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Do you want to know how to get testimonials for your business?

I was just telling someone the other day about where I got my dress from that I wore to my bridal shower and it’s from one of those websites that are kinda hit or miss. The clothing is adorable but the prices are so cheap you never know what you are going to get.

So I told her that anytime I buy any thing from this particular store online I ALWAYS make sure to read the reviews. And then I started thinking how that is something I do a lot in my life for a lot of different things. Anytime Tyler and I want to try a new restaurant in town I always make sure to check the reviews first.

Our society relies a lot of ratings and the opinions of others and social proof is one of the most powerful tools when it comes to running a business. It’s one thing to just take a business’s word for it, but another when an actual past customer can vouch for them.

Testimonials and reviews are what help us as a society make decisions.

What Is A Testimonial?

Testimonials are words given out by a past or current client/customer that show others the value you add in their own words. They are one of the most powerful marketing strategies you can have in your business. However, testimonials and client reviews are one of the most overlooked aspects by the business owner themself. But not to the client or customer.

Testimonials are something we should be receiving from every single one of our past clients or customers, not only as a benefit to our marketing strategy but to us as the business owners ourselves. Getting feedback from our customers can help us make any improvements or changes to our business that may be necessary.

Statistics show that people are more likely to buy off of a sales page that has testimonials vs. the ones that do not. That means that by not having any reviews for your business, you could be leaving money in the dust. And that is no bueno.

But how do we actually get our customers to leave us a testimonial?

How To Get Testimonials From Customers

As business owners, our hope is that our clients will just love us so much that they automatically know to jump on Facebook after working with us and leave a a raving review. We hope that they will just go on and on about how amazing we were and how they loved working with us. But 99% of the time this is not how it works.

And actually, the best testimonials have less to do with us and our businesses and more about sharing the results and outcomes out clients received from working with us. If you don’t know anything about sales that is okay but if you take away anything from this episode hear this. Sales is more about selling a feeling vs. an actual product or service. People will rarely remember the things you did for them but they will always remember how you made them feel. Testimonials are amazing ways to express the feelings you could be giving to a future client.

Asking Specific Questions

Getting a testimonial is not as easy as just asking for someone to leave a 5 star review on our Facebook page or emailing us some quick feedback in an email. If you have ever done this before then you know why. When we do not offer any help to our customers as to what to say, they may not write in ways we are expecting.

There is nothing more lame than a 5 star review that says “this person is awesome” period. The End. While the thought is appreciated, the actual value a testimonial like that brings to others is slim to none. By just letting your customers craft their own responses you are really just setting yourself up for mediocracy. Not every customer you have will be poetic and willing to type out this huge long review. Even if they are absolutely blown away by their experience with you, they may just need a little guidance on what to say.

Just like you did in your workflow with them, you are going to want to guide your customer on a journey. Help them through the process of writing a raving review. I like to do this in a questionnaire on HoneyBook. If you do not have HoneyBook yet, you can also do this on Google forms.

Basically the questionnaire is going to be mapping out different questions that prompt your client on what to say next. Each of the questions will offer little hints on how to describe their experience with you.

Here are a few questions from my own personal testimonial questionnaire:

• How happy were you with the overall experience?
• How happy were you with the response times?
• Was there anything you were nervous or scared about when working with me?
• What did my product/service do for you?
• What did I do well?
• What could I improve?

Include Testimonials In Your Workflow

If you do not already have testimonials in your workflow, you need to! It is so important to be asking very single client what they think about your work. Try to keep the questionnaire relatively short with 3-5 very key specific questions. That way it doesn’t look like a daunting task for someone to fill out.

You also want to make sure you ask permission to use the person’s name and review on a public platform such as your website or social media pages. Also make sure to ask permission to shorten or slightly edit the person’s review so that it is easier to read for the general public. This does not mean change the entire basis of what they said. But it does mean shortening sentences, excluding unnecessary information and so on.

By using specific questions in a survey you are able to get detailed responses from customers and capture the feelings they really had. This allows other people reading to imagine themselves as a customer of yours.

You also want to make sure you are asking for testimonials in a timely manner. If you wait too long to send the questionnaire, the feelings will not be as fresh and the review may not come out as good.

Give enough time for the client to enjoy their product or results. Once you know they have fully absorbed their feelings, then you can reach out and ask them for a review.

Resources

Try HoneyBook For Free Here: http://sarahelrod.com/honeybook

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