing things well) you’ll notice a steady steam of people saying nice things about you.
Testimonials that come from Twitter also have the added benefit of looking more authoritative because everyone knows that a Tweet is public and thus the thing must have been good for them to say it like that!
You have three options here:
Wait for them
Wait until you see someone say something good and then take a screen shot of it.
Ask for them
If you need testimonials about a specific thing it is totally okay to ask people to give some feedback on X area of your site or service.
Search the archives
There are some great tools like BackTweets, SnapBird and TwimeMachine that let you search for old Tweets so you don’t have to scroll through all your Tweets. (Note: Some of these services require you to log in through their website which means they get access to some parts of your Twitter account. Make sure you do your research before using.)
Once you have found the good Twitter testimonials you then take what is called a “screenshot” or “screen grab” of that conversation.
On a Mac: You can take a screenshot by pressing Command Shift 4 and then using the little crosshairs to select the area you want to save. It will save the selection to the desktop.
On a PC: Just use the Snipping Tool in Widows 7 and above by going Start > Snipping Tool I keep the Snipping Tool in my toolbar for quick use.
Twitter actually has some guidelines on how to display these things.
My favorite iPhone App Zombies, Run! also has a really nice way of displaying Tweets down the bottom.
Wondering how to go about asking someone for a testimonial? Sixteen Ventures not to ask them, but rather ask them what their feedback is and then ask them if you can use their positive comments for a testimonial. Sounds pretty smart, right? Plus, it's a great way to ask customers for their insight without them having to worry about getting the wording right.
Well, it’s not so much a secret question as a framework that’s hidden in plain sight.
Ultimately, the real secret is that you’re not asking for a testimonial, but getting one anyway.
And it’s very simple.
Don’t ask them for a testimonial – for all the reasons we’ve talked about so far – instead, ask an open-ended question or start a conversation about their experience.
The last part is critical. Don’t ask about your product or what you could do better. Don’t ask how you can improve to help others later.
Just ask them about their experience with your product/company in a way that compels them to respond (open-ended questions do this very well).
Remember, they just achieved a Success Milestone and are happy with you, so asking this question right then should yield a more positive response than asking at other times.
“Hey Mary, looks like things are going great… what’s your experience with [our product] been like so far?”
“Hey Joe, looks like things are going well… I’d love to know more about your experience with [our product] so far.”
Whatever you do, don’t give them an opportunity to say just “yes” or “no.”
“You know… what you just said would make an awesome testimonial. I edited it a bit for brevity, but I’d like to post this on our website with your name, title, and company if that’s cool.”
Boom! Easy. (but use your own words)
Now, there are a few possible outcomes from that final follow-up…
Yes
“Sure!” Well, okay… now boom! You’ve got a testimonial. BTW, this is where Cialdin’s Consistency & Commitment Principle of Persuasion comes into play. They already said what they said… taking an action that’s in-line with what they said makes total sense.
No
“I can’t do that” Hmm, okay. But get a reason.
“It would need to go through [some approval process they clearly don’t want to go through]” Okay, can you at least use it internally to prospect into other areas of the company? Can you share it with prospects via email and/or if they’d be willing to talk to prospects? If they say yes, be sure to share the quote with the internal prospect or when you’re going to set up the meeting for them to give you a reference… invoke consistency and commitment so they stick to the narrative they already committed to!
They don’t need approval but won’t let you post it, so what gives? The fact that they won’t let you publish it – even though they have the ability to do so – may be indicative of something they’re not telling you and here’s your chance to get to the bottom of it Customer Success-style.
You could skip to just asking an open-ended question, but if you don’t know why this stuff works, you won’t know what to tweak and what to leave alone in your quest to make it work.
Hopefully, you’ll look both ways and then go… and if you do, I bet this technique works wonders for you.
Similar to what Sixteen Ventures recommends, Copyblogger argues that it’s essential to start with crucial objections from customers and go from there.
Start with the key objections you need to address
Reach out to the customer. Ask him if expense, distance, or comfort was one of his big objections.
If he says yes, follow up to find out the specifics of why expense, distance, or comfort was an issue.
But if he disagrees, and mentions a completely different issue, keep following that customer’s train of thought.
For example, he might say, “I thought bad weather would spoil the trip.”
That feedback reveals an objection you hadn’t considered, and it may be a valid objection that hasn’t come to your attention yet.
However, you may decide that the stray objection isn’t worth pursuing and you can’t use the objection and corresponding testimonial. No problem. If you decide you can’t use the testimonial, you can always reach out to other clients to get the angle you’re looking for.
With this process, you’re going to get the exact objections and exact testimonials that help defuse key objections. Which means that the testimonial is going to do some real grunt work to overcome objections.
YouTube video reviews Neil Patel argues that a video of your customer recommending your services or services is stronger than a written review. Think about it — it’s pretty powerful knowing that your customers have your back and are willing to say incredible things about your product on a video!
Encourage your fans to add videos to their own YouTube account. Let them tell stories about their success and mention your brand, or even encourage video reviews of your product.
If they send you the link, you can add these videos to your channel as favorites and create a playlist of customer reviews. You can also write transcriptions and include them as testimonials.
You can also film reviews on the fly with customers at your store, visitors to your office, or fellow attendees at conferences. Just keep a smartphone with high video resolution handy.
If you have a strong YouTube channel to begin with, people will be happy to be featured on it in exchange for their thoughts.
Because of the closeness of the medium and the sharing potential, videos are one of the best ways to get feedback from your customers.
No, you won’t get testimonials right away (or maybe you will!), but we’d like you to think about how to get them as your website develops and thrives in time. To learn about how to help your online business thrive and grow financially, join us for our free webinar training. Don’t miss out on registering for our next training — register today!
Sources: Sixteen Ventures, Blog Tyrant, Copyblogger, Neil Patel
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