Testimonials and reviews are worth their weight in gold if you can get them. The hard part is getting them. Customers always say they’d be willing to, but how often do they actually do it?
And almost more importantly, are they leaving them in the spots that matter? It used to be nice to hang the written kind on the wall of your business, but that doesn’t really help the people who’ve never been there. What you really need are reviews on Yelp, Google Places, Merchant Circle and your website or Facebook Fan Page. But directing people to do that is hard, unless all they have to do is click a link in an e-mail.
So here are some tips on collecting reviews and testimonials.
1. Ask for them. I made this Number 1 because in all likelihood you’re expecting something you’re not asking for. That’s like buying an anti-acne cream before you at least start washing your face everyday.
2. Invite people to give their review in a more “ninja-like” manner. In your e-mail signature, add a line like “if you enjoyed our service, we’d love to hear from you”, and then include a “click here” to your Google Places page. Then when you’ve got a few there change it to Yelp or your Facebook Fan Page or your website.
3. Move testimonials from one place to another. My favorite way todo this is with the Screen Capture Elite plug-in for Firefox. I actually just made a quick video about how to use it for a friend: http://www.screencast.com/users/tri4time/folders/Jing/media/600086c4-bb93-4528-831a-2df475c40515
(I think it’s less than 2 minutes).
4. Ask people if you can call them and get a couple testimonials recorded. Recordings can go on your website, in a video, on BlogTalkRadio – many, many places. And it’s fun doing that. You could even give them your Google Voice number and ask them to leave a message.Then you can download that as an .mp3 file.