How to Get the Most from a Testimonial

I’m a big fan of user reviews.  As a consumer, I refer to them whenever they’re available, and I find that they influence my purchase decisions.

Short of a product demonstration, as an instrument of persuasion, the user review has to be among the most effective tools we have at our disposal.

Consider for a moment the difference in your own mind between a user review and its big brother, the testimonial.

As similar as I suppose they are in theory, I regard these two very differently.

To me the very designation – testimonial – suggests that the message will be positive… one notch down from its slippery sibling, the endorsement.

Particularly online, the testimonial has been so abused, bastardized and corrupted that unless they are particularly well presented, I find that I view them all as counterfeit… sales copy from deceptive marketers.

User reviews on the other hand, at least for now, remain relatively pure in my mind.

For some reason, I feel like the user review is a more authentic, unscripted expression of a real person’s real-life experience with a product or service.  Probably naively, I expect to hear both the good and the bad.

I trust them more.

So what do if you’re a testimonial junkie and don’t yet have the facilities to cultivate and display user reviews?

First and foremost, make sure that your testimonials are believable.  Lest you be lumped in with the counterfeiters.

To maximize the believability of your testimonials…

First, with the exception of spelling errors, embarrassing grammatical problems, and elimination of clichés, don’t edit them. People can spot a fake from a mile away, and if your testimonials are deemed as fakes, you’ve done yourself more harm than good.

Second, make sure they are specific. Speaking in generalities is neither authentic nor persuasive. Don’t present “Your service was great!”  That doesn’t mean anything to anyone.  Rather, favor testimonials with a real story.

“I arrived late and starving. I had to be in meeting with one of my biggest clients in one hour and had considered dashing through McDonalds on my way.  I was thrilled when I left the clean and peaceful setting of your restaurant having had one of the best bowls of French onion soup I’ve ever had… in 27 minutes flat! I’ll be back.”

Third, attribute your testimonials as specifically as you can. Why do marketers replace the name of the testifier with their state of residence?

Is it because the person giving the testimonial insists on remaining anonymous?  If they were so worried about their anonymity, why did they write this testimonial in the first place?  Did they really say, I’ll give you this testimonial, but you had better not say who wrote it?

I doubt it.  And unless your product pertains to hemorrhoids of some sexual dysfunction, no one else is going to buy it either. So at the very least, present a first name, last initial, city, state, and if relevant, a description of the person or their circumstances that make the testimonial valuable.

If you’re selling washing machines, an attribution like this might be appropriate.

Michelle B., Richmond, VA

Mother of five boys, ages 2 to 13

In certain circumstances, you could go even further to build believability with photos (before and after using your product if appropriate).

The second thing you have to do is make sure your testimonials serve their persuasive purpose.

Anytime we find ourselves quoting customers, the underlying purpose is most likely to remove the perception of risk and/or address a specific objection in the mind of the buyer. So, you want to be sure that your testimonials address actual fears or objections.

Holly Buchanan (a friend of mine and persuasion guru from FutureNow) wrote a wonderful post discussing the three traits of strong testimonials.  In discussing this point, she writes that “testimonials from skeptics stand out because they sound credible.”

Consider the following:

“I have been repeatedly disappointed after buying ____ because despite claims to the contrary, they’re always hard to assemble. So when I read that yours were quick and easy, I had my doubts. I’m now convinced. I assembled my ____ without tools in 3 stress-free minutes.”

In this case, the testimonial overcomes a common concern over assembly by acknowledging up front the legitimacy of this issue for other prospects – then dispensing with it.

This leads to Holly’s next point which is that your testimonials must be well-placed – making sure that the subject matter that is addressed in the testimonial relates to the information around it. Context is critical.

She also makes the insightful observation that there are really two types of relevance to consider.  The first (and most obvious) has to do with subject matter relevance. Place your easy-assembly testimonial near your claim that your product is easy to assemble.

The more subtle issue to consider however is your prospects stage in the buying cycle. On your landing page for example, your testimonials should be geared to a prospect who is still asking the more fundamental questions. How are different from other competitors? Can you fill my needs? What kind of company is this?

Testimonials dealing with the efficiency of your fulfillment and return processes are better aimed at people further along the buying cycle.

We all know this to be true.  The voice of a real customer… speaking candidly on your behalf can be extraordinarily powerful.  Your job is to see that it is projected, heard and believed at the right time and in the right place to move your prospects to action.

Do You Dare to Change the World With Your Marketing?

If you haven’t taken a moment to appreciate the work that Unilever is doing with its Dove Self Esteem Fund and related campaign, you’re missing something truly special in the world of marketing.  What’s more, you’re missing a great example of the new face of powerful, authentic marketing… infusing emotion and meaning into what could easily be a big, boring brand.

The campaign is supported in large part by a number of brilliantly composed, thought provoking, debate inspiring videos created by Ogilvy & Mather Toronto. If you haven’t seen “Evolution,” you need to take a moment and watch it right now.

This Dove self esteem campaign is worthy of serious study and reflection, but there are three aspects of it that I want to call your attention to right now.

1. The viral power of videos like this one
2. The importance of walking the talk when you embark on a campaign that demands corporate integrity
3. What it must be like to try to compete with Dove now that they have carved out this position for themselves

We’re all familiar with the Dove brand.  Soap… skin cream… you can get it most anywhere. Paraphrasing Alison Leung (the Dove marketing manager behind the campaign), the way to differentiate a commodity like a bar of soap is to give it meaning that extends far beyond the significance of the product itself.

This is exactly what Dove has done.  They observed a societal problem – self esteem in women – particularly body image issues in young women. They validated it with their own research and learned that only 2% of women feel beautiful. 94% of young women want to change some aspect of how they look.

As beauty industry insiders, one could assume that they were aware of the beauty scam that is exposed in their “Evolution” video.

So what did they do? Turn the whole beauty industry on its ear by exposing the beauty scam and declaring themselves to be different from the rest of the industry.

They fanned the flames of public outrage with videos like “Evolution” and used new social media outlets to reach millions. “Evolution” has been viewed more than 7 million times (roughly 10 million on YouTube alone).

Another one of the videos is titled “Onslaught.” It condenses a year’s worth of beauty pressure into one minute and juxtaposes the innocence of seven-year-old girls and the avalanche of subtle influences and overt suggestions that can make them believe they’re not good enough.

Another is “Amy,” which shows how hard girls can be on themselves, and is designed to be passed along to young girls by people who love them. The film has a unique twist that allows it to be personalized for each recipient.

They have created interactive tools that include:

• A first-ever “girls-only” self-esteem website to help those aged 11-16 explore beauty, body image and self-esteem in an interactive and inviting environment;
• A dedicated section of the website containing activities for mothers and mentors to engage in with the young girls in their lives;
• A pilot “Girls for Girls Mentor Program,” which brings older and younger students together to discuss self-esteem issues;
• Online “Tools for Teachers,” designed to help facilitate in-class discussion around all of the fund’s videos.

Most people would be surprised to learn that this campaign started in 2004 – not in the U.S., but in Canada and then in Europe.

Now… suppose Dove had failed to walk the talk.

Suppose they used touched-up super models in their ads. Suppose they sparked all of this debate only to actually do nothing truly different from anyone else in their industry.

Having taken a stand as bold as this one, intuitively you have to know they had better back it up with their actions.  This is exactly what they’ve done.

They created the Dove Self Esteem Fund with the goal of positively affecting the lives of 5 million girls globally by the year 2010. They appear to be well on their way to reaching that goal.

Unilever staff members actually conducts self esteem workshops in schools as a part of living their individual answers to the great question posed to all Unilever employees – “Do you want to do your job… or change the world?”

Look at what a company that sells a highly commoditized product can do by:

• leveraging viral marketing through great videos on social medial sites…
• sparking public debate…
• thrusting an industry skeleton from the closet (the beauty scam)…
• taking a bold, controversial position…
• setting and proclaiming audacious goals to do good for society…
• and actually walking the talk.

And by the way, while I have no stats to share, Alison reports that Dove sales are doing great and the worldwide response to the campaign has been overwhelming.

Give the Gifts That Give Back

Business gifts just aren’t the same as the gifts you buy for friends and family.  When shopping for your mom, buy her something she’ll love.  Your focus is on her… her needs… what will make her feel good.

Client gifts are different.  Sure, sometimes a nice thoughtful gift is what you need.  But why not challenge yourself to find a gift that gives back?

I’ve never been a Realtor, but I have done a lot of research on lead generation and the customer experience in that arena.

Recently, I was asked the question – what is a good real estate closing gift? A gift for a client after the purchase of a house…

A lot of Realtors engage in the practice of giving these kinds of gifts.  Some are thoughtful.  A new grill… Some are practical (it’s easy to think of things that new movers can use). A gift card to Home Depot… But today’s challenge was to think of a gift that was classy, thoughtful, and ALSO had the potential to give back.

Let me break the suspense… How about a nicely printed set of “We’ve Moved” cards?  People relocate.  They need to tell their friends and associates how to reach them in their new home.

If you’re in high-end real estate, you could dress it up.  Have a line drawing done of the new house.  The original goes in a frame for the wall, and a miniature version on the front of the “We’ve Moved” card.

On the back (in a classy way) goes the Realtor’s contact information and mention of another successful relocation (or whatever).

You could take the idea a step further and offer to have the cards addressed for the client.  All they have to do is give you the list. See where I’m going with this?

This is a gift with the potential to give back.  It has a viral marketing element.  Your client is using this thoughtful gift to spread your name in a favorable light to all of her friends and family.

You’re probably not a Realtor.  So what?  With a few ounces of creativity, I’ll bet you can find a client gift that gives back.  If you’ve got one, I’d love to hear about it.

Search Engine Marketing vs. Radio for Local Advertising

I have just completed a three-month study testing the effectiveness of SEO and Google Adwords against radio advertising in generating quote requests for a consumer insurance product.  The test was contained to a market area of one city and surrounding areas.

The local radio budget was $13,000/month, and the campaign ran for approximately three months on three stations selected by the company’s ad agency as being representative of the target demographic. To allow the radio a fair chance to establish frequency, I began tracking the search marketing comparison at the start of the second month of radio advertising and am reporting on exactly two months of radio results data ($26,000 invested over the two months – not counting the cost of producing the ad).

The Adwords budget for the same local market increased over the period of the study from approximately $400/month to approximately $750/month. And the total SEO budget was approximately $2,000/month.

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How Much is Too Much Ambiguity? Try This Experiment and Find Out.

How long can you hold your audience’s attention with a message that starts out with ambiguity? This is a question for TV and radio advertisers, copy writers, and public speakers alike, and getting it wrong can be embarrassing – or worse…

Sometimes a mysterious opening can be powerful and have great impact upon resolution.  Other times it flops.  Not unlike humor in advertising, people tend to respond with either love or hate – rarely neutrality.

Here’s an exercise for you. Watch this advertisement.  I guarantee you haven’t seen one like it before.  Show it to a few folks around your office, and watch the varied responses that you get.

Then, see if you can piece together a pattern of reactions among the people you show it to such that you can predict who will like it and who won’t. Herein lays the litmus test for when to steer clear of ambiguous, mysterious openers in your communications.

In their book, Made to Stick – Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die…, Chip and Dan Heath offer some tremendous insights into the art of grabbing and holding people’s attention.

Among the many lessons in communication that I took from their work was that we humans seek resolution to what the Heaths call “curiosity gaps.” These are gaps in our knowledge… things we don’t know… even trivial things that when presented properly hold our attention (for some period of time) until they are resolved.

Consider how those trivia questions hold your attention when they appear amidst the ads on a movie screen before the movie begins… or how you stay tuned to the news to find out what common item in your kitchen may be slowly killing you.

We have a natural tendency to want to fill in gaps… resolve mysteries… answer the unanswered question… and marketers can exploit this tendency to captivate an audience long enough to get their message across in a meaningful way.

The question is – how long is too long?  And how ambiguous can the set-up be before we fail to engage our audience in the first place – or even worse, annoy them?

This ad, I would argue, pushes the limits.

This is why I think it makes an interesting study.  Not everyone agrees. And teetering on the edge of taking a good tactic a little too far, I think it reveals a way for us to gauge our limitations with regard to this important communication technique.

I tried this little exercise on my own recently and arrived at the following conclusions.

First, reactions ranged from people loving it (I loved it but think it’s about 30 seconds too long) to people finding it annoying and not worth the time it took to watch. I don’t think anyone abandoned it prior to its resolution, but reactions were very mixed.

Then there were people who just didn’t get it. And for those of us who loved it, we have to appreciate the fact that not everyone is as perceptive and/or attentive as we are.  On those people, the message is a total waste.

In my experiment, reactions appeared to vary based on three variables:

• the personality of the viewer;
• their frame of mind at the time; and
• oddly enough, the degree of trust present in my relationship with the viewer.

Most of my experiment was conducted in-person.

Here are my results.

• The hard-charging, task oriented people were annoyed by the time it took to get to the point.
• Creative people loved it.
• Women seemed to like it more than men.
• People who were relaxed and in no hurry liked it more than people I pulled from busier, more hectic circumstances.
• And finally, the people with whom I enjoy a higher level of personal trust tended to like it more than those who I knew less well. Why? They gave it a chance and approached it with an open mind. They were willing to give me the benefit of the doubt and patiently invest a minute or two at my request knowing that the result was likely to be interesting and worth the investment. Friends can get away with asking you to close your eyes for a surprise.  Strangers usually can’t.

So what can we take away from this experiment?

First, consider the personality of your audience before you launch into this type of communication.  If they are task-oriented type-As, be careful.

Second, anticipate their circumstances at the time at which they will receive your message.  If they are likely to be stressed, busy, distracted, etc. keep your communication more to-the-point.

Finally, if you haven’t established trust with your audience in advance, be careful trying this -- especially online.  It’s too easy for people to abandon you before the punch line.

Try this for yourself, and share your observations. This is hardly scientific, but I’d love to hear what you think.