Testimonials are one of the most powerful elements of an online marketing campaign. Not only are they left by satisfied customers, but they are also free advertisements from people who have done business with your company. When it comes down to it, a testimonial works on your behalf without any pushy sales pitch.
The Elements of A Successful Testimonial
Let’s take a look at a few of the following elements that make up a successful testimonial.
Trust & Credibility
A successful testimonial fills the void of skepticism and gives you credibility through a person’s experience with your company. It also provides potential customers with important answers to questions they might have about your products or services.
Connection
People tend to make decisions based on their emotions. A successful testimonial establishes an emotional connection through praise and summarization of a person’s experience with your company.
Compelling Story
A great testimonial is nothing like a college essay. They tell us a compelling story of a person who faced a problem that your company helped to resolve with a product or service.
Personality
A successful testimonial will showcase your company’s personality through the eyes of a person who’s done business with you. This, in turn, will boost the reputation of your business.
Adding testimonials to your website is a great way to provide potential customers with important insight into your company. Even more, when certain keywords like “trustworthy” and “credibility” are used, they boost your SEO as Google picks up on them. This, in turn, can increase your conversions significantly.
Tips For Written Testimonials
Many people struggle with the process of adding testimonials to their website. Below are some tips for choosing successfully written testimonials.
A Credible Source
Credibility is key when it comes to marketing. The same holds true when it comes to a testimonial. The author of a testimonial should be credible. This will ensure your intended audience will trust what they have to say in association with your company. The more well-known a person is, the better. Having another business owner or high-ranking official named on your testimonial page can significantly boost conversions because people view them as a trustworthy source.
Write Original Content
Every testimonial that you include on your website should be original and authentic. It should also correlate with the content of the page you are putting it on. However, you don’t want to copy what they are saying in the title or main copy of your page. Instead, take what they say and build on the benefits they mention about your company. For example, if you state on your landing page that you help clients with their website long after you build it, add a client’s testimonial explaining just how you did that.
Use Natural Language
Never attempt to edit a client testimonial that you receive. It’s just as important never to write one for them and have them sign off on it. People are smarter than you think, and doing so can seriously damage your reputation. Potential customers want to read a client’s testimonial in their own words instead of in an overly-edited or pre-scripted language. While it’s okay to edit minor typos or misspellings, you should always keep the overall testimonial intact.
Stay Focused
There is nothing more that people hate than reading through a book of text before getting to the point of the subject. Why? People have short attention ps. That’s why we live in a world of instant gratification with social media, texts, videos, etc. Instead of adding a lengthy testimonial with no story to your website, stick with focused testimonials that support the value of what you say on your page.
Add Plenty Of Details
Adding plenty of details might seem contradictory to staying focused, but the story of a testimonial needs to be authentic. Here’s why. Anyone can claim your product or service helped them. However, it’s the details they include that makes them more trustworthy and compelling.
For example, consider the following two statements. Which one would you trust?
- [Company Name] gave our customers the ability to use their credit cards.
- Instead of turning those away who didn’t have cash, [Company Name] helped increase our profits by allowing us to take customer credit cards.
The second statement is much more significant because it provides more detail of a customer’s experience. This allows potential customers to imagine themselves getting the same benefit from your company as the testimonial writer.
Tips For Video Testimonials
A video testimonial is a powerful marketing tool that encourages potential customers. While they are an easy element to add to your website, they are not always easy to create. That’s why it’s important to consider the following tips below.
Use High-Quality Equipment
It’s tempting to use a smartphone to record a video testimonial. However, this doesn’t result in high-quality content. While you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on professional equipment, you shouldn’t record it with just any device. Instead, you can rent a high-quality video camera from a camera shop to get the job done right. If you decide to go this route, simply contact the local shops in your area and find out what they offer and what they would recommend for filming a testimonial video.
To save money using this approach, we also recommend recording several interviews while you have the camera, so you don’t have to rent it repeatedly. While a good camera is essential, it’s just as important to use a stable tripod and microphones that cut down on background noise while recording voices clearly.
Plan What You Will Say
Before you attempt to record a video testimonial, it’s important to plan what you will say. While it’s okay to write down some thoughts, you should never read from a script. Doing so can make you sound dull and unnatural. Instead, we recommend jotting down a list of points you would like to cover. This will help showcase your personality while providing important information about the company you are talking about.
You should also picture the camera as a person you are having a conversation with and focus on how a company’s product or service helped you solve a problem. This will make your testimonial feel more organic and trustworthy to those looking for solutions to real problems.
Build A Trustworthy Connection
Facts and statistics may be enough to convince certain people to purchase your product or service, but not everyone. Before you appeal to the mind of a customer, you need to connect with them emotionally.
If you can help a struggling customer with a common problem that your product or service can solve, you’ll be very convincing to other potential customers by building a trustworthy connection with that one person. While it’s easy to state the facts about what you offer, it’s personal connection that drives conversions.
Make It Short But Sweet
Even if you utilize the tips mentioned above, it can still be easy to get carried away. When filming a video testimonial, it’s important to keep it short and sweet rather than an hour-long video that people don’t have the time or patience to watch. Two to three minutes is ideal. While that may not seem like enough time, it’s important to remember that viewers want you to get to the point, so that they can get on with their lives. To cut your testimonial down, go through your video during the editing process, and remove any fluff or unnecessary information that detracts from your main message.
Film In An Ideal Location
When setting up to film a video testimonial, it’s important to choose the ideal location with good lighting. For best results, select a location that best supports the message you want to convey. It’s also important to consider any obstacles you may face in an indoor or outdoor setting. An indoor location can be good when it comes to controlling the environment around you. However, shooting in an outdoor location can make the filming process more difficult due to noise, traffic, lighting, and other obstacles.
Conclusion
In the end, written or video testimonials are about making a connection with potential customers. While you can use all the fancy language or video equipment you want, a testimony that doesn’t make a connection is useless. That’s why it’s generally a good idea to have others read or watch your testimonials for important feedback. With some practice, you’ll be able to fine-tune your testimonials to turn potential customers into loyal clients.