Testimonials are an important part of any sales process. They are a form of social proof, which may help buyers trust a you more. Although some people have become suspicious of testimonials, they can still be extremely important in convincing other people to buy.

But getting testimonials can be difficult. In general, people are bit lazy in this regard, and don’t usually provide feedback unless it’s negative, or unless you ask for it.

You shouldn’t offer money as an incentive for people to offer testimonials, because then they become “paid testimonials.” People tend to distrust testimonials that people are paid for, because prospects know that some people are perfectly willing to lie about a product if they’re paid to do it.

Instead, you could offer some small token of your appreciation, just as a “thank you” to those who take the time to write a testimonial for you. It might be a free report, a link from your site to theirs within the testimonial box, or a coupon for 10% off their next order with you.

As long as you’re not offering cash, most people won’t feel you’re being dishonest to get your testimonials. It’s not that they don’t really want to offer one if they like the product, it’s just that they don’t think about it. Those that do think about it will often put it off “until later” and then forget about it.

So make sure you ask your customers for their testimonials. You could ask them on your “thank you” page. You could ask them again on the last page of your product, or at the end of each audio or video file.

You could ask them in a follow-up email. “Hi, I just wanted to find out how you’re enjoying XYZ Product. Is it working out for you? If you haven’t done so already, I’d really appreciate it if you could send me your thoughts on the product – I may even use it as a testimonial with a link back to your website! It’ll only take five minutes of your time, and I’ll send you a free bonus report as my thanks for taking the time to do this for me.”

Be sure to ask people if you can include their real name in the testimonial, or if you should use their initials. Some people don’t want to have their real name anywhere on the Internet, and others don’t mind at all. You might also want to ask for a picture, if appropriate.

Some people have a tendency to trust testimonials more if they include a picture, because it seems more like a real person wrote the testimonial. Although some dishonest marketers might just steal photos to use for testimonials, don’t give in to that temptation.

Audio and video testimonials are great if you can convince your customers to call in an audio testimonial or email you the video file, but this is harder to obtain since many won’t be versed in more advanced technology. If you can make it easy enough for them to give you these kinds of testimonials, you’ll be glad you did.

Stay tuned for another marketing tip real soon, and good luck with your online marketing efforts!

To your online success,
Bill Brine
Home Small Business Coaching

P.S. Here’s another great resource I created to help you build your business:

Learn How To Generate A Flood Of Targeted Hungry Traffic To Any Website