Generally used in the mid to late stages of the sales cycle, a client testimonial can go a long way toward closing the deal—especially if the client endorsing you is a heavy hitter in your industry. Not only can the sales team send testimonials directly to potential clients, but they are also noteworthy content for social media and email campaigns. And if you can manage to create a video testimonial, well that’s just pure gold. Mining for that gold can be challenging unless you have a plan in place to elicit glowing feedback. So how do you get amazing client testimonials full of credit-building quotes? Here is my go-to guide for how to get started...
Reach out to amazing clients. This one should be a no-brainer, but in order to get amazing client testimonials, you need to reach out to amazing clients. As much as some of your clients may be digging your product or solution, calling you to spill all the glorious details about why they love you is not likely at the top of their list—you have to be the one to reach out first. So make a list of your ideal clients. List those clients that are the perfect size you prefer working with, those that share the same corporate values as you and those that are just plain easy to do business with because you have a friendly working relationship.
Ask for what you want. Next, email or call your clients and explain that you value the relationship and would love to get honest feedback on your product or service. I’d also make it clear here that you intend to publish the feedback in the form of a testimonial for your marketing materials, just so the client knows what he or she is getting into on the front end. Some clients will have to first get approval from their marketing department to speak with you, but most are happy to share their thoughts. If they aren’t open to having their comments published with their name, you can always ask if you can attribute them to an anonymous source such as “Marketing Director, Fortune 500 Company in the Retail Technology Industry.” While it is ideal to accompany the quote with an actual client name, these types of white-label testimonials are still useful. And just a side note, if they happen to give you some feedback during the interview that is less than positive, just listen, take notes and pass it on to the appropriate department for follow-up.
Come up with a list of questions. I always like to have a list of questions ready to go. In many cases, I don’t have to formally ask all the questions on the list since the first few will usually get the conversation rolling. Though it is always a good idea to have a few zingers at the ready just in case the conversation stalls out. Try to think of the problems your solution solves for your client when you form your questions, or just straight up ask your client which problems the solution solves for them, how it does this and how has helped the business save time, improve ROI or lower costs. I also hit on all areas of the client experience—from why the company decided to go with your firm over others, to how the onboarding process went and the most beneficial features of the service. It is also a good idea to ask your contact if he or she can compare how things were operating before your solution came on the scene versus after. You can also follow up by asking if there are any relevant metrics to support any significant positive before and after comparisons. Sometimes there aren’t, but sometimes there are metrics available (score!) which can be a really awesome measure of ROI to include in your final testimonial piece. Finally, try to stay away from questions that will simply be met with a “yes” or “no.” Use open-ended questions with words and phrases such as, “how”, “why” and “Can you explain or describe?”
Send the questions ahead of time. I find most clients appreciate a heads up on the list of questions that will be asked. I explain that I don’t expect the answers to be completed ahead of time, but I’m just sending these along so you can start to formulate some thoughts and ideas. This also helps so that clients don’t stress over what you will be asking. I don’t give people a ton of time to think about the questions, however, as I have had that rare case where the client has scripted out their answers in a very non-exciting, formulaic sort of way—as if they were taking a test. Bottom line: give them the courtesy of seeing the questions ahead of time without giving them too much time to study.
Interview over the phone or in person. While not impossible to conduct a case study interview via email, I definitely prefer speaking with the client over the phone or in-person. It produces a more natural give-and-take when the format is a conversation, and the exchange will often yield additional details the client may not have thought to include. You can also ask follow-up questions to pull out more details, which is way easier (and faster!) than going back and forth over email five times.
Record the conversation—with permission. I don’t always have the time set aside to sit down and write a one-page client testimonial as soon as we hang up the phone. So I find it incredibly helpful to record the conversation so I can go back to it later and get the client’s exact words. Of course, you should let the client know that you are hoping to record the conversation for your own note-taking purposes at the start of the call, just to be respectful. I haven’t had anyone turn me down (yet!) if it is just for my own reference. Though if you’re planning to use the actual video or audio recording of the client, this is a must. In fact, I would write up a short consent form or get one from my legal department for the client to sign, making my intended uses of the recording completely clear before the interview takes place. This way everything is laid out on the front end and the client can have all appropriate parties sign off.
Feel free to edit. Most people appreciate having a skilled editor wordsmith their feedback to make them sound smarter. Don’t feel like you have to use everything your client says word-for-word. As long as the final product matches their original sentiment, I think it is more than okay to utilize more “flowery” or descriptive language when crafting your testimonial quote or story.
Let the client have the final word. The client should be given the opportunity to read what you have written or watch what you have recorded before anything goes live. This way he or she can make any final changes if you do happen to go overboard and possibly exaggerate a few things. Again, it is common for the client to get the firm’s marketing or legal team to “okay” everything before you get the green light to publish.
Use technology to build surveys and product validation statements. Testimonials don’t have to be limited to just a one-on-one interview. There are fabulous tools available to gather client responses, such as Survey Monkey and TechValidate. These tools allow you to create a survey, email it directly to your clients and then aggregate the results on the back end to generate meaningful statements and validations. It may be easier, in some cases, to convince clients to answer a survey request versus taking the time to schedule an interview where your individual contact’s words will be highlighted—like in the instance where client privacy or security is a concern, for example. And in the case of TechValidate, because a third-party is delivering the survey on your behalf, the final results could be viewed as more credible. Using digital survey tools like these, you could poll your client base on how much time they believe they are saving using your solution and provide multiple choice answer selections with percentage ranges. This is a creative way to quantify the benefits of your solution without the client having to actually track any metrics. Keep in mind, these validations and proof points will be more meaningful if you can gather responses from a large pool of clients —I think we can all agree, it just sounds better when you have 100 people who believe your solution saves them 50% more money versus saying five people think they are saving money.
Don’t forget the design. After you have written your amazing client testimonial, story or quote, don’t forget to create some killer graphics to go along with it. Ask for a headshot of the client and the corporate logo so your designer has some optical assets to work with when creating your one-pager or social media post. And, pro tip, you can always download headshots and logos from LinkedIn or the corporate website and then ask permission to use those images, just to save your clients a step. Adding these visual elements can help deliver the final punch your text or video needs to stand out.
Do you have some amazing client testimonials in your content library? What tips or tricks did you use to get that feedback?
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