Hi. It’s Warren.
When I first built Business Deconstructed, I kept the website simple. One headline, a little text, a big button to subscribe.
I was proud of it. But I asked others to give feedback.
The feedback was brutal:
“It looks untrustworthy.”
“It seems like it could be a scam.”
“You should add testimonials.”
My ego hurt, but they were right.
You see, every business needs social proof and testimonials.
The more (and better) testimonials you have the better your website, ads, and business will be.
Let’s get into how to do it.
1/ Give rewards when customers give testimonials
The testimonial is what the customer “pays” for the reward.
The reward can be:
Discounts
Products
Bonuses
Recognition
The better the reward, the more testimonials you will get.
2/ Create challenges where customers give testimonials
This one works like rewards.
Customers submit a testimonial, in order to win a challenge and get prizes.
The better the testimonial, the better chance to win the challenge (example below).
Deconstructed: GoPro’s Million Dollar Challenge and Awards
GoPro held the Million Dollar Challenge. Customers submitted a video shot on GoPro to win the reward.
When you ask for testimonials, give clear instructions of what to do.
Example: Record a 20 second to 2-minute video on Instagram about your experience with Business Deconstructed. Use hashtag #businessdeconstructed to let us know you submitted it.
If you don’t know what to say, answer these questions:
“What problem did Business Deconstructed help solve?”
“Who would you recommend this newsletter to?”
“What specific metrics improved after reading Business Deconstructed?”
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3/ Find testimonials in the wild
Find your customers’ comments, replies, posts, and everything they say about your business.
Then, take a screenshot or save it. You are capturing their raw comments, and this unprofessional social proof works best.
Check for comments on:
Google My Business
Reddit
Facebook
Instagram
4/ Ask as many people as you can
I wasted weeks of time thinking about what I was going to say to get testimonials.
In contrast, when I sat down for 2 hours and decided to email all my readers and friends, I got all the testimonials I needed.
If you need more testimonials, the easiest thing you can do is ask more people.
5/ Strategy: The perfect time to ask for testimonials
The best time to ask your customers for a testimonial is when they are the most satisfied.
This is usually:
Right after they get the benefits of using your product
When they reach a goal
Towards the end of the program
After you help the customer
Find the point when your customer is the most willing and happy with your product/service.
Then, ask for a testimonial.
- Warren
PS: Here’s a template for getting testimonials from people you know. I used this exact template to ask for testimonials for Business Deconstructed.