The customer-business relationship is a very interesting one. We have two parties that want to help each other but at the same time don’t totally trust each other. The business helps the customer satisfy their needs while the customer keeps the brands in business. Interestingly, when you see the way a lot of the interactions flow, this is the image that comes to mind:
To support this claim, a report by Hubspot in 2022 shows that 55% of customers don’t trust businesses. Fast forward to 2023, and it has gotten even worse. The CEO of Hubspot dropped another bombshell recently, confirming that many of the marketing channels are seeing a reduction in conversion rate. If you own a brand, you might be wondering, “So what works?” While we may not have all the answers, we know one magic wand that works – testimonials! Research shows that 98% of online users read reviews before they make a purchase. Also, almost half of consumers feel online reviews are as trustworthy as personal recommendations from friends and family. This opens a door of opportunities for brands. This is because they can now leverage on testimonials to reach their target audience without looking suspicious. In this article, we will be looking at 4 effective ways to collect meaningful testimonials.
How To Get Valuable Testimonials
The first rule to getting testimonials from your customers is delivering great products or services. Without satisfying the needs of your customers, asking them for testimonials will be akin to speaking to a wall. If you have done your part, here are trusted methods you can use.
Timing Is of Essence
In the bid to get testimonials, you shouldn’t abandon your primary goal which is to satisfy the needs of your customers. It will be tone-deaf to demand testimonials from them when you haven’t achieved this. In essence, you need to read the room. If that sounds ambiguous, there are a couple of helpful recommendations. One of them is to look up data to provide you with insights on how and when your customers have been able to achieve their goals with your products or services. This can be after they’ve reached an important milestone by patronizing your brand. If you are into e-commerce, this will be ideally some days after purchase when they would have used the product. If your brand is a Saas company, a similar approach that fits your context will get the job done. Alternatively, some experts recommend that requesting testimonials at certain points of interaction with your customer could also work. This prevents situations where customers might have forgotten some necessary details.
Provide Incentives
You might need an icebreaker to keep the conversation flowing with your customers and incentives are great ones. Have in mind that testimonials from your customers don’t exist only to show off. It is also a great opportunity to bond with your customers and collect insightful feedback on how your brand is touching lives. So why not throw in some goodies for your customers to enjoy? This could be in the form of coupons, discounts, merch, or other complimentary gifts. If nothing at all, it can go to show how much you appreciate the time it will take your customers to write these testimonials.
Ask the Right Question
Don’t ever make the rookie mistake of asking closed-ended questions like “Did you enjoy our services?” You are most likely to receive a yes or worse – a no. You should rather ask questions that will prompt your customers to share their personal stories on how your brand has been a solution to a pain point they have. Think more of questions such as “In what ways have you been helped by our services/products?” Questions like these are more likely to bring out the storyteller in your customers. Don’t forget that humans love stories and the more relatable they are to your potential audience, the more the likelihood of convincing them to trust your brand.
Put your Nose on the Ground
Admittedly, this is more of a drastic approach but fortune smiles on those that are willing to take it. It is pretty interesting that your customers might be out there on social media dropping testimonials unprovoked. How do you know if this is true? A little bit of social monitoring will help you. You will need to bring out the FBI in you to do social monitoring and it essentially involves checking social media platforms to see who is mentioning the name of your brand or your branded hashtags. This is something your social media manager should naturally do. Each platform comes with a search button to help you discover these hidden gems. Once you have discovered them, you can simply use Custimony to import these testimonials and display them on your landing pages or website.
Conclusion
While each testimonial has value, they are not all the same. To get high-value testimonials, you need to put in the extra effort by checking the right boxes. By following the tips included in this article you can get the best testimonials from your customers.