How to Get & Feature Testimonials On Your Website
Believe it or not, your past clients are some of the most valuable assets you have to get new business. They know your quality of work, have great things to say about you (hopefully), and have the power to influence future potential clients who may be on the fence about hiring you.
So, how can you tap into this amazing resource?
With testimonials! Testimonials are first-hand accounts from people you’ve worked with that verify just how stellar you are. Testimonials are one of the most powerful things you can put on your website to convert casual visitors to paying clients. And not just any old testimonials, but thoughtful + optimized testimonials to reinforce that you're as good as you say you are.
But the hardest part about testimonials isn't featuring them on your website, it’s how to get them in the first place and how to make sure they'll work for you.
WHY ARE TESTIMONIALS IMPORTANT?
Testimonials are so so important, especially for us independent workers, because they help build trust with the people who may potentially be looking to hire you. By hearing what others have to say they can get a clear picture of how they might feel if they were to work with you. It's called social proof. Proof that their peers have benefitted from your services. Proof that the investment was worth it. Proof that the outcome was beneficial. By telling them about your services and then providing this proof you're reinforcing your message that you can solve their problem.
(Plus Google loves reviews. Even if they're not on a Google profile or maps listing, Google still recognizes them as testimonials and they'll help with your SEO so you get found more.)
HOW DO I GET TESTIMONIALS?
There's no real easy way around it. You've got to ask people to say nice things about you. You can ask in any way that works for you, but the formula I've found works best for me is to ask via email + note that it will only take a short amount of their time + share how important it is to the success of my business + imply some sense of urgency.
Here are some exact phrases that I say so you can steal them:
Hey, could you take three minutes to give me a testimonial?
Reviews are so beneficial to my business and allow me to keep working with more awesome clients like you.
I'm writing a blog post/adding a portfolio entry about our project and I would love to feature a testimonial from you. Can you take a few quick minutes to do that for me?
Remember you're asking for a favor, so try to make it as painless for them as you can. Making it as easy as possible to submit a testimonial also means you're more likely to get people to do it. That's why a part of my process has been to create a Client Experience form. Rather than ask for a testimonial, which can feel really formal and high pressure, I word it like I'm asking for feedback about working with me and then I can turn that feedback into a testimonial.
By using a form I'm also able to ask really strategic questions that prompt my clients to give different answers. It's always good to get results-focused testimonials because we know that's really what everyone wants to know about, so by asking specific questions I'm more likely to hear concrete results.
when to ask for testimonials?
Timing can be important, too. Asking for a review as soon as you finish a project means it's fresh in their brain. But asking after some time has passed means they may be seeing more results and can include that in their feedback. I like to check in a month after we've wrapped up to see how things are going and ask for feedback.
But what if they don't respond or never get that testimonial to you? Well, don't give up! Ask again! And again! When I finish a project I create a reminder for myself to follow up one month, three months, six months, and one year later. I might not be asking for a review every single time, but I'm much more likely to get one if I keep asking.
How do I optimize my testimonials?
Once you actually get a client to respond to your ask for feedback, there's nothing wrong with optimizing their answers. Especially when you ask people to fill out a form and the answers are a bit disjointed. Some people feel a bit itchy about this, but as long as you're transparent there's nothing wrong with it (I'll show you how I keep things above board a bit later).
Here's what I do optimize:
First I read through all the form answers and try to pick out the most compelling lines to turn into a big ol' headline. It's especially helpful if you can find quotes from them that address sticking points for your potential customers. With my own services, some of the biggest hurdles for people to get over before they're ready to hire me is 1) the fear of not liking the designs I come up with and 2) the large investment. So I try to find quotes from my client survey answers that address those particular things.
Here are some real examples from my testimonials:
(These all address the sticking point of making a large investment and some even show that it's paid for itself in sales.)
Next I look at the rest of their answers and see how I can re-organize and even re-write parts to make it more cohesive. As long as you're not changing their original intent or meaning, this is just fine. Especially because it's important to use the correct language about the services you provide. Which leads into the next thing that I do, which is to add SEO keywords. Because of course my clients aren't thinking about my keywords when they're writing their review, but I AM thinking about them with everything I put on my website. And your keywords should definitely reflect your services, duh! So by adding them, you're clarifying even more and basically doing everyone a favor.
Then I look for a headshot to feature. Some people worry about asking for this because people can get weird about their headshots, so my workaround is that I don't bother to ask! I do the work for them by snagging a pic from their website/social media/LinkedIn/etc. That way they don't have to do any work and it's already a picture they have on public display.
Last, and this is the important part that makes it OK to optimize my clients words, I run it by them for full transparency. That way there's none of that itchiness and it doesn't feel like I'm going behind their back.
Here's exactly what I say (steal away!):
Thanks so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to do that and help support my business. I've rearranged and tweaked your answers just a bit into a review that I can feature on my site:
"COPY/PASTE OPTIMIZED TESTIMONIAL HERE"
And I'll grab a headshot off your site to go along with this if that's cool with you. Let me know when you have a chance!
The proof is in the pudding: I've never had one single, solitary person say it wasn't cool with them.
What do I do with my testimonials?
Once you've got your optimized testimonial it's only fun from here. Now you get to share it with the world and enjoy bragging about yourself! I like to sprinkle them throughout different pages of my site so when people browse they get the reinforcement from others who've previously worked with me. I created a testimonial slider on my Squarespace site using an unlinked blog page and added each testimonial as a post. Then I used summary carousel blocks to display them in a slideshow using tags to display different testimonials in different areas of my site so people aren’t seeing the same thing or the same faces everywhere.
Your homepage, services, about, and contact pages are great places to sprinkle a little client love. Do you feature case studies or portfolio entries on your site? Pair an optimized testimonial with it! Or, if you're a big social media person, include what your clients have to say when you share their projects. You can use all of it at once or you could split it up into different quotes. It's up to you!
BONUS: Something I more recently started doing is taking that optimized testimonial and asking the client to post it to my Google business profile. Again, I want to make this as simple and easy as humanly possible for them so I'll include a direct link to my profile exactly where they can leave the review + include their review in the email for them to copy/paste so they don't have to go searching for it. Obviously this helps even more with your Google rankings because Google loves when people use Google. And it's such a simple thing to ask for.
And here's one more email template for you with exactly what I say (just because I like you so much):
When you have a quick sec, would you mind posting your review to my Google profile? These are the kinds of things that truly help my business keep working with amazing clients like you! Here's a direct link to add a Google review and the testimonial that you gave to me so you can just quick copy/paste it:
COPY/PASTE LINK TO LEAVE REVIEW + THEIR TESTIMONIAL
Phew!! That was a lot to cover, but I'm so happy to be able to share my process for getting + optimizing testimonials with you because it's so so important. It may feel daunting at first, but once you break it down into steps it's totally manageable. Feel free to peruse my website to see my optimized testimonials sprinkled throughout and let me know if you use this process + how it goes for you!
