The Finer Art of Acquiring Social Proof and Testimonials
Posted By gglass on April 28, 2012
Testimonials are valuable when you get the right kind simply because potential customers feel a little better about your offer. Very few people want to be out front, and that is why there is security in numbers which is what testimonials are all about. It is not legal to ask for a testimonial, so very often a vendor has to just wait for somebody to send one in. We will go into more detail about what you can do about this issue.
If you’re selling a good product that has helped a number of people, then there are high chances that you can do a case study by selecting a few successful customers. A case study is a thorough analysis of how your customers utilized your product and how it helped them; it’s a lot more detailed than a typical testimonial. By doing this process, what you will be generating are fabulous testimonials. This is a perfectly reasonable method to find out the experiences of your customers and present it to potential customers. If you look around, you’ll notice that many big companies have a section on their site which highlights the case study of a few of their good customers. If you have happy customers, then there is no reason why your own studies should not be effective.
The fact is, testimonials tend to be a lot more powerful when you add a photo along with them. The reason for this is, people are always cautious when reading any testimonial and want to be sure that it’s from a genuine customer.
The important point is that many visitors will have a better feeling about your offer when you do this. Keep in mind that data like this was proven to be correct before the internet existed. According to law, in the US, you need to secure proper authorization in order to use any person’s photo on your site.
If your customers happen to include webmasters, bloggers or Internet marketers, then they would definitely know the value of a high quality inbound link. It is always recommended that you include a link back to a person’s site if they have one. Everybody needs more links, and people will be more inclined to offer a testimonial if you do this. This is a win-win for both parties involved, and you will make better business connections from this, too. As long as people genuinely find value in your product, you should not have any difficulties getting this to work very well for you.