As a consumer, what makes you feel more confident in a purchase decision?

Is it the quality of the product description, the features, or the visual appeal of the ad?

All important factors in grabbing your attention. But what’s really going to sell you on a particular offer? The reviews, the star ratings, the experiences and recommendations from others who have already tried this!

Before you decide to invest your dollars (especially when it comes to a large purchase) you have to feel confident that this offer will:

• Solve the problem you have been having
• Bring joy or ease to an area of your life
• Actually be as great as advertised
• Be a better choice than other similar offers
• Truly be a worthwhile decision
  

When it comes to your service based business, having testimonials (words and experiences directly from your past clients) will be crucial. You know that what you’re selling is great (but we’re all a little biased). Your audience needs to know that others also think it’s great!

HOW TO COLLECT QUALITY CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

Step #1: Take the initiative

The first step to collecting client testimonials is taking the initiative. When the work is done, You could wait and cross your fingers  that your client will leave a glowing review. But let’s be honest…life gets full! Your past client may send you a really sweet ‘thank you’ but it won’t necessarily be a whole picture of their experience. 

At the end of your time together, take the initiative and politely ask your client if they’d be willing to leave a review that details their experience. More than likely they’ll be glad to!

Step #2: Make it simple

The next step is to make the process smooth and seamless for them!  When you ask, provide a direct link to where they should leave a review. Either your Google My Business Page, a form you created in your CRM or a Google Form.

This will make it easy for them to follow through and easy for you to collect the information for future use.

Step #3: Ask the right questions

The final step to collecting quality testimonials is to ask the right questions. Think about this backwards, what would your future clients want to know about your offer? You can frame questions on your testimonial form in a way that leads your client to touch on parts of their experience they may not have thought of on their own.

For reference, here are some specific question I ask to guide quality responses:

• First and last name
• What was the problem you were having before you discovered our products?
• What did the frustration feel like as you tried to solve that problem?
• What was different about our product or service?
• Take us to a moment when you realized our product was actually working to solve your problem.
• Tell us what life looks like now that your problem is solved or being solved.
• I like to include a yes or no checkbox that asks if I can use their testimonial in promotional and marketing for my business.
• I also ask them to attach a high quality/professional profile photo if they are okay with me displaying their photo alongside their testimonial on my website. 
  
  

HOW TO USE TESTIMONIALS

A bonus tip for you: Don’t stop at simply *collecting* the testimonials. Be sure to use them!

You can share snippets of testimonials on social media via graphics, captions, stories and detail the unique experience of a past client. (In most cases you won’t share the testimonial in its entirety- just a few lines).

If you’ve asked the right questions, you should have multiple responses to features from the same client over time.

You should also be featuring testimonials on your website! Your website could be the last place a potential client lands before deciding to purchase from you. Definitely don’t want to miss out on sharing social proof here.

Testimonials should be integrated throughout your site, not featured all on one page by themselves. Be sure to weave them throughout the messaging of each page.