Put yourself in the shoes of your prospects…how do they know your products or services are as good as you say? In some cases they will ask a trusted source, but what happens if they don’t know anyone who has used your products/services before. You would love them to make the leap of faith and choose you over your competitors, so how can you encourage them to do just that? You use “social proof”.
Social proof is basically the new way of saying testimonials, especially if they are used online.
The key to using your testimonials to successfully hook new clients is in the way they are written, so I’m going to show you how they should be written so they do the selling for you.
We’ve all seen the “lovely” type of testimonials that basically say “Fred did a great job and was easy to work with. I’d recommend him to anyone.” When someone gives you a testimonial like that it will make you smile and feel good but it won’t do the selling for you. The reason why is because the reader (ie your prospective client) won’t particularly identify with it.
A truly compelling testimonial will explain the need and the outcome of your product or service in a way that the reader can resonate with. Does that make sense? What you need your happy client to explain in the perfect social proof testimonial is:
- What challenge did they have that made them feel your product or service was the right choice for them?
- How easy did they find it was to use your product or service?
- What was the end result of using your product or service?
These can be tweaked to fit your precise requirements, but it a nutshell you want to take the reader on the transformational journey that the user had. To do that the user needs to describe what the situation was before they used X, what it was like to use X, and the end result, the transformation the achieved, of using X.
To make this easier to understand here’s an example. I wrote this testimonial for my Graphic Designer Steph Othen http://stephothencreative.co.uk/
“I wanted to launch a new range of products & services that required an engaging identity to help them stand out from the crowd. I asked Steph to develop the brand and associated imagery as I felt she easily understood my requirements and what I was aiming to achieve through the brand. The end result has been excellent. Steph has designed new business cards, 4-page leaflet, email signature, bannerstands, PowerPoint background and a product wrapper. The design is so eye catching that I have people flocking to my stand every time I exhibit the range which has had a positive impact on the number of leads I have captured from the exhibitions.“
Alternatively I could have written…
“Steph did a great job on my new brand. She was great to work with and I love the outcome. I would definitely recommend Steph to others.”
Steph’s prospective clients are far more likely to resonate with the first version and want to have the same experience themselves.
Here’s another example of one written about my services by one of my clients:
“I’d been needing some help with marketing and growing my business for some time and wasn’t sure where to go for help. I met Claire through a networking group and was immediately impressed by her positive, can-do attitude, total professionalism and excellent marketing skills.
I’d previously had the feeling of being “stuck” after hitting a plateau with my business and not being able to break through it.
Claire has really helped me become very clear about my niche and how I am uniquely placed to help clients. She is consistently positive and highly supportive – a great business mentor and I’d highly recommend working with Claire if you have the opportunity.” Andrew Bridgewater, http://AndrewBridgewater.com
Hopefully that’s helped you see the difference a compelling testimonial can make.
Unfortunately great, marketing driven testimonials that doing the selling for you rarely fall into your lap! The best way to get them is to ask, so which 3 clients are you going to approach today for testimonials?
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