Big Ticket Marketing Tools - Testimonials

Another extremely valuable tool in our Big Ticket Marketing toolkit is the use of testimonials.

First, What Is A Testimonial?

Dictionary.com has the following definitions:

• A statement in support of a particular truth, fact, or claim.
• A written affirmation of another's character or worth; a personal recommendation.
• Something given in appreciation of a person's service or achievement; a tribute.

All of these are accurate, but a testimonial in the marketing sense is simply a recommendation of you, your business, or a specific product that you provided. 

We’re going to talk about testimonials from a Big Ticket Marketing viewpoint in this article:

• What Makes A Great Testimonial
• How To Get Testimonials
• Where To Use Testimonials
• Why You MUST Use Testimonials In Your Big Ticket Marketing
• Why People Give Testimonials

But the most important factor about a testimonial is that it…

…should be given freely by someone who knows you, has done business with you or owns one of your products and had great results by using it.

Ok, First What Makes A Great Testimonial?

• The testimonial should be real.  Don’t make up testimonials! Even if you currently don’t have any for your product or service, right now.  It’s dishonest and if people find out you will lose your credibility and your reputation. No one will buy from you.
  
• Testimonials should be as specific as possible.  Let’s look at two examples:
  
  Example #1
  
  Your product rocks!
      -A.G. United States
  
  Example #2
  
  “I bought the Perpetual Money Stream Home Study course from Jody Foster of Cash Cow, Inc. in December of 2004.  I listened to the DVDs and CDs and made extensive notes as I went through the course.  Each month, I took just 2 ideas from Jody’s course and applied them to my online marketing business. And what a difference 8 months makes.  I went from making only around $200 per month to making over $2000.00 per month.  Get the Perpetual Money Stream Home Study course from Jody.  It helped me and it can help you too!”
      -Augusta Gorman, Portland, Oregon, USA
        http://www.mywidgets.com
  
  Note: Both testimonials above are completely fictional.  I made the names of the people, companies, courses and websites up.
  
  I’m sure you’ll agree that although Example #1 is a testimonial, Example #2 is so much better.
  
  In Example #2 the both the product and the company that offers it are mentioned.  The person writing the testimonial tells explicitly the type of business they bought the product to help them in, what the results were and how they were able to do it.  They signed their full name and where they were from and also their website.  The testimonial has quotes around it indicating it is being stated just as the person original did.
  
  Because this testimonial is so much more specific, it gives a lot of credibility to both the person giving it and to the product and company it endorses.
  
• The best testimonials include pictures of the people supplying the testimonial.  If you can getting an audio or video testimonial is even better.  You can have the audio or video testimonial transcribed from it and placed below the audio or video testimonial.  Having pictures with testimonials or audio and video testimonials are better because they are more convincing.  Readers of your sales message can actually see and hear what others thought about your product.  Some studies show that adding audio and video to a sales message can increase the number of people who buy your product. (i.e.. your conversion ratio is higher)
  
• The testimonials are in the words of the person giving the testimonial.  Don’t edit testimonials except if you have to shorten them.  Leave any typos exactly as they were provided.  These are even more compelling in their own way because the people buying can see that this is a real person giving the testimonials. Real people make mistakes too :-)

How Do You Get Testimonials?

• Ask! If you already have customers for your product you can simply ask them if they would be willing to share their experience with others.  Many people are happy to do this.
• If you have a customer followup sequence of emails that you send out to everyone who buys your product, you can include an email asking if they would be willing to provide a testimonial for you.  Make it easy for them by providing a toll free number to call or just an easy form on the internet to provide the details.
• If you are launching a new product you can give a small number of the product away for free or sell the product at a special price if the buyer agrees to give you a testimonial if they love your product.
• If you are trying to get a celebrity to endorse your product you may have to pay them.  But even if you pay them, spend some time finding someone who you think reflects the values of your business and product and they will actually use your product.
• In the direct and internet marketing field you might get testimonials from the “big names” by sending them a copy of your product for free.  You should already be planning to do this anyway as part of your joint venture marketing plans.  If they think your product is great and they are going to joint venture with you they will gladly provide you with a testimonial or at least endorse your product when they mail to their lists as part of your joint venture.
• If you are doing a live event that you are recording to turn into an information product or home study system, its best to ask people for testimonials before they leave the event.  Get them while they have a clear feeling about the event and can remember more specific details. Try to get video and audio testimonials since you already have the equipment right at the event.

Where Do You Use Testimonials?

• You should definitely have testimonials for your product on your sales page.  Some people like to lead with a testimonial immediately after the headline and sub-headline.  Other testimonials can be spread out throughout your sales copy.  If the testimonials are short, have them intermixed between chunks of copy.  If you have a special area just for testimonials then include a bunch of the best ones in that area.  In all cases, make the testimonials stand out from the copy in some specific way.  Many people put a box around each testimonial and change the background color.  They then use this same format for every testimonial
• You can use testimonials in email.  If you have a series of messages that followup with a prospect even before they make a purchase you can include a testimonial as part of each email.  Maybe at the start, middle or end.  It’s best to be consistent in the same series of messages
• If you broadcast messages to your list during a specific marketing campaign, its great to include messages that contain nothing but what other people had to say about the product you are promoting.
• If you have a blog and you have testimonials about you specifically or for products that you advertise on your blog you can have testimonials for each on your blog
• If you have a huge number of testimonials you can consider putting some of the best ones in your sales letter, email, blog and then have a link that launches a separate window that contains the many pages of testimonials you have collected if people are interested in reading them

Why You MUST Use Testimonials In Your Big Ticket Marketing!

• People are naturally skeptical. Especially with Big Ticket Items with a higher price tag.  They might be willing to take a chance on a $17 e-book but not on an item that costs $500 or more.
• Just because you say your product is great and you tell customers exactly the benefits they will get it’s still YOU telling them.  Testimonials are from independent, other real people who have used and loved your product.  So now its not just YOU saying your product is great, other people are saying it too!
• We are all bombarded by advertising and sales messages in different mediums all the time.  Its easy to ignore a plain sales message. But if other people say that your product was the solution to their problems, then customers with the same problem are going to pay attention. 
• Adding testimonials to a sales letter with no other changes has been shown to turn more prospects into buyers
• Just having testimonials shows that you have built a relationship with those customers.  And since you trying to build a relationship with new customers this helps build their trust.  Remember, customers have to now you, like you and trust you before they will buy anything.

And finally, Why Do People Give Testimonials?

• Many people like to share their experiences because it makes them feel good and because they hope that their experience can help some else solve the same problem by doing what they did.
• Testimonials are a form of free advertising for the person that supplies the testimonial because they usually include that person’s name and their website.  But they need to think your product is great too because their reputation is on the line if they endorse it

A Couple Final Tips On Testimonials:

• Always get permission to use someone’s testimonial
• When asking for a testimonial be very specific about what you are looking for.  Tell them to be specific about the product or event and what they got out of it. How did it help their business financially or otherwise?  Make sure you get their full name, their city, state and country.  Make sure you get their website.  You don’t want to tell them what to say but you do need to give them guidelines about what to include.

That’s it for testimonials and why they are a great Big Ticket Marketing Tool.  I hope you enjoyed the article!

Copyright (C) 2005 Chuck Daniel, Like Magic Marketing, LLC -- All Rights Reserved.


-Chuck

Chuck is a former Microsoft software designer and program manager who spent more than a decade happily working on Email and CRM. Admittedly a seminar, workshop and information addict, Chuck left Microsoft to pursue his interests in personal development, internet, direct and information marketing and to promote and work for charitable causes.

Chuck Daniel
Would You Like to Make BIG Bucks
With BIG Ticket Items Online?
http://www.bigtickethomestudy.com
http://www.bigticketblog.com


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