How Sean Fioritto Used a Simple 3-Line Email to Generate Hundreds of Testimonials For His Digital Product

Sean Fioritto is an entrepreneur, web developer, CSS expert, and blogger at PlanningForAliens.

Like many Drip users, Sean uses an email “mini course” to sell his flagship product, an ebook for designers called Sketching with CSS.

Sean’s ebook solves some huge pain points for designers, as described in the awesome (and sometimes funny) sales copy:

• “It feels like the only way to master HTML and CSS is to spend years bashing your head into your keyboard.”
• “Have you ever wanted to strangle Photoshop with your bare hands?”
• “It’s hard to be creative because there is a huge wall of technical nonsense between the design in your head and the browser.”

People love Sean’s guide.

It removes the pain of coding for designers and frees them up to just sketch by hand and be creative.

And yet, for every person who proactively sends you a testimonial, there are usually 10 more who quietly adore your product or service.

For most businesses, that means losing out on morale-boosting feedback from clients.

Not for Sketching With CSS, though.

Using a Drip automation rule, Sean gets fresh new testimonials in his Gmail inbox, ready to archive, every week.

The Results: An Abundance Of Testimonials And Customer Feedback

Check out the results:

That’s a lot of feedback!

Let’s take a look at how Sean keeps the testimonials rolling in, and how you can set up the same flywheel in Drip to get more testimonials for your product or service.

Nuts and Bolts: How Sean Created A Hands-Off Testimonial-Generating Machine In Drip

You can model Sean’s system in about an hour.

First, Sean created an Automation Rule that adds a “customer” tag in Drip whenever a subscriber buys his product.

The 2-step rule looks like this in Drip:

Using Drip’s one-click integration with DPD (you could also use Gumroad, Paypal, Stripe, etc.), anyone who checks out with DPD automatically gets tagged back in Drip with the customer tag, Sketching with CSS (Book).

Each contact also gets moved to a separate email drip sequence called Book Customer Follow-up.

Here’s what’s really interesting:

Sean’s campaign has only one followup email, yet it brings in the bulk of his customer testimonials.

Here’s the email:

This email is very personable and clocks in at just 46 words.

Sean writes:

Subject: how’s it going?

“Hey,
You picked up a copy of Sketching with CSS a couple weeks ago. One of the advantages of buying a book directly from the author is, well, me. :- )

I respond to every email and I love hearing from readers. So how’s it going so far?“

Notice how Sean doesn’t ask for a testimonial.

He just checks in, asks for an update, and shows that he actually cares.

This, apparently, surprises some readers.

People usually think it’s from me, personally. So I get responses saying, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect to hear from you!’

That email has been the biggest source of testimonials that I get.

Testimonials aside, this little post-purchase “nudge” is a great trust builder.

It’s staggering how many online businesses have only one email drip sequence (read: the one that gets you to buy) with no followup after the purchase. The good news is, with the bar set so low, sending even one followup email can really set you apart.

The reality is, many people buy digital products and simply don’t take action — even if they fully intended to use your training. Sean checks in to help readers invest in themselves.

So many people buy the ebook and never touch it. They say, ‘you know what, thank you. I haven’t used it yet but I’m going to.’

I wanted to make sure that people actually use the book and are successful.

That’s how you build goodwill and build a long list of testimonials at the same time.

Conclusion

Whether you sell consulting, software, ebooks, or WordPress plugins, getting a solid bank of testimonials is critical–but it doesn’t need to be painful.

It can be as simple as sending one email to say, “Hey, it’s been a few weeks, so I just wanted to check in. How’s it going for you?”

You’ll be surprised by how many positive responses you get. And when you get permission to use these responses in your marketing, you’ll have a growing bank of testimonials to add to your website. All on autopilot in Drip.

Sean Fioritto is an entrepreneur, web developer, CSS expert, and blogger. To learn more, subscribe to his free mini course on designing right in your browser at SketchingWithCSS.com.