How to create an effective client testimonial for your website?
Maybe you are a business coach, life coach or maybe you are doing corporate/executive coaching; one thing will always remain the same i.e. you will be dealing with people. And, for people to hire you as their coach, they need to trust you first.
Now, there are many ways you can build this trust:
– You can provide them great content via your newsletter and blog. But, that takes time.
– You can tell them how long you have been working in a particular industry. This will tap into the authority bias and people will trust you. But, it’s not personalised to their current situation.
– The best way to build trust in a service business or for that matter in any kind of business is by showing them the results of your previous customers/clients via testimonials and case studies.
Tell them the story of your previous clients. How they were dealing with same issues as your prospective clients are facing. And, how your service helped them overcome their struggles.
That’s all very common and maybe you already have some testimonials on your website. Right?
But, what makes a great testimonial?
- Which testimonials encourage your site visitors to take action?
- Which testimonials increase your sales?
- Which testimonials will help you build lifelong trust?
Let’s take a look at few examples of ‘Client Testimonials’:
Which one did you read first? Which one do you trust more?
Both are honest reviews from the clients. But, when you have an image of the person, name, position, company name & a great design. It stands out. You can relate better with human faces. It builds more trust in your future clients.
Are you using profile pictures of clients in your testimonials?
If not, stop reading this blog. Open-up your email. And, drop a mail to your previous clients asking for their profile pictures. If you have provided them great service, they would love to help you out.
Now, let’s take this one step further:
What do you notice?
They have included the company logo in the testimonial but they didn’t stop there. They went one step further & provided you a link to read this client’s full story.
Do you think people will trust this testimonial? Most definitely.
But, why stop there? It’s 2018.
Where are the videos we all love to watch?
This guy has 3,245 video testimonials.
Along with that, he includes niche, location, earnings, description, full video transcript. This is the holy grail of testimonials.
If your client has a good story to tell, make a video testimonial. Or, you can also sit with your client and ask him/her questions about your service. Then post that on your website.
You now have a clear idea about the structure and design of a client testimonial.
But, what about the content of a testimonial?
First thing is to just ask your previous clients what they think about your service. Write their honest reviews.
Next step is to ask yourself this question:
What are the common doubts/objections people have related to your service?
You have talked to many people in your niche. Some of them are your clients and many of didn’t sign up for your service. Because they had certain doubts and objections related to your service.
Make a list of these objections. And, start asking your current clients –
- Were they having the same doubts?
- What helped them to sign up for your service?
Maybe a common doubt is — ‘This coach won’t be able to understand my situation.’
If your previous clients had the same doubt but you understood their situation really well. And, were able to help them gain clarity. Ask them about that and include what they said in the testimonial.
This way you can answer the objections of your future clients. And, more people would be contacting and signing up for your service.
You have seen the structure, design, content & examples of client testimonials. Now, it’s time to take some action.
Action Step — Improve the testimonials on your website. And, if this blog post provided you value, share it with 1 friend of yours.
Originally published at experts.chevaun.com.
