Have you ever wondered how to get amazing customer testimonials that have potential clients excited to work with you? Today I’m sharing five tips for great testimonials on your website.

 

The Post-Experience Survey

When I wrap up a client’s services, I always send out a post-experience survey. I usually do this about one month after their launch. I want to make sure that everything is going smoothly and they’ve had some time to reflect on their experience before sharing their thoughts. Asking for a testimonial too soon can come off as smug or sales-y, but on the other hand, you don’t want to wait too long and risk that they have forgotten key parts of their experience. One month is a good sweet spot.

I recommend creating your own post-experience survey in order to have some control over what kind of testimonials you are getting. Here are my tips for ensuring your testimonials stand out and help convert potential clients to paying customers.

 

Get Better Client Testimonials

 

1. Keep it legal

First things first- ensure that you are obtaining and using testimonials legally. For small business owners, this means two main things. First, don’t copy reviews from external sites like Yelp or Google. Some of those sites explicitly forbid it, and it’s just not cool to repost your client’s words without their permission. Second, make sure you do have permission to share any kind words your clients share with you. Just because they sent you an excited thank you email does not mean they consent for their words to be used on your website! At the end of my post-experience survey, I have a checkbox for clients to agree that I can share their words and image on my website and social media.

 

2. Encourage Emotion

A great testimonial makes an emotional connection with the reader. Encourage your past clients to share how their experience with you felt. This can vary depending on your industry, and can even reference specific points in your client experience, for example, “What was your reaction when you first saw your wedding flowers?”

 

3. Talk Results

Potential clients want to see that your services will get them the results they desire. For a customer-facing business, like wedding calligraphy, you might ask something like: “In what ways did your wedding invitations meet or exceed your expectations?” If you serve other business owners, you might ask: “How have my services impacted your booking rates?”

 

4. Paraphrase

Remember, people don’t read on the web! You may cry tears of happiness if your client writes three paragraphs about how amazing you are, but your potential clients are going to skip over all that amazingness. Instead, pull out a few key sentences. It’s also great to edit for clarity, spelling, and grammar. This is legal as long as you are not changing the content of what they are saying, though it’s always good to cover your bases, so I add in my post-experience questionnaire and option for my clients to pick if they do not want their words altered in any way.

 

5. Use Images

On your site, it’s great practice to include an image of the happy couple along with their testimonial. This helps create an emotional connection with the reader and makes that testimonial seem more personal. I include a space in my post-experience survey for clients to upload a headshot they’d like me to include, but wedding vendors, you should use the professional wedding photos!

If you don’t already have a post-experience survey, try writing one with these tips in mind. If you already have some sort of client survey, consider how you can make it work for you to get better testimonials!

 

Are client testimonials a pain point for you? What’s your process for asking for them?