Using Customer Testimonials to Grow-up Your Small Business

                                       

                                    Congratulations! Your small business is humming along nicely and you’ve got a nice steady stream of customers and even some repeat business. It’s very rewarding to be on the receiving end of a happy customer’s smile and to hear their glowing words of praise. But there’s a lot more you can get from your satisfied patrons besides a warm inner glow. Properly done, customer testimonials are a powerful tool you can use to increase awareness for your particular product or service, and thereby increase customer traffic.

Obtaining and using customer testimonials isn’t difficult, but there are some things you should know to make them work for you. Here are some tips on getting, creating, placement of and the actual use of customer testimonials that can work for any business.

Getting customer testimonials

• First and foremost, if you’ve got a happy customer in front of you, ask them if they would be willing to provide a brief testimonial on their experience. Don’t wait for them to volunteer.
• Develop a simple, easy-to-follow process for collecting testimonials, and make sure it’s documented so that anyone can follow it.
• Get the customer’s permission in writing to use the testimonial.
• Specify exactly how the testimonials will be used, so that the customer is not surprised to find their words on your website or on flyers.
• Offer rewards, discounts or gifts for exceptionally glowing reviews. You’re not bribing, you’re creating a valuable relationship with your customer based on appreciation and trust.

Creating customer testimonials

• The best testimonials focus on success; how you were able to solve the customer’s problem. It’s always nice to have a word or two in there about how marvelous your staff was in aiding the customer, but keep the focus on the actual product or service.
• Don’t be afraid of a little constructive criticism. It helps keep the review real.
• Include a photograph of the person giving the review with the actual text.
• It’s OK for a customer to point out positive differences between you and a competitor: you offer more choices or better hours, or whatever, than Company B. It’s not good business to have statements that call Company B a bunch of liars and cheats. Good testimonials don’t bash the competition.
• Testimonials don’t have to come from customers. Look for companies complementary to yours and offer them a positive testimonial if they will provide one on you. For example, your construction company can talk about a landscaping company you often partner with. Caterers can compliment that amazing DJ that is often at the same event; software firms can praise those network engineering geniuses they usually see at the same client.
• Consider optimizing your testimonials for search engines. Review the keywords you employ on your website and suggest that your customers use those phrases.
• This is the video age, and simple YouTube video testimonials are easy to create and upload. Actually hearing a customer talk about their experience can be amazingly effective – you pick up on the excitement and satisfaction in their voice, something you don’t get with the written word. Just like with written testimonials – get permission in writing and state exactly how and when the videos will be used.

Placement of customer testimonials

• Create a page on your website where you can list all of your testimonials together. Use the link to that page in your promotional materials.
• Place shorter 1-2 line customer quotes throughout your website, such as banners at the tops of pages and along the sides.
• Create a rolling feed on your home page that showcases the best testimonials.

How to use customer testimonials

• Make sure all of your employees know where the testimonials are on your website. It isn’t just the sale team who will use them.
• Print up a promotional flyer on your company with a sizable number of the best testimonials and a link to the page with the rest of them. You can mail them, hand them out, have them at your reception desk and email digital versions to prospects on the fence.
• Post all new testimonials on your company Facebook page.
• Put the media to work for you: cultivate a list of thoroughly satisfied customers who are willing to speak to the media on your behalf, and use it whenever you’re working with someone from the news media (TV, newspaper, magazines or radio). Having these types of contacts always at the ready will often get you another feature in the news in the near future. Be sure to reward these customers for really going the extra mile to promote your company and for being basically “on call.”

With proper preparation and work, you’ll be able to create a nice treasure trove of happy customer compliments, quotes, stories and affirmations that you can use in a multitude of ways to grow your business.

Christopher Wallace is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Amsterdam Printing, one of the nation’s largest providers of promotional products for businesses large and small. Amsterdam specializes in custom pens and other promotional items such as calendars, laptop bags and T-shirts. Christopher regularly contributes toAmsterdam Printing’s blog.