As consumers rely more and more on online searches to learn about different products and services, online reviews for your business can have a huge impact on your overall sales.
Google reports that 70% of the American market look at product reviews before making a purchase, Australia is no different.
This shows that making sure you have testimonials and useful ones are an important part of your marketing strategy.
When you visit a website you often go to the Praise or Testimonial page to see what others have said about the product or service, to help you determine whether to purchase or not.
Nowadays there are two key problems with testimonials. First, overuse, where there are too many on a page for them to be of value. Second they don’t sound authentic and are too verbose to be believable.

So what makes a testimonial great, how do you get one and how do you ensure they add real value to a prospective customer?

These 10 tips ensure you get powerful testimonials.

The 5 questions you ask to get a powerful testimonial are:

1. Before you started working with my product / services / me, what concerns might have prevented you from buying this product? Everyone is skeptical before making a purchase, on at least some level. By recognizing that skepticism and embracing that doubt, the reader can identify with the testimonial. He or she reads how someone else was concerned about the very same thing they’re concerned about, and now they’re interested in finding out what made that person overcome those concerns. Powerful stuff!
2. What did you find as a result of using this service / buying this product / hiring this person? This prompts your client to  think about the results they have experienced as a result of using you. Very compelling for prospects to read.
3. What specific feature did you like most about this service / product / working with this person?(a feature is a factual statement about the product or service.) This gets the customer to focus on a feature of your business that was appealing / attractive / engaging.
4. What would be 2 or 3 benefits about this product or service. A benefit differs from a feature in that is describes how the feature is useful and meaningful to the customer. Each customer may find a feature beneficial if varying ways. Which is great as it allows a diverse range of people an opportunity to relate.  Another way to understand what a benefit is, it answers the questions “What’s in it for me?”.
5. What results have you seen since using this service, buying this product, working with me?

Ensure your testimonial satisfies these 5 criteria to be real, specific and meaningful to your customer.

1. Real: Too often they sound like a copywriter has written them. To personalize and authenticate the testimonial use a photo of the customer. Try to keep the testimonials as close to the author’s tone as possible. In other words, prove your customer testimonials are real up front so there is no room for doubt for those reading them.
2. Measurable: Add meaning to your customer testimonials by putting hard numbers in them whenever possible. If customers talk about the amount of money or time they saved by doing business with you, use the exact figures in their testimonials where possible.
3. Specific: Prospects want to know specifics of what’s in it for them if they use your business. Customer testimonials add no value unless they give prospective consumers a reason to care about them, something to relate to. Solves a similar problem. Vague testimonials, such as “It was great to do business with XYZ,” provide nothing of value to prospective customers.
4. Diverse: Not only is it useful to obtain customer testimonials from a diverse audience your prospective customers can relate to, but it also helps in terms of keeping your testimonials meaningful. Additionally, if you offer a range of services, gain a testimonial from customers of each service.
5. Approved: Goes without saying, always obtain approval and written permission to use any customer’s testimonial, name or likeness in your marketing and business materials.

Ask these questions and make sure the answers satisfy these 5 criteria and you will get powerful testimonials that are meaningful and will help you win new customers.