Testimonials. They are everywhere. Sales pages are filed with them, signup pages often have a couple. Some even sneak up a testimonial or two on the homepage, or the sidebar.
And that is because they are a highly effective vote of confidence from people that have bought or used your product or service in the past and liked it. But getting those testimonials is not always straightforward. Below are some simple strategies you can employ.
Beware though. You should never use fake testimonials. Not just for ethical reasons, but because it is quite easy to identify fake testimonials — and the result could backfire. Stay away.
Here are 3 easy ways to get testimonials:
Ask Users
Explicitly, that is. Rarely, if ever, customers will come to you with a spontaneous testimonial. You have to go get it. Either send them an email 30 days after the purchase, or ask them outright on a page they are redirected to after the transaction is complete.
Give an Incentive
Now this is a powerful tactic, one that works wonders. Writing testimonials takes a fair bit of time, unless they are one liners. Most people are either lazy, or they are busy. But give them a small incentive, and watch the number of testimonials flying in skyrocket.
The incentive could be anything — a book, a report, a download, special access to a section on your website, even a simple mention on your blog. Make sure you mention that the incentive is a thank you gesture for the time a customer spends writing the testimonial, not a payoff for a positive review.
Ask Testers
If you invite beta testers to test your product or service for free, you can put their testimonials up. The only thing you need to consider here is to use the word ‘used’ instead of ‘bought’. In fact, you can even mention that this testimonial comes from a beta tester, to be even more transparent.