Testimonials are among the most powerful sales tools out there and whatever industry you’re in, it’s always well worth encouraging your customers to leave great Testimonials and using them in your marketing wherever possible.

Testimonials are not all created alike though, there are good ones and bad ones and if your testimonials are going to work well as a sales tool there are a few key components they need to include.

Here are my top tips for creating fantastic testimonials that will help you connect more deeply with your Potential Customers and persuade them that they absolutely must buy from you:

1. Encourage your customers to be specific: Encourage anyone who’s providing you with a testimonial to be specific about how you have helped them. Include facts and figures wherever possible but explaining exactly what area of their business you helped and how is going to be more compelling for other potential customers than a vague, ‘they were good’ or similar.
2. Promote tangible benefits: Think about what measurable benefits you have provided to your customers or clients. If you can put a number or other tangible benefit to using your product or service you’ll be much more persuasive as this shows potential customers exactly how much value you will bring in terms that are easy to understand.
3. Use images of the customer: Images make your testimonial far more compelling. If people can see a photograph of the person making the testimonial it makes it all the more realistic and humanises your business. Images also help build that all-important sense of trust between you and your potential customer.
4. Include a link to the person’s website or profile: Providing a link to the person providing the testimonial’s website or social media profile (with their permission of course!) is a great way to build trust as it proves that your testimonials are genuine and not fake.
5. Get testimonials from high profile clients or customers: While you may not be able to get a celebrity endorsement, if you have any high profile organisations or individuals on your client list, you’ll find a testimonial from them is well worth its weight in gold.
6. Create video testimonials. Video is incredibly powerful thanks to the increased use of smartphones by Internet users. If you can put up a few video testimonials on your website you may find they work far better than the usual written testimonials. While customers might be a bit nervous about providing video testimonials, they are becoming more common and soon it’s likely that video testimonials will become second nature.

The best way to find a great format for testimonials is to try out a few different ones and see which ones get the best results. Whatever type of testimonials you choose, they are well worth leveraging if you are serious about growing your sales and business.

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