Customers have a lot of options today. They tend to be cautious when making a new purchase or signing up for a new service. Marketing and advertising works to a certain extent, but may not draw in skeptical customers. Establishing your reputation is the key to convincing a consumer that your product or service will perform as expected.
Because customer reviews are readily available for many businesses, collecting compelling testimonials can help you get an edge on the competition. But how do you ask for a testimonial?
Here are tips on how to get client testimonials, along with some examples.
What makes a good testimonial?
While every good review helps, not all testimonials are created equal. A good testimonial includes the following elements:
- A credible source: While some people regard marketing and advertising skeptically, they tend to respond better to different sources. While testimonials can come from well-known public figures, reviews from everyday customers also provide significant value.
- Natural language: Resist the temptation to over-edit your testimonials. Consumers are smart enough to notice the difference between natural language versus the marketing copy on your website or promotional materials. If the voice all sounds the same, they’re more likely to dismiss the testimonials.
- Subject focus: If you do edit your testimonials, consider editing for length. Potential customers do not want to read a wall of text before they get to the useful content. The testimonials should be short and to the point.
- Details: Finally, a great testimonial includes details. “I liked the product” is positive, but “I liked this beverage because it’s low calorie and full of flavor” is even better.
How to ask for a testimonial
Follow these steps to request testimonials:
- Consider the timing: The ideal time to ask for a testimonial is after your customer has had success or a positive experience with your product. For example, online clothing companies might request a testimonial a few days after the shipment has been delivered, whereas software companies might wait several weeks, to give clients a chance to use the product. You might also try sending out general requests around important shopping days and holidays, especially with incentives.
- Make it easy to say yes: Before a customer can say yes to providing a testimonial, they have to notice your message and decide it’s worth the effort. Stand out from the clutter in customers’ inboxes by offering an incentive for a testimonial. This could be entry into a sweepstakes, free swag, a gift card, or other option.
- Provide multiple options: While written testimonials are common, providing multiple feedback options will appeal to a larger group. For instance, social media reviews, live interviews, video, and even audio feedback can be easier than writing out several paragraphs.
- Tailor your request: Customizing your feedback request is the best way to get the information you want. A testimonial request for a healthcare practice will look very different than for a video game company. When you craft your testimonial request, be it email, text, social media, or another method, draw on your experience with this particular client base. Your goal is to make them feel like their opinion is important—and that sharing it will benefit you both.
- Use simple questions to generate quotes: Simple, open-ended questions help avoid one-word responses. Choose questions that will get clients talking about what it’s like to use your product, why they chose the product, and the problems your product solves. For example, a skincare company might ask clients what kind of skin concerns they have, what they’ve tried before, and how their experience with your product differs from those with other products. You can also ask what kind of results they hoped to achieve, and whether your product or service met their expectations.
- Create a testimonial page: When you have good testimonials, display them on your website. Try to choose reviews that feature different aspects of your product or service. This gives customers an opportunity to see themselves in your product. Make sure to solicit testimonials from the website, too—you never know when someone will be so excited about your product they’ll want to send in a testimonial, completely unprompted.
- Offer to link back: While this may not be practicable for all testimonials, offering to link back to the author’s website can encourage people to write one. This is great for clients who offer related services, or who are interested in improving their SEO.
Testimonials are designed to get the customer to see your product as a solution to their problem. The tips above will help you encourage consumers to talk about your product honestly, whether they’re more comfortable writing, making social media posts, or recording video or audio.
The opportunity to gather testimonials isn’t limited to direct requests and website feedback. You can also comb through your customer service calls, support logs, and other sources of client and user feedback, too. However, asking clients to share their opinion is more likely to get the kind of powerful quotes you need.
Request testimonials with Voiceform
When it’s time to solicit testimonials, Voiceform makes it easy for your customers to provide feedback. Our audio, video, and text surveys and forms get you the insight and data you need, collected in a secure database.
You can mix and match different types of responses to encourage your clients to provide detail-rich, tailored testimonials for your products or services. Integrations with major apps and services allow you to collect data anytime, anywhere. Best of all, our automatic transcription and data analysis features make it easy to spot trends or problems early.
Knowing how to ask for a testimonial is only part of the process. Voiceform’s feature-rich platform will carry your company through the collection and analytical processes. To learn more about Voiceform, check out our product information or book a demo today.
