24 Dec Testimonials

Marketing professionals spend no shortage of time, money, and resources in an effort to successfully promote their products and services. Though many of the strategies used by industry professionals are effective, it’s hard to beat the influence of word-of-mouth. Happy customers are your greatest advocates, and when it comes to marketing, they can be your most powerful promotional tool.

A testimonial is a statement in support of a product, service, or experience. Unlike other types of endorsements, testimonials lend a sense of authenticity to your success that commercials and ads can’t always capture. Testimonials should be from real consumers who are speaking honestly about their experience with your brand. These statements promote the quality of your product or service from the customer perspective, giving prospects an idea of the benefits that investing in your brand will yield. The most powerful aspect of testimonial marketing is the ability to link positive statements with real people. Testimonials aren’t just anonymous quotes written for promotional materials, they are a genuine testament of your abilities from the people who matter most. To truly be effective, testimonials must come from your actual customers.

The first step to acquiring customer testimonials is to provide a good product or service. No matter how many incentives you offer, the luster of gift cards and discounts will eventually wear off if the quality of your brand is poor. If you want your consumers to offer positive feedback, you must first offer a service they’ll be eager to advocate for. From there, you can simply ask your devoted customers to write or record a testimonial for your brand. Often times, your frequent buyers, primary investors, and highly engaged consumers will be more than happy to offer a few kind words.

Testimonials can come in many forms. Marketers can experiment with video, text, audio, or image-based mediums to find the right avenue to reach audiences. You need not limit yourself in form because different consumer groups respond to different content. As long as the testimonials are accurate and true to the customer, you can mold the delivery method as you see fit. One way to test the most effective kind of testimonial is to create multiple types in different mediums and share them across various channels. By tracking the performance of these testimonials, you can narrow down the best medium and platform to share your customer feedback.

 Word-of-mouth will always be one of the most effective forms of marketing. Trust is an integral part of purchasing decisions and much of the research conducted by the digital-age consumer is done with the goal of assessing authenticity. Creating a space for testimonials will give prospects a sense of your company’s principles and practices, straight from people just like them. There’s nothing more valuable to your brand then genuine, vocal affirmations from your own customers.