The Anatomy of An Effective Testimonial Paul Adedoyin
A testimonial is a positive feedback from someone who has used your products. The
real secret to getting great testimonials for your sales letter is to simply ask. While the
sales copy may sound believable adding a couple of testimonials can add to your social
proof and make your sales letter more convincing. In this article, I am going to reveal to
you one very effective way by which you can get effective testimonials and show you
samples of effective and ineffective testimonials.
To get an effective testimonial, here is one simple but easy way to do this;
Send out an “unadvertised” bonus to each of the buyer a few days after they have
bought … completely free of charge! It can be a coupon, sample pack or anything you’d
like. Just be careful in wording your gift offer. Asking someone for positive feedback in
return for a gift can be seen as a bribe and would likely be illegal. Gifts should be offered
in return for any type of feedback – positive or negative. This gift should also be time
sensitive. You don’t want to leave the bonus on the page forever and expect your
buyers to either leave the feedback or let life get on the way. If the offer has a time
frame, your buyers would more likely give the feedback you want and they get the gift,
it is a win-win situation for you and each of your buyer.
On the page for your “secret bonus”, add a feedback form with the following eight (8)
questions:
What results have you received from using our product?
Would you recommend this product to others? If so, who do you think it would be
most suited to
For how long have you used our product/information/service?
How has XXXX improved since starting to use the product (X being the main
benefit of your product)?
How do you use the product (ex. at work, to relieve pain, etc)?
How much time do you invest in using the product on a weekly basis?
What is the most helpful/useful part of the product?
What would you say to someone who is interested in buying the product?
SIDENOTE: Not all the questions would be answered by all of your
buyers. Don’t let this be a bother for you.
The major reason for using questionnaire rather than just a feedback is that
questionnaire are often more effective than simply asking for feedback. If people are
happy with the product, they will say so, but don’t often provide the meaningful detail
you need for an effective testimonial.
Then simply ask permission to correlate this into a testimonial you can use on your web
page. You would be surprised at the positive responses you get from people that truly
enjoyed your product. You can then ask those who send in their testimonials if you can
publish:
Full names (first and last)
Location (city and state/province)
Photos - Before and after photos, if applicable, can be very effective
And any other proof they have. You may have to explain the purpose of them
feeling a feedback form. Tell them how proud you are of their success and you
really want to showcase them as a real-live success story. This is to make sure the
testimonials provided are meaningful.
In some instances, the testimonials may be so much that a link to another page from the
main sales page is created just for the purpose of testimonials. I have seen this done
effectively by only listing a few of them on the main sales page.
Testimonials can be one of your most powerful online marketing tools. When someone
is looking to buy a product, she often seeks the opinion of someone else who has used
the product, right? If you have testimonials from your previous customers presented in
your marketing materials or website copy, you already have a head start on making the
sale.
Examples of Ineffective Testimonials;
“I like it.” - Jan
“This is the best ever.”
“This is going to be a great product.” - Jim Bob, Florida
Analysis;
Here is why the above testimonials are meaningless and probably won’t add much to
your marketing message. Here are the reasons why the above testimonials are
completely meaningless:
“I like it.” - Jan
It’s nice that Jan loves the product, but we don’t know why. Nor do we really know who
she is or if she’s a real person.
“This is the best ever.”
The second also doesn’t explain why it’s the best and he/she did not know provide
his/her name for us to know who made the comments.
“This is going to be a great product.” - Jim Bob, Florida
The last example at least has a full name “Jim Bob” and we know he’s from Florida, but
it looks like he hasn’t even tried the product. He says it is “going to be a great product.”
Just asking someone to comment on what your product might be like isn’t an effective
use of a testimonial.
What Should A Testimonial Be?
A testimonial should include concrete and believable detail:
A Testimonial should include information about how your customer used the product
and the specific results she achieved.
A Testimonial should also provide as much information about the testimonial provider
as possible. Consumers are a skeptical bunch and if you don’t convince them “Jan” or
“Jim Bob” are real, they might not believe your testimonials. That’s why the above
should be included, that is;
Full names (first and last)
Location (city and state/province)
Photos - Before and after photos, if applicable, can be very effective. For
example, if it is a weight loss product
Other proof of results – For example, if your product helped a child’s grade
improve in school, you can show photos or scanned images of reports showing
the different stages of improvement.
Example of A Proper Testimonial
“I think having a blueprint is very important. Freelance writers who are just starting out
normally already have an idea what to do, but what bogs them down is the fact they
usually don’t know which comes first.
From one corporate client, I now have two, and they provide recurring jobs. There are
two more who I work with on a per article basis… Assignments have been up to my
neck lately, which is why I quit my job earlier than I had planned.
—Maricel Rivera, blogger for hire at SourcingPen.com”
Let’s dissect the above testimonial; here is a list of the questions to confirm if the above
testimonial really fits in to a proper testimonial
Freelance writers who are just starting out normally already have an idea what to do,
but what bogs them down is the fact they usually don’t know which comes first.
The statement above is implicitly answering the question of recommending the
product to others
What results have you received from using our product?
From one corporate client, I now have two, and they provide recurring jobs. There are
two more who I work with on a per article basis. This statement provides info on how
well this service she received has helped her.
Would you recommend this product to others? If so, who do you think it would be
most suited to
Freelance writers who are just starting out normally already have an idea what to do,
but what bogs them down is the fact they usually don’t know which comes first.
The statement above is implicitly answering the question of recommending the
product to others
What is the most helpful/useful part of the product?
“Assignments have been up to my neck lately, which is why I quit my job earlier
than I had planned.”
As you can see not all the questions were answered, but it sure beats the incomplete
testmonials above.
SIDENOTE: A testimonial can as well provide a link back to the person giving the
testimonial. This is because some people might want to verify the authenticity of the
testimonial, thus, one or two subscribers might hop into your list especially if you
have a captivating landing page. An example of this is from the testimonial above;
“Maricel Rivera, blogger for hire at SourcingPen.com”
If you think your customers won’t offer this information, you won’t know until you ask.
The important thing is to get as much credible information you can for your
testimonials. 10 mediocre testimonials are not nearly as effective as 3 great ones.
So, if fewer people say yes to offer their personal information, that’s just fine.
Action Plan:
Set up a questionnaire for your customers and offer them a gift of a valuable coupon or
sample in return for any feedback they provide. Even if you receive some negative
feedback, this is your opportunity to view it as constructive criticism and see how you
can improve your business.
So, there you have it one very effective way by which you can get effective testimonials
and the analysis of some effective and ineffective testimonials. Hope you can now
improve your next sales copy with proven testimonials. Your comments are highly
welcome.
Thanks for reading,
Paul
Resources:
Paul Adedoyin is a freelance blogger and freelance writer for hire who help small and
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