Build Credibility With Testimonials

Online businesses do not give your prospective customers and clients the opportunity to view and touch the goods you are selling so you will need to work a little harder on building up their confidence and trust in you and your products. Credibility is a very important part of the sales process. One of the biggest problems you face online is the fact that you are not face to face with your potential customer or client. This means that you have to work harder on building credibility and trust in your clients and customers.

They are strong selling tools for anything that you are selling. Your sales page should have at least 2-3 testimonials within it. However when you have a new product you may have to work on this a little.

First how can you get them, especially if it is a new product or service?

One way is to offer your list a nice discount on a product or book in return for a testimonial.
If you have clients that are very satisfied with your service and write an appreciative letter, ask them if you can use it as a testimonial on your sales page. Mention you will be inserting their name, business name and URL and they will be more than happy to give their permission and get the exposure.

Here’s how to get the most out of testimonials:

Present them well with your Sales page.
If possible you can use a picture of the person who has given you the testimonial-this gives credibility to the testimonial, a face behind the words.
Put them in a box-they will stand out better
Color the box a pastel shade like light blue or pale yellow-draw the readers attention to them

Your testimonials must ring true and be sincere. It is most important that your readers know that they are from real people. Pictures of those who give testimonials are good for credibility. Website URLs and business names are also good for this purpose.

How do testimonials draw visitors to the sale? You are building trust in your readers. When they read a stunning testimonial of your product or service they have more confidence in what you are selling and will be much more inclined to buy. Trust is extremely important in sales. The more your potential buyer has confidence in you and your products the more they will buy.  This is especially true of services.

Testimonials are another word of mouth technique and give you a chance to take advantage of the “herd instinct” people like to get something because someone else recommends it. They like to buy things because it is a popular thing to do. When they see a testimonial they often say to themselves “yes I would like to have that too”.

Even if you do not have a product and are selling goods you can still use this testimonial selling technique by writing your own product reviews. These are strong pre selling tools to get the click through to your sponsors’ site. A good review without hype is similar to a testimonial and carries a lot of weight with the potential buyer. They are also quite popular. People love to read reviews and these articles will make them curious about your product.

So as the season starts again online do not forget the important details of selling. Online selling has its challenges. Testimonials or product reviews are an excellent way to help you sell more and develop your business.

September 20, 2006 – 5:40 pm by Constantin Chersin