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Testimonials – A Written Affirmation.

A well-written declaration that certifies the value and excellence of your product or service is essential. Testimonials help establish credibility. They show you can deliver what you claim. They are social proof and if used properly, can improve your sales conversions by attracting attention to the benefits of your product or service as well as your company.

Here are some tips to make testimonials work for you:

• Make sure they are specific. Testimonials should address a specific benefit or positive result.

• Keep them just the right length. If testimonials are too long, we don’t read them. If they are too short, we don’t give them credit. A few sentences is more than enough – succinctness is key.

• Don’t forget to name drop. Including the customer’s name, title and company in your testimonial goes a long way in helping establish credibility and legitimacy.

Remembering the above three tips, of the following two, which makes a stronger testimonial for a local bakery?

Marcy’s Bakery is great! I just love them!
Jim from Ancaster.

OR

The original bakery we chose for our corporate fundraiser had a flood the week before and was completely ruined. It was a long weekend and all other shops in town were booked solid – we would have been left in the lurch with 200 participants if it hadn’t been for Marcy’s Bakery. Marcy’s Bakery came through for us on extremely short notice and provided excellent service and delicious food all within our budget. They surpassed our expectations and we’ll certainly be recommending them to everyone!
Meredith King, Vice President, Large Corp United.

Quite obviously the latter.

The next step is determining where and how testimonials are used:

• Include testimonials on your website. Consider including at least one testimonial on each page. Remember that visitors to your site might miss the main testimonial page and this strategy helps to ensure they have the opportunity to read at least a few.

• Include testimonials in advertising and marketing material. Use them on direct mail pieces, brochures, flyers, or proposals. Advertising the positive things people are saying about your company is nothing short of logical marketing sense.

If you currently don’t have testimonials, make it a habit to start asking clients for one after a job is completed. And don’t hide why you want one. Be upfront - you’d like to add their testimonial to your website because their positive feedback is valued and because testimonials are a great marketing tool that you've found yields positive results. If you’ve exceeded expectations in a recent job, the majority of people would love to help out – remember, it’s free advertising for them also!

Getting permission to publish testimonials is also necessary – don’t take random e-mailed kudos and post them for everyone to see without asking first. The last thing you want is to make a happy customer, angry.

Finally, resist the urge to write fake testimonials yourself or hire a third-party to do it. Not only will this ruin credibility but people are smart, they can smell fake testimonials a mile away.

Of course, if your marketing material isn’t high quality, not even the best testimonial can do its job properly. To present yourself and your business as an expert, your image, including your website and marketing material, must be polished. Look for a graphic design firm that can match your great testimonials to a great look. And consider a firm that offers complete turn-key solutions as this makes the time-consuming job of coordinating multiple agencies disappear.

There is no question testimonials work. They positively influence prospective clients because they show how your firm surpasses expectations. And not only are they a free marketing tool, but a well-written one could be the deciding factor between a customer calling you or your competition.

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