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The Power of Testimonials
By Michael | August 29, 2008
Today we’re going to talk about another way to boost your web site sales: Using the power of testimonials.
One of the key factors that will determine whether a sales letter will succeed or not is credibility. If a sales letter lacks creditability, it will fail what marketer Ken Calhoun calls the “B.S. meter.” Every prospect has a B.S. meter and it can sink your conversion rate fast if it’s activated.
Here’s what I mean… Have you ever started reading someone else’s sales letter and found yourself saying to yourself, “Yeah, right. I don’t believe that at all.”
What happened?
Well, that sales letter failed your B.S. meter. Chances are, you stopped reading the sales letter and started doing something else… like going to another website.
So how do you prevent your prospect’s B.S. meter from sounding off?
Well, one obvious way is to keep your sales letter believable… especially any claims you make. If you claim your ebook can make them 6 inches taller, you better be able to prove that it will. Otherwise, you are trying to lie to your prospects… and their B.S. meters will nail you telling a lie.
You need to believable and one of the best ways to offer more credibility is to use testimonials. In fact, using testimonials are one of the top 3 ways to boost your conversion rates!
Keep these 6 rules in mind when you want to use testimonials.
First, studies have shown that using three or more testimonials will have the strongest impact. If it’s a new product, get at least one testimonial. Put that one on your sales letter until you get two or more testimonials to add. I tell clients with few testimonials to use either one or three testimonials on their sales letter because two testimonials don’t perform as well.
Second, testimonials from “ordinary” people are more believable than some “famous” marketers. I say some “famous” marketers because there are marketers who toss out tons of testimonials – strictly to promote their own website address. When you see some famous marketer claiming that yet another product “is the greatest thing he’s ever seen”, it’s not believable.
Third, the easiest way to get customer testimonials is to ask for feedback. When customers email you with their feedback and it’s positive feedback, ask them if you may use it in your marketing. Get their permission before you use a testimonial!
Fourth, you might need to rewrite the testimonial for the customer. If a customer gives you a generic feedback like “Joe, I think your product is great” then ask them to tell you why they think it’s great. The more specific the testimonial is, the more believable it will be. Send the original and the revised testimonial to the customer. Ask them which they like better and get their approval to use the testimonial.
Fifth, list the testimonial giver’s full name, not initials. You also need to use their city and state. If they are not from the U.S., then you need to list their city or province and country. If the customer is concerned about privacy issues, then put the testimonial down as either their full name with no city/state OR first initial and last name.
Finally, turn part of the testimonial into a headline for the testimonial. If there isn’t an easy way to do it for a testimonial, then use a headline like “Here’s what one customer told us about Joe’s Marketing Machine…”
For specific examples of headlines for testimonials, I’d suggest you go to my website http://www.superbcopywriting.com. I use both types of testimonial headlines and you are welcome to study them so you can craft testimonial headlines for your own website.
Need copywriting help? Go to www.superbcopywriting.com and send me a confidential e-mail.
To your success,
Mike Humphreys
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