Your prospects demand an answer to one question that they’ll probably never ask. 

Their question is: who says so besides you?

And that’s why testimonials are a marketer and Salesgirl’s BFF.

I don’t know about you, but what I add to my Amazon cart is decided almost entirely by how many 5-star reviews it has. 

I am 100% trusting thousands of strangers. The company themselves can say nothing to sway me. Jenny06058 from Belize is who I’m riding with.

It’s absolutely absurd and should terrify you… unless you’re using it to you advantage.

Don’t take my word for it though. (See what I did there? I’l see myself out.)

The data is NOT a paid actress to prove my point, but she certainly could be: 

• 88% of customers say that online reviews influence their purchasing decisions

• 92% of customers read online reviews before buying

• 88% of customers trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations from family or friends

• 97% of B2B customers said testimonials and peer recommendations were the most reliable type of marketing content

• 72% of consumers say that positive testimonials increase their trust in a business during the consideration process

• Testimonials on sales pages can increase conversions by an average of 34%

• Customer testimonials placed on pages with high ticket products or services increased conversion rates by 380%

• Using customer testimonials in marketing regularly can generate around 62% more revenue on average

Now that you’re sure you should be using them… how the heck do you get them? And where do you put them once you do?

5 Tips for Collecting and Using Testimonials in your Sales and Marketing:

#1. Keep it Casual

You don’t have to enter every kind thing someone says about you and your offer into a Canva template with 5 stars and their headshot. Those are beautiful and sometimes are the move, but it can also slow you down. There is no entrepreneurship buffering like designing a graphic, you and I both know it. Know that you’re free to take a screenshot and post it on IG or drop it directly onto your sales page. Some people may even say that screenshots are MORE believable than the typed out, pretty text… We love an aesthetic, but we love making sales more.

#2. Shared Folder

Now that you’ve got those screenshots, put them in a safe place. Your camera roll is not safe. Your camera roll is a war zone and if you aren’t careful, your testimonials will live forgotten with French Toast recipes you never made. On our team, we have a shared folder titled WINS - any time anyone sees a comment on a Zoom call or a result in DMs, you can take a screenshot (screen record it’s a voice memo or Voxer!) and upload it to the folder. Once the bank gets thick (and it will, because you are excellent) you can delegate for someone to transfer them to a folder and organize them based on the type of testimonial that it is! If you’ve reached this point and woudl find it helpful, reply to this email and I’ll share our spreadsheet layout with you.

#3. Interview Clients 

If your DMs are dry but you know you’ve helped ONE person your entire life, here’s what to do: you ask them. You can either ask if they’d be willing to share a testimonial about their experience working with you OR you can simply start a conversation. The conversation in the DMs is our favorite way to get a full story from current or past clients. “Could you tell me a little bit about where you were when you started [insert your program or services here] and where you are now?” You can even ask, “what you would say to someone who is on the fence about joining?” These sentences can set you up for a goldmine of social proof, if you’re only willing to ask them. 

#4. Off-Boarding Survey

This would not have made the list before last week, but we recently had a fantastic experience and as a Salesgirl, I took notes. After wrapping up a new website project, our web designer (J. Alexandria Creative, highly recommend) sent an off-boarding email with all the final project details. It included this blurb: 

I gasped! It’s brilliant. A win-win. I had 10 other things to do that day AND I was delighted that fill that survey out for Jade’s team. If you can add that element to your testimonial collection, you’ve reached new heights. 

#5. TrustPilot

Once you’ve got yourself a nice, big bank of testimonials and it becomes clear that you’ve outgrown the spreadsheet… you can utilize a review-specialist company like Trustpilot. Using Trustpilot for the Sell Your Offer Challenge has allowed our shared WINS folder to breathe (though she still gets worked with testimonials that come in from other places) and saved us time by having challenge testimonials organized at our fingertips. This is especially helpful since it’s the event we host most frequently. 

No matter how you choose to collect them, using testimonials in your sales and marketing materials is low-hanging fruit with a big time payoff. 

Every single time you make a declaration, ask yourself: who says so besides me?

Then get to work.

Xo, The Salesgirls