Testimonials are a great way to spell out your products, services and capabilities from your customer’s viewpoint. They also service as a great way for customers to learn about how you and your products perform. Not to mention, coming from a third party a testimonial certainly adds more credibility to your business.
Here are 7 ways you can utilize customer testimonials:
1. Keep a word document building to attach to quotes and tenders
Build a word document as you receive testimonials, put the testimonial itself in quotes and add the name, title and business name of the person giving the testimonial.
When you are pitching to a new customer this is a credible document to support the rest of the information you provide them. If you are emailing this, remember to convert it to a PDF. Never use a testimonial if you cannot display full details, it always looks fabricated.
2. Add a page or toggle testimonials around your website
Prospective clients are reading your website to glean more information about you, so this is a perfect place to promote your testimonials. Set up a complete page devoted to testimonials, or if your website has the capability, you can store the complete list and have them toggle around. That means every time someone clicks to another page of your website, a different testimonial will appear.
Another method is to pick appropriate testimonials that apply to specific pages of your website, and permanently display them on that one page.
3. Write in case study style
This is an excellent way to present your abilities. The first paragraph would be the scenario or problem the client engaged you for, the second paragraph would be how you resolved it, and the third paragraph would be the client’s comments on your results. Several case studies in this format promotes your capabilities expertly. It is always good if you can include some measurement, eg it saved an amount of money, increased business a certain %, saved productivity time, or increased overall numbers or profits.
4. Use testimonials as an intrigue statement
Turn a testimonial around to say something to spike a client’s interest. One I have used is “One quirky targeted mail out from a medical supplier to surrounding businesses increased their sales by 45%. What can Marketing Talk do for you? Look hard at a testimonial to see how you can turn the same words into a different order to create intrigue. A perfect way to sell your services on a flyer, brochure or website.
5. Gather one for each product offering you have
Publish testimonials from a variety of clients that covers all the ranges of work you do. For example if you have a printing/signage business with 3 product offerings, collect different testimonials such as: A client stating they had no idea how to present a product and you designed everything for them, how grateful they were and how many comments they received on the striking brochure
A client with clever signage on their car saying how often they get stopped or contacted for appointments because people notice the effective sign writing.
A client who has used you for printing for years, is always happy with the print quality and values the fact that you print in volume and warehouse for them because they don’t have the space to do so themselves. Publishing testimonials from 3 raving fans like this will do more for your product than you just expressing that you are a print, graphic and signage specialist. People reading your testimonials will also learn of other services they may not have been aware of, and this reinforces your skill set.
6. Using grabs from testimonials
Don’t think you need to use a testimonial whole. If a client’s testimonial is 3 paragraphs long, it is quite okay to lift some words from one sentence and use it to validate one part of your business. For example one client might have written 4 paragraphs that covered various areas of your business. Selected sentences might work for “service” “products” “problem solving” etc. Use them as you need them to showcase areas of your business or product offerings.
7. A collection of grabs from testimonials
Author Bio: Sherryn McBride is a freelance marketing consultant and her knowledge is drawn from 25 years managing state branches for national/multinational corporations and consultancies. To learn more about Sherryn and to read more of her articles view her profile.
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