Client Testimonials in 2023

How often do you collect client testimonials?

Oh sure, you know they’re important and you know you should be asking for them. But if you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’re busy! Asking for a client testimonial feels like an optional step in your process.

That’s where you’re wrong (if you want to continue growing your business, at least).

Client testimonials and reviews can have a massive impact on your bottom line. According to research:

• Ratings and reviews have become a prime source of information for shoppers on their path to purchase: 95% of consumers reported consulting customer reviews (Power-Reviews)
• The purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews is 270% greater than the purchase likelihood of a product with no reviews (Medill Spiegel Research Center)
• Reviews have a greater impact on purchase likelihood for higher-priced items than cheaper ones—reviews for a lower-priced product increased conversion by 190% and reviews for a higher-priced product increased conversion by 380% (Medill Spiegel Research Center)

So what does all that research mean to you? It means that potential new leads are actively searching for your client testimonials before they decide to make a purchase. It also means having testimonials for your higher-ticket services can play a big role in converting leads to actual buyers.

How to get meaningful client testimonials

But it’s not just about eliciting a 5-second sound byte from clients. Not all testimonials are created equal.

Take a look at these 2 examples from Donald Miller, author of Building a Story Brand:

Testimonial #1

“I love my new haircut, thanks!”

While this is a positive review, it’s not very meaningful.

Testimonial #2

“I have felt frumpy and self-conscious about my hair for years. But then I found Julie here at Ooh La La. OMG. She totally gets how to make me look my best, and I get compliments all the time! But the best thing is that I feel absolutely gorgeous every day. THANK YOU!“

This second review is both positive and inspirational to the reader. It describes a more detailed scenario that a potential client is more likely to identify and engage with.

But how do you get your happy clients to write better testimonials for you?

The answer is to ask better questions.

According to “3 Ways to Get Authentic, Powerful Customer Testimonials” by Donald Miller, asking specific questions like these is key:

• What was your absolute biggest challenge prior to purchasing / joining / attending?
• How did that challenge make you feel?
• What changed after purchasing / joining / attending?
• What specific results can you share?
• What would you say to somebody on the fence about purchasing / joining / attending?

Even if your clients don’t write a novel in their answers, these guiding questions will help them drill down. They can get more specific about what their real problem was and how you were able to help them. It also sets you up to craft a more complete story of their before and after transformation.

How to consistently collect client testimonials

Asking the right questions is only half the battle when it comes to your client testimonials. You also need to develop a system that allows you to consistently collect and share this valuable feedback. Use an automation tool like Dubsado to make sure you never lose track of any of that marketing gold!

There’s a ton of information available for creating a great onboarding experience (including the #1 step you should definitely automate). But offboarding those clients when the work is done often feels like an afterthought. As a result, businesses are missing out on so many opportunities to collect testimonials.

Good news though—there’s a simple fix that takes a little bit of forethought but will pay dividends in return. Create an automated offboarding workflow!

What to include in your offboarding workflow

Your offboarding workflow doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but it will help your clients feel “closure” after their project has ended and it will also keep those client testimonials flowing.

Here’s a list of ideas that you might consider adding into yours:

• Create a ToDo task for yourself that lists out any internal items you need to take care of manually, like sending files or deliverables, cancelling recurring payments, ordering a “thank you” gift, etc. (for more creative ideas on how to utilize ToDo tasks in Dubsado, take a look at this blog post).
• Send a “Closing Packet” that sets expectations for what happens now that the project has ended (this can be as simple or as “fancy” as you want it to be—anything from an email to a well-designed PDF or questionnaire form)
• Send a link to your scheduler so clients can book a Hand Off Call either instead of or in addition to your Closing Packet (use this call to go over any final instructions, questions, or concerns your clients might have)
• Send a Feedback Form to automatically collect your client testimonials (if you’re a Dubsado user, click here to download a free Feedback Form template directly into your account that already includes the guiding questions Donald Miller recommends using to collect more meaningful feedback)
• Don’t forget to follow up and say “thank you”—in Dubsado, you can set your workflow to automatically send a follow up email if your Feedback Form is not submitted in a few days and also send a “thank you” email as soon as the form is submitted (and you don’t have to lift a finger!)
• Create another ToDo task for yourself that triggers as soon as your Feedback Form is submitted to remind you to spend a few minutes reviewing your client testimonial and preparing it to be shared as part of your regular marketing efforts (this might mean that you write up a case study for your website, design a couple social media posts for your followers, or add a blurb about the project to your weekly newsletter so you can share it with your subscribers)

No matter what steps you decide to include, the more automated they are the more consistent you’ll be able to be when it comes to collecting and sharing your client testimonials!

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