Why glowing testimonials are as useless as a handbrake on a canoe
Let me tell you about my depraved online shopping habits.
Whenever I'm on Amazon looking for a new pair of tight speedos or whatever, I always click around until I find two or three different options that look good. And then I'll carefully check the reviews of those items before I decide.
But I'm not looking at all the “5 star” reviews that gush about how great the products are.
No, no, no.
I'm looking at the 2,3, and 4 star reviews.
Like most people, I'm not looking for reasons to buy. I’m looking for reasons to NOT buy.
Now, the 1 star reviews are often written by demented lunatics. And unless there's a lot of them for some reason, I’ll just ignore them.
But the 2-4 star reviews are useful. They'll often mention a defect or flaw with the product, and then I'll decide whether I'm ok with that flaw.
If I am, that fires a green light in my head, and I press “Buy Now”. More money burned at the altar of Grand Overlord Bezos.
And here's my point:
A lot of pet businesses like to use glowing reviews and testimonials in their emails, to show off how great they are. Which is a good idea, in theory.
Except your sales emails aren't like Amazon, where the reader can see the good and bad reviews. Everybody already knows that you're not going to proudly display the opinions of anyone who didn't like your pet product or service. And that you're most likely only going to show off your glowing testimonials.
So for all they know, you could have 5 great reviews and 50 terrible reviews. It’s all a complete mystery what’s going on behind the email curtain.
And that makes them immediately dismissive of your glowing reviews. They're reading all this sycophantic praise of you, but it's like water off a duck's arse. Their eyes glaze over. They don't care.
What's the fix?
The answer is to simply choose testimonials that are more believable - that mention both the bad as well as the good. Or that address people’s common objections to buying from you.
When a review is more balanced, it instantly comes across as more trustworthy. And one believable testimonial is far more powerful than 10 unbelievable testimonials.
But if you don’t have any nuanced and balanced testimonials, then there is a way to coax them out of your customers.
Here’s how you do it:
Whenever you ask someone for a testimonial, you don’t let them think about what to say all on their own. Most people will draw a blank, and their testimonial will be flat and boring.
Instead, you “prompt” them in what to say, using open-ended questions. For example, let’s say you run a dog walking business. You might ask a client:
What first made you want to hire a dog walker?
Thinking back, was there anything in your mind that made you hesitate to call us?
What specific thing did you like most about our service?
Was there anything about our service you would change? This could be something big or small.
Would you recommend us to a friend or family? Why, or why not?
And simply by squashing all their answers together, your client will have magically given you a well-structured, highly believable testimonial that you can then use in your emails and profit from.
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