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The Power of the Testimonial - Making the Most of Your Custo
- By ContentMart Editor
- Published 01/20/2005
- Authors Writing
- Unrated
You have just completed a major sale for one of your best customers, and they’re not just satisfied with you, your company, your products and your services – they’re ecstatic. So pleased they are with your firm that they’re singing your praises to everyone in their immediate circle, which will undoubtedly heighten awareness and even bring you new business. But wait! Before you move on and file the experience as a job well done, there’s more you can do to spread your hard-earned goodwill around to a much larger audience, and you must act quickly before that “warm and fuzzy” feeling cools down. Writing and publicizing an effective customer testimonial or success story will not only help you sell more products and services, it will also enhance your reputation and strengthen your brand awareness and appeal.
Customer testimonials are perhaps one of the most adaptable marketing tools a company has in its promotions arsenal. If you write them correctly and effectively you can post them on your website, turn them into sell sheets, include them as references when bidding on new projects, and publish highlights from them in your company’s brochures and other promotional literature. Another bonus to producing a strong testimonial is its extended shelf life – words of satisfaction and praise can last for months, even years.
The trick to writing an effective customer success story is to tell an engaging story that will hook your new and potential customers and keep them reading until the very end. You must answer the all-important question that’s on the mind of every single one of your customers: “What’s in it for me?” A good testimonial will not only answer that question in three-dimensional detail, it will also help your new and potential customers relate to your existing customers in a much more personal way through an exchange of shared ideas about your products and services. Whereas paid advertisements are broadcast to a wider audience that includes your target customers, testimonials are personalized stories that speak directly to your customers, enabling them to visualize the benefits of owning your products or benefiting from your services through a story told by someone with whom they can relate and share similar experiences.
INCOMPAS can assist you in writing and producing your own effective testimonials, or we can edit your existing customer success stories and offer constructive feedback on how you can strengthen them to better showcase your company. To get you started, we’ve developed a step-by-step guide to assist you in producing a winning testimonial.
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Step-by-Step Plan for Stellar Customer Testimonials
1. Seek Permission. Before you do anything else, request approval from your customer to develop and publish a testimonial based on their recent experience with you – as soon as possible after the deal is final and while the experience remains fresh in everyone’s mind. Your customer will be far more open to this idea if you explain to them that their organization will receive additional exposure through publication and distribution of the testimonial; you can also assure your customer that they will have ample opportunity to review the finished article and make whatever changes they feel are necessary before you post it on your website or otherwise broadcast the article.
2. Conduct a Professional Interview. Many companies have realized the advantages of arranging for a separate interview with your customer to be conducted by someone outside your company. This independent approach will enable your customer to answer any questions candidly without feeling unduly pressured to overdo their praise or gloss over important details. Remember, a good testimonial mirrors real life: even the best customer experiences include unforeseen challenges that must be solved in the course of doing business. Your testimonial will ring much truer if it contains honest comments from your customer
Customer testimonials are perhaps one of the most adaptable marketing tools a company has in its promotions arsenal. If you write them correctly and effectively you can post them on your website, turn them into sell sheets, include them as references when bidding on new projects, and publish highlights from them in your company’s brochures and other promotional literature. Another bonus to producing a strong testimonial is its extended shelf life – words of satisfaction and praise can last for months, even years.
The trick to writing an effective customer success story is to tell an engaging story that will hook your new and potential customers and keep them reading until the very end. You must answer the all-important question that’s on the mind of every single one of your customers: “What’s in it for me?” A good testimonial will not only answer that question in three-dimensional detail, it will also help your new and potential customers relate to your existing customers in a much more personal way through an exchange of shared ideas about your products and services. Whereas paid advertisements are broadcast to a wider audience that includes your target customers, testimonials are personalized stories that speak directly to your customers, enabling them to visualize the benefits of owning your products or benefiting from your services through a story told by someone with whom they can relate and share similar experiences.
INCOMPAS can assist you in writing and producing your own effective testimonials, or we can edit your existing customer success stories and offer constructive feedback on how you can strengthen them to better showcase your company. To get you started, we’ve developed a step-by-step guide to assist you in producing a winning testimonial.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step-by-Step Plan for Stellar Customer Testimonials
1. Seek Permission. Before you do anything else, request approval from your customer to develop and publish a testimonial based on their recent experience with you – as soon as possible after the deal is final and while the experience remains fresh in everyone’s mind. Your customer will be far more open to this idea if you explain to them that their organization will receive additional exposure through publication and distribution of the testimonial; you can also assure your customer that they will have ample opportunity to review the finished article and make whatever changes they feel are necessary before you post it on your website or otherwise broadcast the article.
2. Conduct a Professional Interview. Many companies have realized the advantages of arranging for a separate interview with your customer to be conducted by someone outside your company. This independent approach will enable your customer to answer any questions candidly without feeling unduly pressured to overdo their praise or gloss over important details. Remember, a good testimonial mirrors real life: even the best customer experiences include unforeseen challenges that must be solved in the course of doing business. Your testimonial will ring much truer if it contains honest comments from your customer