If you’re reading this, you probably already know that social proof (a la testimonials) is major for copywriting success. You know testimonials are necessary. But do you know that they can – and should – help:

  • Boost your credibility in general
  • Highlight the types of people buying your product
  • Showcase the various locations of people using your solution
  • Give a personal face to an otherwise faceless business
  • Borrow the authority or street cred of the testimonial provider
  • Reinforce delighters & reasons to believe in your company
  • Stomp down objections
  • Add an emotional layer to your sales strategy
  • Trigger ‘herd behavior’ (i.e., “if all these people are doing it, maybe I should, too”)

Do your testimonials do any of the above?

If they don’t, what are they doing on the page?

(Remember that every letter of copy on your page is taking up valuable real estate… so it needs to prove its worth or high-tail it home. That means your testimonials need to support your argument… or you need to scrap them.)

In this edition of Copy Talk, I address the above points and also talk about 9 ways to get more out of your testimonials.

I know it can be really hard to be critical of your testimonials.

But the cold, hard truth is that, if you want your testimonials to be more effective than simply showing that you have a handful of satisfied users, you should start getting critical with them.

Know what you want from a testimonial, and ask your customers for them.

Ask.

If your customers give you testimonials that don’t meet the objectives above, go back to them with revisions or requests for them to make a tweak or two. Remind them that you’re a small business and that their testimonial can do amazing things for your business, and they’ll not only be more likely to give you one – but they’ll also feel really good about doing so.

Happy writing,
Joanna