Testimonials
Like I mention in Fast Food Copywriting, testimonials on a sales letter aren't important. It's the proof that's important (testimonials are a form of social proof.)
When I launch a brand new product, testimonials are the last thing on my mind. Usually my strategy is: I set up a simple dimesale so the price goes up with each sale, the price increases quickly and that's my social proof.
I post my special offer on forums and link to my product via the forum post instead of the actual URL to the sales letter to get people posting on the thread... more social proof.
Once the initial launch has died down I can usually cannibalize these forum posts and use them as testimonials. I look up the person's picture and URL and contact them asking if it's ok to add their comment as a testimonial -- with a link to the sales letter so they can see how it looks. I've almost never been turned down... who doesn't want their URL mentioned on yet another page?
I have mentioned before that 2008 is the year I am doing everything right. I have a blog I update every week or so. Every one of my products has an affiliate program and a plug and play solo ad so affiliates can easily promote it. ALMOST every product also has an upsell to another product -- many have more than one.
May 2008 was the month where I made sure just about every sales letter had a testimonial... with a picture if possible. Check out the sales letter for Head First PHP. I have 10 testimonials on the right sidebar of that page and 5 more at the end of the sales letter.
How did I do it?
Simple: They are all on a mailing list, so I added a timed follow-up to offer a bribe... in exchange for a testimonial.
Notice how I worded that. I sold them on the bribe first, the "what's in it for me" ... and then said, here's what you need to do to get it.
It's no different than a sales letter. You need to SELL them on the benefits of that bribe. You need to have a headline (in an e-mail that's more like a simple sentence), tell a story, and lead in to a call to action.
This time, the call to action is not to buy, but to write up a review for you... much more difficult.
Have you ever thought of how many steps you put your customers through even for the most simplest transactions?
Opting into a newsletter
|
Ordering from you
|
Writing a testimonial means: (1) Hitting the reply button. (2) Finding where they saved your product on their hard drive. (3) Reading through the product to refresh their memory. (4) Explain their favorite part and what they did with it. (5) Add a URL and their name at the bottom. (6) Hit the submit button.
No call to action ever takes one single step... they're ALL complicated.
You are asking for a BIG favor from your customers by asking for a testimonial. Think about it... most of those 10 steps in the order process required very little thinking, or work. The only cost really was in money. This time, you are asking for their TIME... something much more valuable than money.
The call to action on a testimonial is a tougher sell than selling a product. No big deal, you'll get lower conversion rates... but you MUST sell them.
Here are my five tips to getting testimonials:
Testimonial Power Tip #1:
Always ask in a timed followup (7 to 30 days after purchase).
Just write your blurb and stick it in a follow-up and forget about it. This way when you get new customers, your autoresponder will automatically ask them for that review. You won't have to keep asking, figuring out who you've asked and who you haven't... it's easy.
Testimonial Power Tip #2:
Offer a bribe.
Head First PHP contained an e-book but also a daily video. My autoresponder sent a link to a new five minute video... every day for about 30 days.
At the end of those 30 days I said, if you want a link to download all the videos in one zip file, send me an honest review and I'll give you that link. That's how I ended up with 15 testimonials in the span of a couple days.
Testimonial Power Tip #3:
Ask multiple times.
Sometimes people won't get your e-mail, they'll get busy or they won't understand the bribe well enough from just one e-mail to do all those steps required to giving a testimonial.
Add multiple followups either a week or a month apart saying: If you've already given me a testimonial... thank you... now take action and actually use it. Also say if you haven't given me a testimonial, now's your chance to get that bribe.
For another product (Black Hat PHP) I bought resale rights to a product and used that as a bribe. I cut up the sales letter into follow-ups.
- In one follow-up I explained the problem.
- In another, I said here's the solution and here's what you can do to get it.
- A week later the follow-up said here's a video demonstrating the bribe, if you still want it, send your review.
- A week later, a list of benefits... and by the way, here's how you can get the bonus for free.
- A week later, here's the final summary and call to action... review my product so you can get the bribe.
Testimonial Power Tip #4:
Follow-up if the testimonial isn't good enough.
People will try to do the bare minimum to get that bribe and when that happens, ask more questions. When someone says, "It was good. I liked it." Ask what did you like? Did you use it on any web sites? What did it do for you?
- Teach you how to build a bird house with half the materials and 1/3rd the cost... if it's a how-to build bird houses product.
- How to finish your homework faster and get better grades so you have more time to relax and play video games if it's a "how to do homework faster" product.
- Decreased your blood pressure, gave you more awake time, and enough energy to run a marathon if it's a "raw super foods" infoproduct.
Ask questions and try to get some real answers about what they liked the best, what was the most useful and most importantly how it affected them.
It might take a few back and forth replies but eventually you can get enough from that e-mail interview to put it together into a decent testimonial.
Testimonial Power Tip #5:
Be specific.
It all goes back to what's in it for me. Social proof comes in three steps: First, proof that you (the originator) did it... second, proof that someone ELSE did it (these customers) and third, proof that THEY (the prospect) can do it. Without step #2 you just can't have step #3.
By getting your customers to tell you which chapter they liked the most, you can continue selling within your testimonial by mentioning all these cool benefits.
That's how I get customers to hurl testimonials right at my head, the easy way. If you want to know how to write that sales letter so you have a place to stick those testimonials, my latest project is: Five Minute Copywriting.
Please, comment below and share your tips for getting testimonials and social proof to spice up your existing sales pages and therefore increase your conversion rates and get more sales.
Filed in: Copywriting
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Hi Robert,
Everyone talks about using a ‘call to action’ but never explains really what it is. I am no copywriter, so am always unsure if I have included it ot not.
Thanks for showing me what it would be in this instance.
Kelly
Robert,
Earlier I did not have a single testimonial on one of my product websites. Honestly speaking I never asked anyone for it, however a few people had sent unsolicited testimonials. Recently I decided to add a few of them to that same site and I feel the conversion has increased a bit. A bit I would say.
A point is even though a product may prove beneficial for a person or usable by a person, the other person who bought after being convinced on the sales letter, may find the product “not as he thought” and may ask for a refund. That is the sole reason I do not “push” a product on the page, just highlight some of the beneficial featueres and leave the rest of it for the visitor to judge. My refunds are very very low. Not 1 for 200 sales.
Reason I am saying this is, this whole thing depends on the product you are offering. It wont be the same for a software (again various kinds of software), or an ebook or a membership site or just a website where you are offering a host of niche affiliate products. A few genuine testimonials on a website helps though than having nothing!
Great post as usual Robert 🙂
Aritrim
Hi Robert,
Smart stuff here! Using a stepped approach with an ethical bribe to get testimonials is very smart.
(Does your employer realize what they have? I bet they don’t… )
I’m going to use some of these ideas after our next product launch. Thanks,
Mark
Hi Robert,
You’ve done it again, and is why I’m always reading your mail and paying attention.
Value.
You add value in most everything I get from you. Like this blog post. It makes perfect sense, and is a great tip for me, aa business owner, and you can bet I’m taking your advice!
These days I’m dropping from most ANY list that just flogs products at me right and left.
Your list is one of the few I maintain my membership.
Just wanted to say Thanks!
Tim
Robert, informative as usual. Yours is one of the few emails that is not funnelled directly into the trash. I love the fact that you give good information and make a case for me to use it. I’ve never had a methodical way to get testimonials, so this is really great!
Keep up the great posts.
Jim Mr Idea Green
Robert
Thanks for the great blog post. This is perfect timing since I’m getting ready to launch a new site next month.
Thanks
Charles Kirkland
P.S. Your JV software ROCKs
Great post. I’ve built in a request for a testimonial to an autoresponder that customers receive 30 days after purchasing. I thought about using a “bribe” such as a couple of months of extending the subscription but thought “purchased” testimonials would carry less weight. I really like how you frame the offer of the “bribe.” You’re not giving them the prize in exchange for the testimonial. Instead, you’re compensating them for the time they spend on doing it. It’s a much more tasteful way to present it.
Keep it up with the great posts.
Andrew
As always I like your post. First I learned the idea of 10 comments before next post. Now I have learned how to get testimonials working. Thats great – and I like to learn somthing new every day, and use it at may own speed.
Thank you.
Jørgen.
I agree with your blog post, but I would also like to remind people that there ARE sales letters and repetitive tricks that don’t work. For those who read numerous sales letters every single day it is quite irritating to see that many people hide their INNER CORE MESSAGE in between TOO MANY testimonials.
The right balance is alpha and omega in this, and getting the core message to your future clients should be your main emphasis…
Hat’s off…you’ve done it again. This does look like “the year nothing was done wrong!” Must have been that trip East!
Seriously, once the wheel was invented, what came along after was to make what is be better(…and better and better…..)
This is refreshing.
When I wrote this I was number 10…
Robert- fascinating post as usual!
great idea!!
Robert this is wonderful! Step by step instructions on how to get testimonials!
Now I know what to do and will definitely use your advice.
My sales pages don’t have testimonials, except one, and I realize they are important but never knew how to go about getting them. Now I can put the request into my autoresponder series, and give them a “gift” for their time!
Thanks for this great post!
Gabriella
Dear Robert,
What an awesome post, and a reality check as well. You put things in such an easy to understand manner.
You create massive value for everything you put out there – even the free stuff. You are just amazing, to put it mildly.
I have to confess, that whenever you put out a product now, all I do is look at the general gist of it, barely read the sales page (because it’s YOU) and head for the buy button. Why? Because you’ve proven yourself over and over and over.
Thank you for being uniquely YOU,
Donna
Hey Robert,
And getting a testimonial in the future means not pissing of a number of well known and lesser known Warriors with hidden experiments and arrogant reponses in a product launch.
Regards,
Gren.
Okay Gren, that’s a very unprofessional comment and it’s uncalled for.
Far as I am concerned Robert, I think it was a great idea! What better way to test your response to your products. I haven’t seen Gren Bingham’s name on anything as of late. Ya know, ya can’t pease everybody. I look forward to reading your blog and emails. Keep it up.
Robert, Controversy is good for business 🙂
now go make a blog post about Gren’s comment- you won’t regret it.
(i pretty much guarantee you’ll get LOTS of comments to that post)
🙂
Hi Robert,
I’m not sure how it is unprofessional, or for that matter uncalled for my comment was. I certainly believe your choice of words in at least one response on the WF might have been more considered … it may be that I am just an ancient old fogey and use language differently.
(Sure Gerard, you’ve not seen my name on anything recently, but have a look at RFC89, if you care to.)
I think that the negative responses that abounded on WF would have been avoided if the nature of the experiment had been talked about. I am watching it with interest to see if I learn something from it, as I often do from your work.
However, I’ll stand behind my view that it was “handled with stone fingers.” (… as somebody onece said to me about the way Digital Equipment Company handled some matters … )
I belive that it is important to treat those who value you with respect. It is clear from the responses on WF that a lot of people who do value you don’t feel treated that way, and that is really your loss, not mine.
Best regards,
Gren.
Oh man! I’ve missed out on all the excitement!
What “experiment” ?
Sheesh.
Incidentally, if you want to collect testimonials — well — you know those commercials
“I liked the razor so much, I bought the company” ?
(Okay, it *was* a while ago…)
Well, I liked this product so much I became a reseller (please note the copy at this time is what came from IncanSoft):
http://ez-testimonial.NextDay-Copy.com
I love it, and I use it, myself.
Incidentally, I also wrote Robert and suggested that offering incentives for testimonials is ill-advised. It’s ill-advised because the testimonials really are not “authentic” (how many people have given testimonials to get a copy of seminar DVDs?)
As well as how well they stand with the ftc.
Aside from the ftc — DOES IT REALLY SERVE your customer base? What happens when people find out that all your testimonials are incentivized (which I believe that you have to indicate on your sales page — CLEARLY (and not in tiny print) — if you have done so.)
As usual you have a great idea on getting testimonials. Bribe..
Thanks
Rick