We’ve all been to the website of ‘Company A’ and clicked on the page that says “see what our customers say about us” and have seen the following:
Great service, would recommend - Mrs B, London
Cheapest price around and really good quality – Mr T, Sheffield
You probably click your back button and say a cyberspace ‘goodbye’ to Company A. Enter ‘Company B’.
They have a page saying “Don’t take our word for it” with the following:
I have used XYZ for the last five years and wouldn’t go anywhere else. The level of service we receive is fantastic. Joe Bloggs, ABC Ltd
And there are lots of similar ones with links through to the companies’ websites and email links to the individuals.
Not only does this add real credibility to your testimonials, the links will help your website’s search performance.
So when is the best time to ask for testimonials? The simple answer to this is anytime. Whenever a customer says “this is brilliant, I didn’t expect you to do X so quickly” – you say “can I quote you on that?” Easy! You write the testimonial and get your customer to give it the ok before you publish it and then you’re ready to go.
A good way to make sure you get a mix of relevant testimonials is to look at your core values as a business. So if you want to shout about service, speed of delivery, professionalism, reliability (for example) you would select clients who you know would give you testimonials for each of these areas.
By writing them yourself (based on what the client has said or would say of course) you take the pressure off the client of having something else on their to do list!
If you want more information about testimonials and how to use them, just get in touch.
