Word of mouth is a marketing technique that never goes out of style. Even in the digital age, there are few things that are more effective at bringing you more business.
In other words, people trust their friends, colleagues, and family more than their ads, blogs, or resumes. And rightly so, since loved ones have nothing to gain by lying to you (while companies themselves have a big reason called “money”).
Maintaining good customer relationships and getting good reviews is important in virtually any line of work, but this is especially the case for freelancers. When you work for yourself, testimonials can make or break your success. Your reputation is your greatest asset, so be sure to grow a good one!
Here are five ways to get the testimonials you need so that customers come to you.
1. Go above and beyond
The best way to make sure your customers remember your name is to give them an unforgettable experience when working with you. There are two types of people who like to leave comments: people who have had a bad experience and who have enough, and people who have had an exceptional experience and are so impressed that they can not wait to recommend you.
Customers who are in between will probably not talk to their friends. So, do not aim for “adequate.” Aim “incredible !!”
2. Be friendly
Professionalism is key in a customer-freelancer relationship but do not become obsessed with keeping your interactions “strictly commercial” as you miss the opportunity of a personal connection.
Your customers will be much more likely to pass on your name if they like you; it’s only human!
3. Do not be afraid to ask
A gentle request can do a lot to keep you at the top of your client’s mind. Just ask if they know anyone else who needs your type of service, and if they do, tell them they are welcome to send your contact information.
If you have a website with a page for reviews, or if you are connected with your client on LinkedIn, you can also request written testimonials from them.
4. Know how to ask
Be polite, friendly, professional… and concise. Do not share with a long rambling message about how you eat Ramen for two weeks and you need new customers and it will only take two minutes to write a review. Crowding makes you look desperate, and despair is a failure.
our message may be as simple as, “Hi, John, I really enjoyed working with you in the last month. If you hear of someone else looking for a [insert relevant career here], feel free to point them out in my own way!
5. Know when to ask
The best time to request a good evaluation of your client is at the end of a project you are working on. At that time, they will be quite familiar with your skills and personality that their testimony may be accurate and authentic, but it will not be so far away that they have forgotten who you are. Ask for testimonials before you need testimonials!
If your client recently mentioned that he is overwhelmed with work, be courteous and wait a bit before asking for his time.
6. YouTube Video Reviews
What is stronger than a text based review? How about a video of your customer talking about how your products or services have helped them? Encourage your fans to add videos to their own YouTube account and let you know the link. You can add these videos to your channel as Favorites and create a playlist of customer reviews.
You can also keep a Flip camera in your office / store and film reviews on the fly to add to your own YouTube channel. If you have a strong YouTube channel to begin with, people will be happy to be featured on it in exchange for their thoughts.
7. Local Search Directories
Local search directories such as Google Places, Yahoo Local, Yelp, Merchant Circle, and CitySearch allow members of their networks to write reviews about local businesses. If you have great reviews on these sites, you should share them on your testimonials page as well.
Why would you want to steer your customers to writing reviews on these sites as opposed to writing a testimonial directly from your site? Simple. If you are trying to get Google search traffic to your local business, you would want your business to come up in the search with the most reviews.
8. Google Alerts and Social Mentions
Last, but not least, there is likely a ton of customer reviews that are written about your company on other sites, such as personal blogs, that are unsolicited. Setup daily notifications via email on Google Alerts and Social Mention for a variety of applicable terms in order to keep track of brand mentions, including your name, business name, brand, and specific product names plus the word review.
How to get effective testimonials and make them visible!
Collect your testimonials
You have 2 possible ways to get a testimonial from your customers:
– Whether your client answers a few questions, but in these cases, limit them:
- Your situation before working with me/us?
- How did you feel?
- What is your situation after working with me/us?
- How do you feel today?
As we told you in our post on the types of testimonials that really serve to sell, always ask your client to answer you in the most concrete way possible. In terms of specific results: increase in the number of sales, percentage of sales, in addition, number of prospects in addition, improvement of its quality of life etc.
Because the risk is that your customers write to you in the same way that they speak. And you end up with very nice testimonials of the type “You are fantastic, I loved your services” but which will not serve you! Because, again, we do not need a declaration of love, but a demonstration Result!
The more your testimony is concrete (results-oriented), the more impact it will have on its reader.
– Whether your client answers a satisfaction questionnaire (survey type):
The benefit of the satisfaction survey is that you do not directly ask your client for a testimonial. They will answer you more freely. And you will ask them only the testimony in a 2nd time, by extrapolating the answers to the questionnaire that they made you! Take out a few good sentences and ask your client if he allows you to use these sentences as a testimony (including the text you are referring to).
Make them visible on your site!
You can then create a page dedicated to your testimonials on your site. Know that you will never get too much! Better still if you accompany them with practical cases, illustrating the problems of your customers in the form of “business case” type before/after (with the concrete results obtained after).
In the same way, do not forget to insert 2 or 3 testimonials on the key pages of your site, like your sales page, your home and your About or Contact page.
Automate your request for testimonials
If possible, consider automating your testimonial request at the end of the service for your client. In the same way, as all major brands do once you have purchased on their site asking for your opinion.
In general, be aware that the more you let the relationship with your client get colder and the more you wait to ask for your testimony, the more difficult it will be to get it! On the other hand, it is important that your service is still “fresh” in the mind of your client so that it can give you concrete information on its results.
Always taking inspiration from big brands, think of highlighting your best sales on your site. For example, put a category of the type “our best sellers” on a dedicated page or on your side column. We are all like that without wanting to, when we see that many people are doing something, we want to do the same thing!
Conclusion
Usually, if your client has had a good experience, he will be happy to pass on your name or write a review.
Once they do, do not forget to thank them right away.
If word-of-mouth is working and you get a new client, you could even send a second thank you note after a month or two. Again, go short and sweet: “Hi, John, I just wanted to thank you once again for recommending me to Sarah, I loved designing her website and she’s a pleasure to work with. Alright!”
In the end, testimonials are the perfect way to sell you without any extra effort on your part, so feel free to ask for them. Not everyone will say yes, but you will not know it until you have tried it. If you would like to see real testimonies of best digital marketing companies then visit TopXListing, where you can find professional that satisfied their customers to obtain genuine testimonials.
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