Testimonials. How to write them? How to ask for them in the first place? Do testimonials and email marketing go together? Is there even a way to automate the whole thing?!
You see - we're rubbish at asking for testimonials. It makes us feel grubby. So we don't do it enough. But we should, and we've finally convinced the awesome Monica Snyder, CEO and Founder of Birdsong.co to come and share her secrets with us.
You're going to want to take some notes here because Monica gives us the exact questions you need to ask your customers to collect testimonials on autopilot so you can make more sales in your business.
Ready?
SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
(2:59) Did Monica throw up in a helicopter or did Kennedy make that up?
(5:09) Why do testimonials even matter?
(5:54) When should we ask for testimonials?
(8:10) What are the triggers for requesting testimonials?
(9:49) How to ask for a testimonial as part of an automated email sequence.
(11:39) How to ask your customers for permission to share their story.
(13:37) How to deal with negative feedback and turn your customers into raving fans.
(15:48) The 7 questions you should ask to get awesome testimonials.
(17:57) So they gave you a testimonial. What's next?
(20:08) Subject line of the week with Monica Snyder.
Why do testimonials even matter?
We all know testimonials are important. They are social proof.
Most of us think we can rock up, create a product, put it on sale, have a bunch of people buying it, and then come back and rave about how awesome you are. But by now you probably know it just doesn't work like that. Truth is, people are more likely to say something about your product if they're unhappy and want to complain. They rarely come forward with the good, juicy stuff. Unless you ask them.
But, as Monica says, it's our job as course creators to collect social proof. And testimonials are the strongest proof. So we've got to find ways to engineer a process that will give us awesome testimonials from our raving customers.
When should we ask for testimonials?
So let's say you've created a course. When's a good time to ask for a testimonial? At the end, right?
Wrong.
Because let's face it - sadly, a lot of people don't even make it to the end of the course!
But Monica has another way. A much better way!
And it's this. You've got to engineer some sort of win early on in the course. It doesn't have to be the final big hurray - it could just be a moment of clarity or a small win. As soon as people get that dopamine hit when they get their first result from your course, that's when they're happy to leave you a great testimonial. So make sure you build some sort of accomplishment early on in your course, celebrate it, and then ask for the testimonial.
But how do we do it?
Ask your customers to give you feedback
Interesting thing is, Monica doesn't actually call them testimonials. She asks her customers for feedback.
Once her customers experience their first win, she sends an email out as part of her welcoming sequence to explain how to use the course to ask them to leave feedback.
People get then taken to a landing page with a smiley face and a sad face, just like at the airport! If they click on the happy face, they're invited to share their story. If they click on the sad face, there's where they have a chance to leave their feedback. And Monica has a chance to take that on board and fix it.
Simple, right?
How to ask your customers if you can share their story
But what happens when it's time for Monica to re-write and craft those...
