How I help my clients get great testimonials

...drops his head in shame...

That's how a new client responded when I asked him about his process for getting testimonials.

He does great work, and gets a lot of referrals, but we didn't have much to put on his landing pages to prove it.

Testimonials reduce the fear of doing business with you. They make it easier for strangers to trust you. They can be the difference between getting a lead or not. They can be the difference between getting a new customer or not.

But, most people don't have a library of great testimonials. They either don't ask for them, or the testimonials they get aren't very effective.

I figured it was my job to fix this for my clients.

Getting more testimonials.

The best way to ask for a testimonial is to automate the asking. That way nobody has to remember to do it.

You might be able to do this from your customer management system. If you can't, the next best thing is to add an item to the list of work you do at the end of a contract.

I added a 'Request a testimonial' button to the CRM system I give all my clients. Clicking the button sends a pre-written email to their customer.

Getting better testimonials.

My thinking on what makes a testimonal effective started with an article by Sean D'Souza.

He says that most testimonials are 'sugary'. They're all about how good the business is and that makes them boring and less effective.

He describes effective testimonials as stories.

Stories don't start with 'And they lived happily ever after'. They start with some difficulty or challenge that the hero has to overcome.

• In the Lord of the Rings the hobbits have to complete a dangerous journey before they can return to the shire.
• In Star Wars there are epic battles and personal duels before the parade and medals at the end.
• In fairy tales the prince has to slay a dragon before he marries the princess.

Overcoming the difficulty is what makes the story interesting. It's the same with a testimonial.

A good testimonial starts with the doubts and hesitation the customer had about choosing you. Then it describes what it was like working with you. It finishes with the happy outcome and a recommendation.

How do you get your customers to write interesting testimonials?

But, your customers (probably) aren't writers. Unless you help them, they're going to give you a typical testimonial:

She's a great person and the work was good and nice.

Sean D'Souza suggests asking questions that lead to the customer telling a story. Here are his questions:-

1. What was the obstacle in your mind/hesitation before buying this product/service?

2. What did you find as a result of buying this product/service?

3. What specific feature did you like most about this product/service?

4. What would be three other benefits about this product/service?

5. Would you recommend this product/service? If so, why?

6. Is there anything you’d like to add?

I've used a version of these questions in the past, but I found that the resulting testimonials didn't read well. I got more natural comments when I changed the questions into prompts. For example...

• Before speaking with Pete I was worried about...
• But, as a result of working with Pete...
• Specifically I liked ...
• Three other things I liked were...
• I'd recommend this service because ...
• And finally I'd like to add...

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