What I’m about to reveal to you can be shocking. It may even turn your entire marketing education upside down…
But once you realize these blunders and use them to your advantage, you will be able to take your sales to the next level.
I’m talking about having “testimonials” or customer’s comments on your website.
They’re a great selling tool, right?
Yes, but only when used under the right circumstances in the correct way. I can’t emphasize that more.
What do I mean?
The worse thing any Internet marketer can do is to come up with false testimonials. That is cheating and downright wrong. In the USA, coming up with fake testimonials is also a crime punishable by law.
So no matter what, even if you’re desperate, do not do it!
The 2nd thing they can do is to steal testimonials from others. Because I surf around a lot, I have seen countless sites directly lifting testimonials off their competitor’s websites, changing the names and calling it their own.
Now imagine this for a moment… What will happen if your potential customers happen to come across both sites at once? What will they think of YOUR company and YOUR products?
The 3rd thing some people do is to cut and paste testimonials. They see a testimonial which is well written on someone else’s site, take it, change a few words and call them their own…
Fake testimonials will never sell because your readers are smart. Just because testimonials are great selling tools doesn’t mean that everyone will be taken in by them.
In fact, red flags start appearing in our minds when we see a large bunch of testimonials without supporting website addresses. Or when we come across something that looks remotely similar to the one found at another website.
In other words, we know.
A few weeks ago I came across a product which captured my attention. They had a good sales letter up and a whole bunch of testimonials.
Then when I began to read the testimonials in detail and closely, I realized that they looked dubiously similar to those found at another website.
I keyed in some of the website owner’s addresses in my address bar and they all turned out to be invalid.
Needless to say, I left the site immediately.
Yes, testimonials are great selling tools. But whatever you do, make sure you’re not…
1) Fabricating
2) Copying or
3) Modifying
them from someone else’s website! Solicit for testimonials the right way and always seek to over deliver. If you do so, all the good stuff will come in naturally.
If you are sitting on a pile of customers at the moment, send them an email right now! Ask them for testimonials, comments or feedback and accept all of them graciously.
Even the most negative of feedbacks can serve as a learning experience so be thankful for them. Don’t dismiss them immediately.
Are you putting all this into action?
By the way, if you’re going to include testimonials on your website… Make them as strong as possible. Don’t include wimpy testimonials that only come with initials — Use your customer’s full name and location wherever possible!
In my next article I’m going to give you 10 powerful tips for writing testimonials!
Yeo Feng is the author of Website Weapons (http://www.WebsiteWeapons.com), a guide which reveals 22 secrets for making any website sell like crazy.
He is also a highly sought after direct response copywriter and technology marketer.
