You’ve probably seen testimonials on people’s sales pages, those glowing recommendations for you to buy or try this or that product.
But do you dread that section when you design your own sales page?
If you haven’t made any sales, how can you get testimonials?
The Importance of Social Proof
People have lost faith in the online industry with its over-hyped and exaggerated claims. Most people know that those who can afford it have the biggest advertising budgets but don’t necessarily have the best products.
As a result, more and more people are relying on the recommendations of their peers to guide their buying decisions. Often, these are complete strangers.
Think of sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp, focusing on the travel and food industries, where many people look for an opinion before booking. The same thing is happening in all industries and business sectors.
Social media also plays a big part in this. If your best friend recommends a good restaurant to you, then you’re likely to go. And these days, many people’s “best friends” are on Facebook and Twitter.
When it comes to advertising your digital product, you can sing its praises day and night, but it’s much more powerful for your past clients to share their positive experiences with prospective students.
How to Get Social Proof
This obviously depends on where you are in your business life and what your experience of selling has been up to now.
- If you’ve beta tested this course, ask those who tested it to write you a testimonial.
- If you sell other digital products, get the feedback from those.
- Ask customers who have bought other products to write about you and your company
- Use testimonials from other parts of your work if you can make it relevant
- Ask for comments on social media
- Take comments made about your blogs on the subject
#truthtalk It’s about the experience of working with you more than your digital product.
But, I’m new at this!
It’s unlikely you’re a complete newbie, if you’re still reading this! But if you are, then ask a friend or relative to trial your product and write something.
Consider other ways to showcase your experience from other areas of your life:
“I am the bestselling author of XXX”
“I have 30 years’ experience getting XXX results for clients”
“I’ve done this work in corporate for XX years before my business with much success”
Final Tips
- When sourcing testimonials, ask people to make a video. It has more impact than a written recommendation.
- If you can’t get a video, then include a head shot of the person to add a human touch.
Add in their name, location, and URL if they have a business, to increase their reliability. Of course, get their permission first.