I tend to be a skeptical consumer. I see so much marketing hype these days it's becoming more and more difficult to discern what's real and what's fabricated, and I've found that to be especially true when it comes to buying products and services online. However, reading testimonials from other satisfied customers helps in my buying decision many times. As a service business owner, requesting testimonials from satisfied clients is one of the quickest ways you can start to establish trust with your online visitors. Why? Because it's not just you touting how wonderful you are -- it's other people stating how happy they were with your product or service and how its use changed their lives for the better. Testimonials create credibility, believability, and a sense of security for prospective customers when they visit your site, as they then know that others have successfully used your product or service. As a side benefit, requesting testimonials from happy clients creates increased loyalty to …show more content…
Request specific results. Effective testimonials go beyond the "Working with you was great!", which really tells the reader very little, to a longer statement with specific information about specific outcomes the client received as a result of working with you or using your product. They could use a "before and after"scenario to paint a more dramatic picture of how effective they found your product or service to be. Or, simply incorporating the five Ws (Who, What, Where, When, and Why) that describe their dealings with you is also an incredibly effective way to write a testimonial. 3. Keep it short yet powerful. No one has time to read a testimonial that goes on forever. Three or four sentences is optimal for an effective testimonial. It should be one that will quickly grab your reader and deliver a powerful punch. Your clients will appreciate knowing that you value a short testimonial--it takes much less of their time and doesn't seem like such a major hassle to