How to ask for testimonials so your customers will say yes
July 22, 2021
In this episode, we talk about the best way to ask for customer testimonials.
If you are creating a landing page and you want it to convert, there are really only two things that will make your landing page convert. These two things are your copy and testimonials. Really your testimonials, if you had nothing else, it's really your testimonials that are going to sell even better because people will take other people's word for your product, service, or offer over what you might say, even if the other person is a stranger. It's just that these third this third party social proof holds more weight than whatever comes out of your own mouth.
So what this means is grabbing testimonials is one of the most important things that you can start doing for your business. And it's really important to start grabbing testimonials on a habitual basis. Like it should be a habit for you. So asking for testimonials, I think this can be a little scary for some people because it feels a little awkward. It's like who do you go ask for a testimony for your business? Should you ask? How do you ask? So this is what we're gonna do in this episode. We're going to answer all these questions and we're going to make it really easy for you to ask for testimonials because you know they're important, I know they're important, we all know that they're important. And the truth is other people, actually know how much testimonials matter and they want to help you. So that's the mindset that we need to have, is that other people really do want to help you and because they want to help you, they'll be happy to do a testimonial for you.
Now some people, they're going to be a little shy, they might not want to do a video or they might not feel that their creative enough to give you one that will do you justice. But just know that people genuinely do want to help you. They want to see you grow. So they do want to provide testimonials for you. So now your job is how do you make it? So it's easy for this other person to get a testimonial. But before you can talk before we even talk about that, the first thing that we talked about is how do we ask for a testimonial, right? So we already got over the point that people do want to give us testimonials. So but how do we ask?
The wrong way to ask for a testimonial is to send out blanket requests. So if you send out a mass email asking for a testimonial, Yeah you might have a few diehard fans that will give you a testimonial. But if you're just sending a mass request and this mass request it could be over Facebook where it's obviously a can you know, requests or something on a podcast episode etcetera. These blanket request, they don't work well because if someone is giving you a testimonial, they're providing some value for you and they want to be acknowledged for this value.
So the wrong way is to do these blanket requests and not have any personal touch. The right way is to ask them at a time when they actually feel great. So this is probably right after you've delivered some type of value and as soon as you deliver that value, this is the best time to ask for a testimonial because the feeling that they have when they received your product, service or offer, it's going to be at the highest at this point. Right? So this is the best time for you to ask them for a testimonial and it's an easy time for you to ask for a testimonial and the segue to ask for a testimonial is pretty easy, right? Because you just told them something, the context is there, it just makes sense. It's not very pushy. That's a very easy way.
The other way is let's say that this is an old customer and you haven't sold anything for a while. You need to go back and you need to start gathering these testimonials. Well, how do you ask for them? So we already talked about it the wrong way. The wrong way was to do blanket requests. Well, then the right way means to actually have a personal touch. So what you do is you actually do have to put in the work to ask people for a testimonial, especially if this person is a little bit stale and they might need a little reminder of why you want a testimony or what they're actually giving a testimonial about.
So when I say put in the work like, you are sending a video message or a handwritten note or something that makes it look like you actually do care. You are asking this person specifically so this other person can feel like oh my God, I feel so lucky that this person is asking me for a testimonial because what you're going to end up doing is you're going to end up making that person feel like that their voice matters and people want to matter. So when we're asking for a testimonial and we're actually putting in the work to ask them, it shows them how much their voice matters to you and they're gonna want to do this testimonial for you.
And then finally, if you're asking them at a moment when they feel great or you're going back and you're putting some work into it and you're asking them at a later time, the way to make sure that they're actually going to you know, come through for you and actually leave this testimonial is you want to make it easy as possible for them to say yes. And the way that you make it easy is you just ask them some questions and the answers that they give you to these questions will be the testimonial.
So you can record this over audio as you're asking for these testimonials, it could be over a chat, it could be over um anything, really. And as you ask these questions, you will be able to take out little snippets. So it could be a screenshot or a quick recording of whatever you grabbed. And you can use these snippets as these testimonials. And if the snippets don't work, usually the snippets are a lot better because you're getting the raw emotion whenever you do ask these questions, if you rehearse it and you ask them to do it again, then it's not a very good testimonial because it sounds really rehearsed and people don't like that. People like authenticity. People like, you know, someone to be genuine. If it looks too dressed up, then that's probably a bad testimonial.
So here are the questions that you are going to ask for someone to feel at ease when they're giving us a testimonial because the answers to these questions will be your testimonial. So there are five questions. The first question is: What do you like most about our product service or offer? So if you're selling a drone, for example, what do you like most about a drone? Right, So you asked that question then, the second question is, what has been the best part for you? So you're asking to elaborate a little bit more. They already kind of gave you a little bit of testimonial on the first part when you talk about the drone. But asking this question in a different way, it's going to get them to think a little bit more deeper and this is where the real value comes out.
So the second question is what has been the best part for you? And now they're going to start thinking about the best part and it becomes a challenge for them. Instead of thinking about, you know, your product and the initial feeling, I guess they have actually do have to dig a little bit deeper and this is when the better testimonial come out will come out. So the second question is, what has been the best part for you?
The third question is: What was your life like before our product, service, or offering? So now you're taking them back into the past before the product and you want to cut into the pain, you want them to describe the pain. So other people listening to this testimonial, they can relate, because hopefully they will not hopefully, but they likely have had the same pain and now they see that there's some relief available because there's this other person that went through this journey with your product and it brought them relief. Right?
So what was your life like before our product service or offers? So you can figure out where the pain point was. Then you ask them: What is your life like now? So they have your product and you want to find out what transformation that they received from your product. You want to find out what benefits they receive. So if you just ask the question, what is your life like now, then they will start telling you how they actually benefited from your product service or offer. And then finally, the fifth question is you ask them: What would you tell a friend who could benefit from our solution?
So now they're thinking about a friend that can benefit from the solution and they're going to actually pitch your product to this friend and the way that they're going to do it is going to be fantastic because it's gonna be a testimonial and this is you made it really easy for them because now they don't even have to think it's all just out there, you've asked them the questions, you've recorded it or taken a screenshot and now it's just easy. And then what you want to do is as you start building up this habit, you want to create a bank of testimonials.
So in my company, I do this with a dropbox folder where we keep all our video, audio, screenshots, any kind of testimonials that will get. And it could be the simplest things that could be uh, you know, like a message on Instagram where someone's like, "Hey Robin, I caught your talk on Clubhouse and I loved it" and I'll just take a screenshot of that, put it in my testimonial bank. And I also try to make it a habit of asking for testimonials. And again, the right way is to put in work and actually show them that you care about their voice. And also just the easiest way is to ask them at a time when they feel most happy about getting delivery from your product service or offer. So I hope this helps. This is how you can make it really easy for you to gather testimonials. We all know how important testimonials are. Make it a habit. This is Robin Copernicus. Boom bam. I'm out.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
So what this means is grabbing testimonials is one of the most important things that you can start doing for your business. And it's really important to start grabbing testimonials on a habitual basis. Like it should be a habit for you. So asking for testimonials, I think this can be a little scary for some people because it feels a little awkward. It's like who do you go ask for a testimony for your business? Should you ask? How do you ask? So this is what we're gonna do in this episode. We're going to answer all these questions and we're going to make it really easy for you to ask for testimonials because you know they're important, I know they're important, we all know that they're important. And the truth is other people, actually know how much testimonials matter and they want to help you. So that's the mindset that we need to have, is that other people really do want to help you and because they want to help you, they'll be happy to do a testimonial for you.
Now some people, they're going to be a little shy, they might not want to do a video or they might not feel that their creative enough to give you one that will do you justice. But just know that people genuinely do want to help you. They want to see you grow. So they do want to provide testimonials for you. So now your job is how do you make it? So it's easy for this other person to get a testimonial. But before you can talk before we even talk about that, the first thing that we talked about is how do we ask for a testimonial, right? So we already got over the point that people do want to give us testimonials. So but how do we ask?
The wrong way to ask for a testimonial is to send out blanket requests. So if you send out a mass email asking for a testimonial, Yeah you might have a few diehard fans that will give you a testimonial. But if you're just sending a mass request and this mass request it could be over Facebook where it's obviously a can you know, requests or something on a podcast episode etcetera. These blanket request, they don't work well because if someone is giving you a testimonial, they're providing some value for you and they want to be acknowledged for this value.
So the wrong way is to do these blanket requests and not have any personal touch. The right way is to ask them at a time when they actually feel great. So this is probably right after you've delivered some type of value and as soon as you deliver that value, this is the best time to ask for a testimonial because the feeling that they have when they received your product, service or offer, it's going to be at the highest at this point. Right? So this is the best time for you to ask them for a testimonial and it's an easy time for you to ask for a testimonial and the segue to ask for a testimonial is pretty easy, right? Because you just told them something, the context is there, it just makes sense. It's not very pushy. That's a very easy way.
The other way is let's say that this is an old customer and you haven't sold anything for a while. You need to go back and you need to start gathering these testimonials. Well, how do you ask for them? So we already talked about it the wrong way. The wrong way was to do blanket requests. Well, then the right way means to actually have a personal touch. So what you do is you actually do have to put in the work to ask people for a testimonial, especially if this person is a little bit stale and they might need a little reminder of why you want a testimony or what they're actually giving a testimonial about.
So when I say put in the work like, you are sending a video message or a handwritten note or something that makes it look like you actually do care. You are asking this person specifically so this other person can feel like oh my God, I feel so lucky that this person is asking me for a testimonial because what you're going to end up doing is you're going to end up making that person feel like that their voice matters and people want to matter. So when we're asking for a testimonial and we're actually putting in the work to ask them, it shows them how much their voice matters to you and they're gonna want to do this testimonial for you.
And then finally, if you're asking them at a moment when they feel great or you're going back and you're putting some work into it and you're asking them at a later time, the way to make sure that they're actually going to you know, come through for you and actually leave this testimonial is you want to make it easy as possible for them to say yes. And the way that you make it easy is you just ask them some questions and the answers that they give you to these questions will be the testimonial.
So you can record this over audio as you're asking for these testimonials, it could be over a chat, it could be over um anything, really. And as you ask these questions, you will be able to take out little snippets. So it could be a screenshot or a quick recording of whatever you grabbed. And you can use these snippets as these testimonials. And if the snippets don't work, usually the snippets are a lot better because you're getting the raw emotion whenever you do ask these questions, if you rehearse it and you ask them to do it again, then it's not a very good testimonial because it sounds really rehearsed and people don't like that. People like authenticity. People like, you know, someone to be genuine. If it looks too dressed up, then that's probably a bad testimonial.
So here are the questions that you are going to ask for someone to feel at ease when they're giving us a testimonial because the answers to these questions will be your testimonial. So there are five questions. The first question is: What do you like most about our product service or offer? So if you're selling a drone, for example, what do you like most about a drone? Right, So you asked that question then, the second question is, what has been the best part for you? So you're asking to elaborate a little bit more. They already kind of gave you a little bit of testimonial on the first part when you talk about the drone. But asking this question in a different way, it's going to get them to think a little bit more deeper and this is where the real value comes out.
So the second question is what has been the best part for you? And now they're going to start thinking about the best part and it becomes a challenge for them. Instead of thinking about, you know, your product and the initial feeling, I guess they have actually do have to dig a little bit deeper and this is when the better testimonial come out will come out. So the second question is, what has been the best part for you?
The third question is: What was your life like before our product, service, or offering? So now you're taking them back into the past before the product and you want to cut into the pain, you want them to describe the pain. So other people listening to this testimonial, they can relate, because hopefully they will not hopefully, but they likely have had the same pain and now they see that there's some relief available because there's this other person that went through this journey with your product and it brought them relief. Right?
So what was your life like before our product service or offers? So you can figure out where the pain point was. Then you ask them: What is your life like now? So they have your product and you want to find out what transformation that they received from your product. You want to find out what benefits they receive. So if you just ask the question, what is your life like now, then they will start telling you how they actually benefited from your product service or offer. And then finally, the fifth question is you ask them: What would you tell a friend who could benefit from our solution?
So now they're thinking about a friend that can benefit from the solution and they're going to actually pitch your product to this friend and the way that they're going to do it is going to be fantastic because it's gonna be a testimonial and this is you made it really easy for them because now they don't even have to think it's all just out there, you've asked them the questions, you've recorded it or taken a screenshot and now it's just easy. And then what you want to do is as you start building up this habit, you want to create a bank of testimonials.
So in my company, I do this with a dropbox folder where we keep all our video, audio, screenshots, any kind of testimonials that will get. And it could be the simplest things that could be uh, you know, like a message on Instagram where someone's like, "Hey Robin, I caught your talk on Clubhouse and I loved it" and I'll just take a screenshot of that, put it in my testimonial bank. And I also try to make it a habit of asking for testimonials. And again, the right way is to put in work and actually show them that you care about their voice. And also just the easiest way is to ask them at a time when they feel most happy about getting delivery from your product service or offer. So I hope this helps. This is how you can make it really easy for you to gather testimonials. We all know how important testimonials are. Make it a habit. This is Robin Copernicus. Boom bam. I'm out.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
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