Customer Testimonial: Why You Need It and How to Ask For One.

Who doesn’t feel great when their praises are sung and they receive a pat on the back for a job well done? I bet everyone does. As a teenager, whenever the family wanted to eat pancakes, mum always sent me to prepare it and when my friends came visiting, she never failed to say, “What should we offer you? Your friend makes the best pancakes, you really would love it”. Growing up, I didn’t count that as a testimonial until I realized that if making pancakes was my business, then I would have valued those consistent pats on my back because that was her way of testifying to prospects about my skills. Business Dictionary explains customer testimonial as a written recommendation from a satisfied customer affirming the performance, quality, or value of a product or service.

A great testimonial tells a story about what the client wanted, what they got, how they got it and the impact it has had on their lives or business.

Paying more attention to testimonials

In a saturated industry, people know what they want but are sometimes confused on who to patronize and who can deliver a perfect project at a minimal cost so they need some form of advice or reassurance that patronizing you isn’t a bad idea. This is when your testimonials can speak for you. Having a client’s testimonial in your content collection do you more good than harm; it boosts your credibility, increases prospects’ trust in your brand since they see those testimonials as a third-party endorsement.

Do you still feel testimonials are of no use?

Personally, I’ll rather wear already made clothes rather than go in search of a fashion designer to make my dresses especially if I haven’t patronized them before or they haven’t been recommended by a fashionista. There are a number of clients out there who are scared of wasting their time and money on a brand without getting their expected Return-On-Investment; customer’s testimonial could just be all that a prospect needs to get them converted. Testimonials are usually qualitative and make use of a mixture of emotional appeal and facts to project their perception of your brand after an experience with you.

Remember those reviews on the app store? As a web development agency, when users give reviews on an application you developed for a brand, do not neglect them because they also stand as testimonials.

Requesting for customer’s testimonial

Asking for a testimonial is a brilliant step to take, however, before you request for a testimonial, be sure that you have delivered an excellent and flawless service to them because a displeased client would obviously not give you the type of testimonial your brand needs to scale. Depending on your relationship with your client and your communication channels, you could choose whichever platform to request for a testimonial.

If you want to send them a message or email, you could simply say,

Hi Mr XXX,

Working on your digital marketing campaign for the past 6 months has been an exciting ride for our team, but what’s more exciting is the joy you radiate each time you call to inform us on a closed sale from an online client.  We are glad that our marketing efforts yielded those results and you were able to get a tangible return on your investment.

We would be grateful if you could write us a brief testimonial which we would place on our website and backlink to your website. No pressure, take your time and you could send it via whatever platform works for you.

Warm Regards.

Sometimes, clients are confused and won’t know how to put together their thoughts and expression, they could ask you for a sample to guide them; you could send them a previously written testimonial by a client, or write one to guide them, meaning you must also know how to write a testimonial.

Furthermore, never use a customer testimonial without seeking their permission and informing them that you will be posting them on specific platforms. It is not news that there are many false testimonials on the internet and prospects are capable of sensing inauthentic copy used as a testimonial. If your client drops a testimonial, you could include their name, picture, company name, position, and a link to their website just to boost the credibility of that testimonial. Customer testimonial could be posted on websites, landing pages, social media, billboards, and more, but not every testimonial you receive is worthy of being posted on your website. Use only those who explicitly express themselves and writes about their brand experience in a specific rather than generic manner

In conclusion, short testimonials are preferable to help prospects to read through as swiftly as possible; if you have a long testimonial text, you could make the essential points bold.

You could read some of our case studies to view excellently written testimonial by our clients.