So one day I was shopping on Amazon for a nail clipper…
And because I only needed a regular nail clipper, I really didn’t need anything special for my lovely, dainty fingers.
So RIGHT BEFORE I bought the first clipper I saw on Amazon (with that sneaky Amazon one-click purchase) I saw that it had 3 stars and I’m wondering to myself…
“How the hell does a nail clipper have 3 stars on Amazon?”
And then I started scrolling through the reviews…
- “It broke when I tried clipping my toenails…”
- “It’s fine up until 3 weeks until you have to buy a new one…”
- “Just pick any nail clipper besides this one…”
And because I saw those reviews I decided to buy the next nail cliipper I saw with a stunning 4 star review.
Now I know my nail clipper story is a NY Best-Selling story but I also wanted to share a point with you…
Testimonials can make or break your business.
86% of people (including me) will hesitate to purchase from a business that has negative online reviews. That’s why it’s doubly important to have awesome testimonials for your business.
Maybe you want some baller testimonials for your customer to instantly erase your customer’s doubts and make them eager to buy from you…
OR… just maybe… some business did some awesome work and you want to write out a testimonial that stands-out for them (and maybe even let them owe you a favor in the future…)
That’s what this whole post is all about.
We don’t need any wishy-washy testimonials that reeks of being fake…
We just need some proper testimonials to exponentially boost our sales…
And that should be our goal when we write testimonials.
So let’s get started…
Do You Really Have To Start From The Basics Of What A Testimonial Is?
The answer is… yep. Sorry, good ‘ol chap.
Because before we can write those dang-good testimonials I gotta hammer in the basics into your noggin first…
So imagine a testimonial being an enthusiastic 5 star Amazon review just like this one…
Usually…
- Another person says good things about your business
- They don’t badmouth the business
- And it provides social proof to your customers (meaning other people have tried it before)
Testimonials are sooo important for a business that it has been shown to be the most effective form of content marketing for 89% of marketers.
And there are many reasons why marketers use testimonials because they…
- Instantly build trust and credibility
- Have the ability to connect to an emotional level
- Boost the persuasive power of your copy
- Tell a story to your audience
- Have the possibility to show similar groups of people and their personalities who have bought your product
- And have been shown to increase conversions by 34% if done correctly…
Which leads us to point numero uno…
Testimonials really aren’t about you. They are about your customers.
Sure, it may be talking about how awesome your business is but the main reason why we have testimonials in the first place is to show and convince your customers to buy your product.
So when you start crafting testimonials you want to start thinking in their shoes…
- What are some possible objections I might have before I buy this product?
- What results do I want with this product?
- How do I want my experience to be with I try out this service?
And try to craft your testimonials to answer those questions.
If you can do that, then you will be many steps ahead of your competitors who just slap and paste any testimonial without any thought whatsoever.
There Are Two Kinds of Testimonials To Focus On For Your Customers…
And they are:
- Qualitative testimonials (describing your personality, their experience, etc.)
- And Quantitative testimonials (reviews with numbers and results…)
Let me show you some examples below…
- “Anthony was incredibly supportive when helping me set up my email marketing. I recommend him if you need any help with emails!” (Qualitative testimonial)
- “Anthony was by far the friendliest guy I’ve ever met. Set up everything and did the work properly…” (Qualitative testimonial)
- “Anthony was able to improve our email conversions by 20% after tweaking some of our emails…” (Quantitative testimonial)
- “I can’t believe working with Anthony gave me a net PROFIT of $12,157. I highly recommend working with him.” (Quantitative testimonial)
A qualitative testimonial shows you what type of person they are whereas a quantitative testimonial shows you the results you got with them.
Now which type of reviews should you use for your business?
Ideally, you should have 80% of quantitative reviews and 20% qualitative reviews.
You see, people are willing to buy the product if it can actually produce the results people are looking for even if you are an awkward person (and hence why quantitative testimonials are much more important…)
However… there are some customers who want to make sure that the person is also friendly and reliable (so it’s important to capture both of these types of customers…)
That Sounds All Nice And Dandy But How Do I Get Testimonials?
The first step to getting a testimonial…
Is to do work that deserves a testimonial!
Now I know that sounds incredibly obvious but it’s the cold truth. If you want those amazing testimonials that make people flabbergasted with their mouths wide open then you are gonna have to step up to the plate and just amaze your customers.
If you were being paid to only do 3 emails weekly for a month you can go above and beyond by…
- Spending a bit more time tweaking those emails to make customers engaged…
- Fixing and letting him know some other problems he had (which you weren’t paid to do)…
- Being responsive and answering any questions he has…
- Making him 10x his investment by hiring you…
And that dude is going to be freakin’ amazed and will probably give you an awesome review.
That’s another thing to point out…
If you can make your customers feel the excitement when they are writing your work then other potential customers will feel it when they read the testimonial.
Warning: Just make sure you ask and get their approval (usually having some sort of exchange) before you put your testimonial up otherwise it’s technically illegal (and could get you in big trouble if you are not careful.)
After You Put In The Amazing Work, You Gotta Ask For It
You gotta ask for it if you want a testimonial. People will be happy to give you a testimonial if you did an amazing job for them (that’s just how we humans usually are…)
You can ask by email, phone, FB messenger, Snapchat, or whichever way you want.
Here’s an example of an email (that you can copy and paste) if you aren’t sure how to ask for one…
Example of Asking For A Testimonial
Subject Line: Hope You Are Doing Well Friend!
Hey Bob.
Hope you are doing well and dandy! Just wanted to ask if you wouldn’t mind giving me a short testimonial for my work (just a little something to put on my website.)
If you can’t, no worries. But if you don’t mind, I can send you a short blurb to approve OR… you can write a few sentences and send it to me… whatever works best for you!
Cheers,
Anthony
[Website] [Number]
P.S. Let me know if you need any help in the future and I’ll see what I can do for you!
See, a very friendly way of asking for a testimonial. You don’t need to overcomplicate it and give them a 25-page thesis… just ask them.
Listening For Testimonials For Your Website
If you already have traffic to your website, comments on your social media pages, or even just people saying thank you in person then those are testimonials you can use for your website.
For example, any messages you receive from…
- Emails
- Loving comments on social media
- Handwritten thank-you notes
- Or people rushing into your store and gushing with gratitude…
You can start adding these to your website.
And all you have to do is… (wait for it…)
Ask them!
99% of the time they would be happy to help your business (And the other 1% is the very rare minority that will decline for various reasons…)
Okay… so you know you gotta ask them to get testimonials. The way to collect them would be on your…
- Facebook fan page (there’s a review section where they can post there…)
- Your Linkedin recommendation (if you want people to find you on Linkedin for your business)
- Screenshotting them with however way they send it to you and just pasting it onto your site.
If you do eCommerce you can also ask them to give you a review of your product and email customers 14 days after they receive their product just like what Amazon does below…
Not many people do this but there is a good amount who does complete it for you.
Okay, So How Do You Craft The Perfect Testimonial For My Business?
After realizing how crucial a testimonial can be for your business… it’s time to step it up and craft something that really makes an impact on your customers.
I can just ramble on and on and on how to craft one but I think it’s better if I just get started now…
1. Write a testimonial FOR your customers
We already know how awesome your business is. You don’t need to self-brag and convince yourself how awesome it is (because you already know its awesome!)
I’m sure if you have a product or service to sell or a website you want to drive traffic to, you want to SHOW your potential readers and CONVINCE them that your awesome.
So no testimonials like…
- Anthony is a great person to work with.
Nope. That explains nothing to them and just adds fuel to my ego (huehuehue…)
We need some fire. Some jolting testimonials that answer a problem they currently have like…
- Anthony really knew how to craft a sales email sequence that increased conversions by 19% just with a simple tweak…
Now we are getting to places with people looking at my services who may want actual results for their business.
Let’s see if we can spice it up even further…
- Wowzers! I never knew writing emails that bring me so much freakin’ money. You gotta hire this dude before he raises his prices. He not only doubled my income but also showed me ways to even improve my actual store… F*cking legend man.
Well, even though this is a pretty damn long testimonial (which you can always shorten later) it shows you not just how awesome I am but you can feel the enthusiasm radiation from this testimonial
2. Have a clear goal of the testimonials
Now that you know who to write testimonials for, the next step is you gotta have a purpose for what your testimonial should do.
What exactly do you want to show your customers?
- That you are friendly and reliable?
- That your a dude (or dude-ett) that can produce results?
- That customers with similar problems had their problems solved by you?
I can’t tell you exactly XYZ because everyone has slightly different goals.
For example, let’s say you are a vocal coach. You got the singing skillz and you want to show other people how to achieve an amazing voice.
Now…
Everyone will want to show them that they can produce results and knows what their talking about.
But then testimonial #2 and #3 could highlight different things like…
- Testimonials that highlight his ability to easily reach higher parts of your voice…
- Or testimonials that highlight his ability to develop your vocal agility…
Here’s Rnb Singing Lessons that they decided to highlight that their singing techniques with their unique way of teaching that brings confidence to students below…
You want testimonials for your exact business that helps highlight your unique selling proposition (aka why would people choose you over others…)
3. Address any objections your readers might have
When you write testimonials… another strat’ you can use is to have possible objections the reader might have before they purchase your product and have that testimonial answer that objection.
This can include…
- Price may be too high
- It doesn’t seem worth it…
- I have to think about it…
And any excuse you would say if someone wanted you to buy something.
Let’s continue with the singing example (just because I like singing…)
Let’s say Johnny Boi over here wants to improve singing but he has some self-doubts…
- Maybe Johnny thinks he doesn’t have the ability to improve his voice…
- Maybe Johnny tried different singing programs and none of them worked…
- Or Johnny just wants to improve his voice for karaoke to impress his friends but spending $60 per lesson for something that might not work seems like a lot…
And these are legit real objections that might come when wanting to learn how to sing (from personal experience…)
Now, what if you had testimonials like these perfectly timed into your copy like these below…
- “I thought I never would be able to improve my voice but 3 months working with Coach G improved my voice drastically…”
- “I tried singing programs for 3 YEARS and saw barely any improvement. Just ONE WEEK of practice and my voice is already better than my 3 years of self-experimentation…”
- “I bit the bullet and felt that $60 was cheap for something that could CHANGE MY LIFE and the things you can do with a powerful voice… Thanks, Coach G”
If Johnny Boi over here saw these reviews from people then he is much more likely to book a session and try it out himself.
4. Encourage Specifics In Your Testimonials
If you noticed all of my example testimonials were pretty dang specific for a reason…
And that’s because it’s effective.
Here is what I mean…
- “Anthony was great”
- “Anthony was great and increased my email conversions by 57%” (which would be mind-blowing by the way…)
The first testimonial just says that I’m great. I already know I’m great.
BUT… other people don’t know how I’m great.
Was I a great person to work with? Did I get great results? Do I serve great chili? (I don’t by the way)
If you aren’t specific then you aren’t helping yourself OR your customers.
At least the second testimonial shows how I am great and things my potential customers may be interested in.
You see where I’m getting at… *wink wink*
5. Keep most of your testimonials sweet and simple
Now once in a blue moon, you may get a customer who writes you a block of text expressing his undying love for you and your work…
But… it may not be that helpful to your business because…
People tend to skim through testimonials!
This means that people will ignore around 50% of that testimonial and just jump around to whatever catches their attention.
So there’s really two solutions you can do when they send you a gigantic testimonial…
- Add ellipses like this: “…He was able to improve open rates by 27%…”
- Or bold quotes like this: “Anthony was able to improve open rates by 27% and get customers excited to open our emails.”
And when you do this… customers will be able to get the gist of the testimonial in a jiffy (because everyone’s busy nowadays…)
6. Don’t over-edit the testimonial
This is literally the one time where it’s better to copy and paste verbatim than to be creative and make it your own.
Why?
Because it’s authentic.
All those little weird phrases. Those incomplete sentences. Even things you may not really know what they mean… They all add up to being authentic.
And when you over-edit a testimonial it makes it seem like a fake review (which customers can smell a mile away….)
Which leads us to our final point…
7. Don’t Use Fakes
Not only is it illegal but it can lead you into some big trouble if you are caught.
Customers usually have good intuition if the review is fake or not. And the moment they realize it’s fake you lost all their trust.
So please don’t use fake testimonials. You really don’t need them.
The Different Kinds Of Testimonials
Now there’s quite a lot of different types of testimonials you can have for your business.
Typically, a testimonial should include their…
- Name
- Title
- Picture
- (Optional) Logo of their company
And there’s a buttload of different kinds of testimonials such as the…
1. Testimonial Quote
You will see these the most often in any eCommerce store or business selling a product. All you have to do is just copy and paste it into your website and voila! A testimonial quote is born.
Here’s an example from one on Amazon on weight straps (non-affiliate)…
Raw, un-edited review of the product directly from the customer.
2. Direct words Testimonial
This is the same as a testimonial quote except it doesn’t have to be in text. It usually is in text but as long as it’s directly from the customer audio or video works too.
Here’s one from Creative Revolt…
Where she talks about how their cold email course was amazing.
3. Peer testimonials
These are testimonials from your friends or family.
4. Social Testimonials
These are testimonials you may receive from your social media pages.
Here’s one from the The Greenery Creamery talking about how amazing their ice cream is…
5. Video testimonials
These are the best type of testimonials in my opinion. They take a testimonial quote and they make it seem more human with a video (plus it looks less fate when you have people talking about it on camera…)
Here’s a good example from Josh with his freelancing skills…
6. Interview testimonials
Think of a podcast style with a mix of a quote testimonial. It’s a longer, audio version of talking reviewing your business.
7. Celebrity testimonial
Think of Lebron James and Nike.
8. Case Studies
This isn’t a testimonial per se but it does help people learn more about you and your process to reach results XYZ to help reach more sales.
Clark Beggs does a good job laying out his case studies for potential customers.
9. Blog Post Review
This is the stuff where you google “[Product} Reviews” And there’s usually a blog or a person reviewing a product they tried after using it.
Usually it’s a little biased because they would be doing affiliate marketing for that product but sometimes you stumble across those honest gooses you are looking for that tells you exactly what you need to do.
Here’ an example I found reviewing the 2019 Imac.
Now, Where Do I Place My Amazing Testimonials (That I Learned By Reading This Awesome Blog Post)?
Gotta high-key brag about this blog post first… (sorry ‘bout that…)
So here’s where you can place your testimonials.
1. On Your Home Page
BOOM! The first thing they see would be your BEST testimonial to let people know you have a service and that it’s awesome.
Here’s what Sarah does letting potential employers know about her copywriting skills…
2. Next To The Actual Product And Service
Think of every popular eCommerce store.
It makes sense… You want your testimonials highlighting your product on the same page so they can see it!
Like this TV I found on Wal-mart (non affiliate)…
3. Place them in your most popular pages
Another smart strat’ is to put it on your most popular pages.
This means if you have a blog you can put testimonials of your service on your most popular pages (you know get the most bang for your buck)
And it’s simple really… all you have to do is go on google analytics (you installed it on your site right?) and check which pages have the most traffic to them.
4. Blog post
You can even put it on your blog post if it makes sense…
For example, if you have a course selling protein powder then if you would want to promote your product one of the best ways is just by placing a testimonial about your protein powder…
5. About Page
You can even put it on your about page. Who doesn’t like a little low key self-bragging about yourself that also shows how awesome you are and your business is.
That’s exactly what John does with his about page…
6. Contact Page
You know… I haven’t seen this one yet. The closest I’ve seen is them advertising on the side of your page but you can always try it out and see what happens.
Testimonial Templates You Can Use
Now I can’t give you the best testimonial template because the best one for you is one specific for your type of business.
So the best I could do is either give a niche example and you can play around with that OR… just give a cookie-cutter example to start you off with.
The PASO method (Problem, Agitate, Solution, Objective)
As the name implies… you want to hone into a problem they desperately want to solve and just keep hammering that point until you present them a solution (your product…)
For example…
- My back has been killing me… (Problem)
- I can’t work out anymore and I can’t even sleep in peace… (Agitate)
- I understand that exact problem and luckily I found BackRelieverMax3000 (Solution)
- Buy now… (Objective)
Now you can always add meat and more copy into it but that’s the basic gist.
The Fab Method (Features, Advantages, Benefits)
It’s time to get fab-u-lous with this amazing testimonial template.
You just show the features, advantages, and benefits of your product.
For example, if I was selling acne cream…
- This acne cream has aloe vera, honey, and rocks… (benefits)
- To exfoliate and get rid of your dead skin cells (benefits)
- In under 5 minutes (Advantage)
See! Wasn’t that simple…
More Generic Testimonial Templates
- I approached [business name] because ….
- [business name] helped me solve this problem by ….
- The result was ….
- One thing I really liked was their ability to….
- The experience of working with [business name] ….
Here Are Some More Ideas To Try Out
Now I couldn’t really place these in a category so I just made this one up.
Check out other businesses and how they use testimonials
It really does make sense to see how other people use testimonials for their website.
Especially your competitors.
Not only do you get an idea on how to craft your testimonials but you also get to learn what other people are thinking about their product.
Amazon Reviews
Seriously. It’s a goldmine whether you want to create a template based on an awesome review or just do some product research.
Writing An Awesome Testimonial For Someone
Try writing a testimonial (or a damn good review) of someone who did a good job worthy of a great review.
Now the best way to receive an amazing testimonial is to be in the shoes of someone writing an awesome testimonial.
- Understanding how much time it takes,
- the excitement it does,
- how good you feel.
- …Everything.
And what you are feeling right now for someone who did an exceptional job is something you want others to feel when writing your testimonial.
Conclusion
According to research by Deloitte, 60% of people rate reviews equally trustworthy as information from friends and family.
Amazing testimonials can swing customers from being iffy to hungry wild animals who need your product.
I went over everything from how to craft your testimonials to what kinds of testimonials you need for your business (and even how to get them…)
So start collecting testimonials properly (since having more testimonials will not hurt you…)
How has testimonials affected your business? Let me know in the comments below…