Leverage Your Customers Through Testimonials and Social Proof
One of the best ways to create buzz, generate more content, and soothe the fear of buying in those who are newer to your offers is to get more testimonials from happy customers and to expand your social proof.
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Social proof is a concept that you need to prove to your newer audience members that you are someone with knowledge, experience, and authority in your niche and that you can be trusted. It is signaled by how many people follow you, how many people share your quotes, and how many people are willing to say good things about you.
You can encourage social proof by tapping into your current customers to ask for testimonials, and you can also incentivize them to spread the word about your offers. Let’s look at a few ways to make this work in a seamless manner without having to remember to do it all the time.
Get People on Your Email List
One of the things you really want to do is try to get more people on your list and stay on your email list. Customers should already be on your list, and they should be segmented from those who have not purchased. Further segmenting based on the products they’ve bought from you will help make the list work better. This list will be used to generate more testimonials.
Set Up Your Autoresponder
Every time you create a product or freebie, set up the autoresponder for that product or freebie to generate a request for feedback and testimonial after they’ve had enough time to use the product and solve their problems. It can be part of a series of other emails that incentivize them to use your solution.
Cross-Promote Your Social Networks
When people do respond to your ask for a testimonial, you’ll want to cross-promote what they say on your site and on social media. A good practice is to add the new testimonial to your website, create a blog post about their story, ask them for an interview to get some video, and if appropriate, make a big deal about it.
Call Out Compliments Openly
If someone gives you a compliment without you asking for it, always ask them if it’s okay if you quote them. If you have requested, and they complied, call them out on social media for being so lovely. Screenshot what they said, add a picture of them if you can, link to their site, and be happy about it. Most people will be thrilled to be noticed.
Incentivize Them
Another way to get more testimonials and buzz about your offers is to incentive your customers to promote you more. Host a “What You Love About Me” contest. Substitute “me” with the product that you want them to review, refer to, and provide a testimonial for. The contest can be something like a 30-second video explaining why you love “me.” They should promote the video, and the one that gets the most likes is the winner. They can win something like a gift card, brownies from Send Out Cards, or something from your business like a free coaching package or free product.
Try adding all these ideas to your marketing plans now. You’ll want to get the info set up in your autoresponder for every single product or freebie so that you can generate more testimonials and user-generated content that helps dispel fear and boost your credibility in exceptional ways.
