the anatomy of an effective testimonial distr

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

medium sized businesses bond with their audience using power of the written word to

increase their profits.

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