Best strategy to get testimonials...

You could post a wso giving away a set number of review copies (like 10) and then get the participating group to give you some reviews. Then use the exceptional ones.

Pop down to your local supermarket and see how many packages have customer testimonials on them. They help but they aren't essential to sell a good product.

One method is to post your WSO without testimonials. Once people have purchased, ask them if they'd mind going back to the WSO thread and leaving a comment. Those can become testimonials for the public launch.

Thom

I would recommend not giving away copies as these testimonials are not high value. The mention that I've used and many other very successful marketers is to sell the first products at low, low prices. As you increase your lineup of products, increase the price. You will be building credibility all along the ride.

Frank

I don't bother with testimonials. Once people buy my websites or ebooks, they often just leave one and then it's real and that's fine with me. I rarely ever read or give any credit at all to testimonials on a sales page. I assume they are all fake.

That's exactly what I was going to say!

Case studies are more powerful than testimonials and are probably safer nowadays too... Do u have any successful customers that you could do a case study on?

The way I did it...and, this is just me....but, I relentlessly provided extremely valuable comments of substance, consistently, to medium-tier bloggers. (While not impossible, top tier bloggers would be VERY hard to get in touch with, because of the business surrounding their lives and projects). I MADE them recoqnize me. Whether they asked or not, I kept them abreast of everything I was doing....each phase of development of my course. I intentionally propelled myself into a bit of a position of a mentee, with the blogger as my self-dubbed mentor.

They won't tell you this, but, medium-tier bloggers constantly have a desire to get their blog more "out there", and creating "case studies" is the single best thing they can do to show the efficteness of their methods and teachings. Of course, this will require a bit of patience and putting aside pride, but it DOES work. Give to others things of value....contribute consistently and display that you genuinly care about their blog....

...oh, and I learned their posting schedules, and made it a point to fluctuate my initial comment between the first comment shown, and a few comments further down. (So that they didn't begin to think that I was a stalker, or something, and just wanted to be the first to have my comment display so that visitors could see it and click my name/link)

If you already have a list, ask them for testimonials about YOU

Testimonials a form of proof and there are other ways to demonstrate proof.

Statistics are a great way to demonstrate a reason to buy your product and prove they need it ... until you get some testimonials.

When you read that 1 in 3 people will get cancer ... all of a sudden that book on avoiding it sounds a whole lot better!

I am really against giving away review copies... I almost never heard from the person again.

You don't "need" testimonials to sell copies. You need proof.

I have a few sales letters that make sales every day without testimonials. Get some sales first, work off your butt to do it if you have to, then email the buyers 1-on-1 and ask what they liked and what you should add... edit THAT into a testimonial.

When I didn't have testimonials I went to people who knew me and I had volunteered or coached with or bought products from and got them to give me general testimonials. Then I started selling and added ones specific to each product.