How to get them, how to use them

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How to get them

Ask. It can be that simple.

• Ask when you complete a project for a customer. When they say how pleased they are, ask if you can use their name on your web site. If they email you a compliment, ask if you can quote them.
• Ask long-time customers. Call each up and ask if they would provide a testimonial for your web site.

Determine the text. You’re asking them to do you a favor—help them out!  Draft the text yourself, based on remarks they’ve made to you,  or what they’ve written to you, or on what they’ve posted on your LinkedIn page.  It’s OK to reword it: perhaps you want to shorten it, lengthen it, make it more specific (from “She did a great job!” to “She did a great job on our bathroom remodel!”), or change a tense or pronoun (“They did a great job on our bathroom remodel!”)

(Believe me, well over half of all the quotes you read in the media—that SoAndSo said such-and-such— were not written by SoAndSo. Someone else drafted the text, showed it to SoAndSo, who agreed, “Yeah, OK, I’ll say that.”)

Agree upon the attribution. If someone agrees to compliment you and your business, they must stand behind what they’re saying. First names are mandatory, full names are better.

• Avoid vague attributions such as “Happy in Danville,” “Satisfied Client in Oakland,” or “Student at Cal.”
• Use significant qualifiers: If you’re a restaurateur, you want to mention that a testimonial is from “Diego Morris, food critic“!

How to use them

You do not have to have testimonials on your web site. The fact that you remain in business means you have satisfied customers out there. Not posting testimonials doesn’t mean you lack happy clients.

Testimonials on your website are the garnish, not the entrée. Testimonials influence, but do not make the sale. Therefore,  when they appear on your site, they should not get in the way of the reader learning about you and your products and services.

You can post testimonials in one of several places on your site:

• On your portfolio page, showing what you did per customer with that customer’s response.
• On your services page, showing what types of projects you undertake, with comments from customers for whom you’ve done that type of project.
• All on one page. If you’re going to use one page dedicated solely to testimonials, you must have at least six (less that that looks kinda pathetic).  The maximum is 12-15 (more than that is overkill).  Regularly change the order in which they appear, so readers will see testimonials they hadn’t noticed before.

Of course, add new ones and retire old ones. Just how old a testimonial can you use? If the customer was speaking about a service or product you still deliver, there is no statute of limitations.

One final point:  Give testimonials to the professionals you retain, when you’re pleased with their work.