Do you want to attain business success without spending hours and dollars on advertising every day? In order to keep the business cycle going, your products and services need your clients’ stamp of approval. This provides an insight about your customer services as well as offer a fresh perspective to elaborate more about the kind of services you offer to your customers.
A simple way to incorporate your clients’ feedback into your marketing strategy is the inclusion of credible testimonials to your website. This not only increases your chances of conversions but also adds to the authenticity of your business services. Here are some interesting facts about client testimonials.
But, beware. There are some kinds of testimonials that could, in reality, do more damage than good. For instance, testimonials that are fake can push your prospects away. Fake testimonials are identified as they are too vague and don’t offer the right kind of information about the products and services. Only feedback that clearly indicates the name of a company owner or a project manager can be trusted as a real resource.
Take a look at this:
“I love your product and I think the price is just right! I’ll recommend it to all my friends.” – Frank
Now, this is a typical example of a not-so real testimonial. Which product was Frank referring to? What kind of price was offered to him? And most importantly, who is Frank?
Following are some of the ways real testimonials can turn tables for your business in just a couple of weeks.
Identifying Key Clients
Today, everyone can easily possess an access to never-ending sources of information about your business. It can be your own company press releases to something as random as social interaction in your company Twitter and LinkedIn accounts or your blog postings. Use this feedback from your perspective customers to narrate their stories and mention their success stories that made use of your products and services for promoting the value of working with you.
Gaining Approval for their Feedback
Although, your client’s view is exclusively for improving your services, it doesn’t automatically become your property. Polite requests to add their feedback to your campaigns and website, either through email or during meetings, is a good way to add to the trust level your client has for your business. Usually only old and trusted clients are approached for this approval. You can consider capturing your customers’ quotes for your website promotion, social media campaigns, podcasts, webinars, services pages and even your press releases.
Incorporating Testimonials to Boost Sales
Now that you’ve done the prerequisites of collecting valuable data for your business promotion, the next step is to implement them the right way. You can go beyond flashing them on your website and :
• use them as references during business pitching proposals. Utilize your client’s voice for winning the trust of new prospects!
• bring them up in your introductions or your first meetings to instill credibility and trust Hint a specific testimonial early in a business conversation when you identify mutual grounds between a previous client and a prospect
• uncover potentially hidden requirements of your new clients
Tailor your Testimonials to be featured on Social Media
Devise a plan of action to put your testimonials to use and maximize their power for getting the message across your social media audience! Use Social Media platforms for your business promotion and tailor your testimonials in the form of short stories, videos and visuals. Not everyone would want to read about your testimonials but would definitely love to watch a story that reflects exactly what you offer to your clients. If it goes viral, you double the outcomes of your efforts!
Not only that, add valuable client feedback to promote an upcoming webcast. Strong testimonials leave a long lasting impact on users and compel them to engage with you. Businesses believe using testimonials can be one of the best methods of advertising their services to prospective clients as it spells out your services, adds credibility and validates the authenticity of your business.
The power of testimonials is often under-estimated. But those who do believe in it, have successfully acquired more business than their rivals simply by the weight of their clients’ feedback to influence other perspectives customers.
Shamim Rajani is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Genetech Solutions, a one stop shop for all web services specializing in Web Development, Customized Web Applications, Social Media Marketing and other IT related services. Follow her on twitter @ShamimRajani & Linkedin.
