You know why it’s a good idea to have customer testimonials on your website: it speaks to your credibility and helps build trust with potential customers. You can find all kinds of statistics about this, but in general, upwards of 70% of buyers will research reviews and testimonials online before making a purchase. Like many things, it is best to have a strategy in place for collecting and sharing testimonials. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  1. The sooner the better. Make asking for a testimonial a part of your sales follow-up or project post-mortem process. The experience will still be fresh in your client’s mind, and they will still be riding the high from the stellar product or service you just delivered to them.
  2. The easier the better. Your customers are busy. If you want a testimonial, make it as easy as possible for them to give you one. Send a short list of questions (3-5 at most) that can be emailed, or send a link to a quick survey that can be completed online in a few minutes.
  3. The more specific the better. Make sure you ask open-ended questions rather than those that require only a yes/no response. If you are sending a survey asking for ratings, include a space for additional comments.
  4. The more visible, the better. Once you have those testimonials, show them off! If you can include photos with them, all the better, as people’s eyes are drawn to images. Video testimonials are also powerful. Strategically place them throughout your website: a glowing review on your home page is valuable, as are positive reviews on your products page. If you have a good number of testimonials, you can also dedicate a page of your site to them entirely. They can also be part of your social media strategy. Testimonials on social media are easy for your customers to share with their networks.
  5. The more the better! This one speaks for itself. A variety of testimonials from all types of clients is what you want. If you have any high-profile clients, those are great reviews to go after. Once you have a solid inventory of testimonials, don’t stop there. Collect them on an ongoing basis and continually update your website with fresh reviews, including dates to add to their relevancy.

What kinds of strategies do you use to collect customer reviews? Do you have other ideas that you don’t see here? We’d love to learn from you!

 

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