Benefits of Customer Testimonies
While the most significant benefit of customer testimonies is the added credibility and believability to your product or service claims,
other benefits exist to help grow your business including:
- Collect Customer Feedback: Who better to ask for feedback and opinions on how your business is doing than a fanatic fan? A customer who is willing to give you a testimony becomes a source of feedback from the marketplace. Instead of assuming what your customers love, your testimony customers can give you real-life examples of why your business excels.
- Close More Sales: Customer testimonies offer a method to overcome buyers' fear, doubt, and uncertainty by providing a third party validation of your business.
- Gain Customer Loyalty: Any customer who is willing to sing the praises of your business will be a repeat and regular buyer of your products or services. Loyal customers spread the word of your business and provide higher profit levels.
The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Testimonies
There are good customer testimonies, bad testimonies, and downright ugly testimonies. Not all customer testimonies are created equal. For a testimony to penetrate the buyer's wall of skepticism, it has to be honest and believable.
Plain vanilla testimonies are bland and boring. "Thank you for taking the time to do such a thorough job. I will definitely use your service in the future and recommend you to others!"
Raving customer testimonies are real. Surfingsports.com provides believable customer testimonies. Nothing manufactured here. "The fins and t-shirt arrived today. The finish is excellent and made of the best material. This week will be almost windless. Testing will have to wait...I sat for over a half an hour rubbing my fingertips over them when they arrived. I can't wait for the real test."
Using old and new methods of building your customer testimonies will aid your customer satisfaction ratings. Discover the 6 keys you need to ensure you elicit fanatical customer testimonies.
Deliver High Quality: Fanatical customer testimonies are built upon a firm foundation of delivering high quality products and services on a daily basis. Don't expect customers to get on your business bandwagon without providing top-notch customer service.
Finish Strong: Collecting fanatical customer testimonies depends in part on timing. Customer service expert, Professor Richard B. Chase advises companies to use behavioral science in the execution of customer delivery. The final customer interaction is what resides in the memory of your customer. Determine how you can WOW your customers in your final interaction to create a positive impression. Following your strong finish, ask for feedback and a possible testimony.
Match Your Brand: Solicit and use customer testimonies that match your brand's position. If your business is the fastest delivery in the North Western U.S., collect testimonies to strength your brand promise.
Edit Not Write: Avoid writing your customer's testimonies. By having your customers express their experiences with your business allows you capture the excitement and emotion of testimonies. You can edit the material for a little polish. Have your client give you permission on the final copy.
Get Permission: If a customer provides a glowing testimony of your outstanding business, you won't be able to use it in your marketing materials until permission is obtained. Always ask for permission.
Be Real: Anonymous customer testimonies lack credibility. Try to gain as much of the customer’s full name, location, and title to boost your testimony believability. A testimony from a respected customer in your field can go a long way to positioning your firm.
Customer testimonies are a vital part of the marketing mix for small businesses on a tight budget. Don't underestimate the power of testimony to gain feedback, close more sales, and build customer loyalty.
Source: www.about.com