4 tips for kickass testimonials
One thing I hear alot from this community, is how much we hate promoting our services. Now I’m not gonna tell you thats OK - because one thing we need to master in business is marketing. But one small thing that can help - utilising your incredible clients and their words to help you! Well, you give your clients an incredible experience and then you invite them to share about it… We all know the power of word-of-mouth marketing and as small businesses, it can be the driving generator for new clients. After all, trust is the biggest lead factor of all!
1. Help them write it!
Most people don’t know how to write an awesome testimonial. While they may be willing to write you one, they may not know the key components to writing a great one that helps others trust you. You can help them, by creating a jot form, with a fill in the blanks format. For example “my favourite part of the experience was….”. You can then use this sentence in your marketing, as you helped guide them to what you wanted them to say! I always like to leave a part of the feedback form, that guides them Google for a review in their own words or gives them space to write something in their own words - then you have the best of both words!
2. A video testimonial is super powerful.
If you can get one, try getting your client to send a video testimonial. Now don’t get me wrong, not every client will do this - in fact, most won't. But if you connected on a bestie level with someone, and almost developed a friendship - this is the perfect opportunity to get a video review. Video reviews are SO powerful, and are worth their weight in gold. Just ask, it only has to be a couple of minutes, and they can just talk about their experience booking you. Get enough of these, you can edit them together and create a killer intro video for your website!
3. Incentivise Testimonials.
Struggling to get reviews? You can incentivise your clients to do one. I remember was sat in a wonderful Japanese restaurant in London once. I had a great experience, and when it came to the bill, the server informed us we get 10% off our bill if we can write a review and show the proof. We had a great experience, and this just incentivised us to immediately write it AND get a sweet discount. Think about what you can do in the moment to get a review. Alternatively if you are really struggling, you can offer a future discount, free mini booking, or even a Starbucks voucher to help you!
4) Use them wisely!
I’ve seen it time and time again, a beautiful testimonial, written in a boring wall of text on Canva. If you have a great testimonial, try to not fall into the habit of just lifelessly promoting it on your grid. How about pairing it with some gorgeous video or imagery of the person who gave the review, along with perhaps a voice over of you reading it out alongside a gorgeous audio. THIS is way more impactful that a wall of text that is easy to scroll past.