Warriors Testimonial

Hi Tab,

I have no idea if anyone has taken you up on your offer, but allow me to help you out a little here...

A genuine testimonial is something that you receive that is not solicited. I'm aware that statement may go against the grain of what a lot of new marketers believe, but it is still true. And yes, a lot of marketers ask for and receive testimonials in exchange for freebies or other goodies.

I'm not addressing that issue here...

What I want you to take away from this post is that the true value of testimonials lies not only in what it does to help your marketing efforts, but also in the feedback that they provide you to help grow your business.

I rely on testimonials as a way to boost my sales. They are a proven way to provide social proof that you are giving value for the money you are receiving from your customers. Genuine testimonials, those that have been written in true gratitude, and are spontanious or come from the heart, not only ring truer, they also touch your prospects on a deeper level.

A testimonial that sounds like a hollow endorsement can have the effect of leaving your prospects thinking, "So what, that's not me, I can't relate to that, who cares", and a litany of other negative emotions about you or your products.

Genuine testimonials tend to reflect valid emotions and rarely have the 'salesy' type language that is found in forced testimonies. Hence they resonate with your prospect on a deeper level and produce better results.

I generally get two kinds of testimonials. Those that are spontanious and those that are well meaning, but contrived.

And here's why...Because we use testimonials from real people, we get other real people who write and say they would like to add a testimonial to our website because they truely appreciated the experience of dealing with us. (I/we sell physical products, but the principle is the same for digital products.)

They see many others have given testiment to our good service, and they feel they want to, as well. But here is where the difference comes in...

Most of the testimonials I use are from people who have emailed us their thoughts of appreciation. They are from the heart, there is no sales smell to them, and other people can relate to them as potential customers.

The testimonials I get from those kind folks who write asking if they can add a testimonial generally are not the kind that I want to use. They mean well, and we sure appreciate the time they took to write them, but more often than not they just sound like someone is trying out their writing skills rather than being genuine in their praise.

I still use some of those testimonials, but they are not a preferred source of social proof. At least on my website.

The method I prefer to use when asking for testimonials is to write an email thanking my customer for their kind words and asking if they would allow me to use their words as a testimony. In that email I take the portion of their thank you letter that speaks most to what I want my prospects to read and identify with. (Generally, I am leaving out any personal references that the public doesn't need to know.)

I format that email so the customer sees exactly how the testimony will read on the website. I ask permission to use their Full Name, City, and State or Providence along with the text from their thank you letter.

I generate a lot of testimonials this way.

But those testimonials are 'after the fact' in as much as we have already performed and are being recognized for our effort.

For what it's worth, given the response you've seem to have garnered from your post, perhaps a campaign where you give your works away until such time that the testimonials start coming in would produce better results than asking for them in advance. Selling would be even better, but either way, a genuine testimonial is far more productive than a contrived one. Not all testimonials carry the same weight or benefit to your sales process. Go for the gold...

KJ

ive added you to twitter if your good i can use you my clients expect the best if you whant to be part of my team then pm and we can set you some dummy projects to see your skills

all the best wah bhatti