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BizWriting Tipz from Suze #1: how to get good testimonials

Posted by SuzanStMaur on February 24, 2010 · View Comments 

Testimonials have a bit of a dubious history. It’s only in comparatively recent times, when advertising in most industrialized countries has been regulated, that readers know testimonials have to be genuine – or else. There may still be the odd person or two who sneers at testimonials and endorsements, but in the main people now accept them for real, and believe in their honesty. This makes them powerful.

However getting good testimonials isn’t easy.

Who does the interview?

You are the wrong person. That’s because your client or customer may feel a little intimidated if you are the person s/he has actually acquired the product or service from. You need to use a neutral third party who will not intimidate the interviewee in the same way, and can probably get away with asking more pointed questions than you can.

So, how should this third party set about interviewing the testimonial giver?

The basic needs

What you need to focus on when interviewing your customers/clients is how you:

  • Solved their problems
  • Saved them money
  • Made their business more efficient
  • Improved employee morale
  • Enabled greater productivity
  • Improved service to their customers
  • Increased their sales
  • Helped them get ahead of their competitors
  • Got them the winning tender
  • Made their patients better
  • Improved their sex appeal

and so-on.

The basic questions

We can begin by taking a leaf out of a journalist’s book, and never ask a question that can be answered with a “yes” or a “no.” The easiest way to do that is to start all questions with, once again, the journalist’s old favourites of “who, what, why, how, when and where.”

Questions that lead to good testimonial responses:

  • What is it that you think makes XXX different from their competitors?
  • Earlier on, you mentioned that XXX is better than their competitors. Why would you say that is?
  • Why do you feel that XXX is more efficient than other, similar (whatever)?
  • How would you rate your experience of working with/using XXX?
  • Compared with their competitors, how would you rate your experience of working with/using XXX?
  • On a 1 to 10 scale, how would you rate your experience of working with/using XXX, and why?
  • What difference has using XXX made to your business’s/department’s performance?
  • What is it about XXX’s performance/service that makes the different?
  • What was it that made you choose XXX in the first place?
  • What was it that made you choose XXX instead of their competitors?
  • What was it that made you change from your previous (whatever) to XXX?
  • What additional benefits have you found through using XXX?
  • Of all the benefits of XXX we’ve talked about, which is the most important to you, and why?
  • What are the three main benefits of working with XXX?
  • In summary, then, what would you say is the key benefit of working with XXX?
  • In summary, then, what difference has working with/using XXX made to your bottom line?
  • How important is it to you that you should work with/use XXX in the future?
  • What sort of future do you think XXX can look forward to?
  • If I were someone considering using XXX, what advice would you give me?

What happens next

Once your interview is done – preferably audio recorded – you need to get that transcribed, and then edit the quotes you want to use. Always use real quotes without making up bits to compensate for shortcomings, and don’t polish them up. The occasional grammatical mistake or bit of harmless slang makes it much more realistic. Then always, always run the finished testimonial past whoever has said it, for their approval. Often people will tell you not to bother but I feel that it’s a courtesy you should not ignore.

The other point you need to clarify with the testimonial giver is how they want to be acknowledged. Some will want to retain their anonymity but if you are to be believed, you must ask them to agree to substantiate their quote privately if someone were to challenge it. Very few people will refuse to do that. Others will want some sort of credit; for example, their website’s URL. If so, that’s great!

Any questions? Jot them down here in the comments and I’ll answer as best I can.

Suze

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  • http://www.justprofessionals.net/ Su Butcher

    Hi Suze,
    Good article, very helpful.
    When would you say was the right time to ask for a testimonial? One of the reasons I think architects are reluctant to solicit them is they aren’t sure when they should ask. Should they wait until the end of a project, choose a point when a significant milestone has been reached?

    [Reply]

    Editor Reply:
    February 24th, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Good question Su

    @Suze, could a testimonial be a two stage one? ie one part at a milestone and the other on completion?

    [Reply]

    LindaMattacks Reply:
    February 24th, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    If I’m allowed to pop in here ;-) ?…

    In my experience you only really find the answer on timing that will work best for you by trying.

    Significant milestones and successful project completion are good ones, yet maybe not the only ones.

    It may be that an unexpected problem, acknowledged without prevarication and then solved swiftly and efficiently could be an ideal time to get a testimonial from a client who now feels you’re really working in partnership, even though the project is only part way along.

    Maybe your guys/ gals (because of your unique/ specialist experience and doing that extra bit of digging) spotted something early in the planning stages that saved the client grief down the line – would that count for a “thank you” in the form of a testimonial? :-) .

    Perhaps you helped out, just because you could, in an area where others would have said “not my problem”.

    Very surface I know, but hopefully may serve to give you better and more relevant ideas ;-)

    [Reply]

    Suzan St Maur Reply:
    February 24th, 2010 at 6:58 pm

    That’s an interesting point, Su, and I’ve been mulling it over for the last couple of hours while shopping and “doing” all the animals!

    Although as Sarah and Linda suggest asking clients for testimonials at more than one stage of the process is a good idea, I suspect it also could be helpful for you to step back and work this out from a more general marketing point of view.

    In other words, identify what are the key reasons why clients will choose architects’ practice #1 over architects’ practice #2? What is it clients really are looking for?

    Is it end product only – i.e. practical buildings that do the job efficiently and play their part visually and socially in their communities?

    Is it a service issue – i.e. architects who listen to what clients need and develop those needs sensitively and practically?

    Is it about track record, connections, who you know?

    Is it a combination of those points and if so, which is – on average – the most important one?

    And so-on. Once you have identified those issues and prioritised them that should give you a better indication of a) when to ask for testimonials and b) in what way you should phrase the interview questions.

    If you want to let us know the ballpark answers to those questions here I will happily suggest some more targetted ideas on obtaining testimonials for you.

    [Reply]

  • http://www.justprofessionals.net Su Butcher

    Hi Suze,
    Good article, very helpful.
    When would you say was the right time to ask for a testimonial? One of the reasons I think architects are reluctant to solicit them is they aren’t sure when they should ask. Should they wait until the end of a project, choose a point when a significant milestone has been reached?

    [Reply]

    Editor Reply:
    February 24th, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Good question Su

    @Suze, could a testimonial be a two stage one? ie one part at a milestone and the other on completion?

    [Reply]

    LindaMattacks Reply:
    February 24th, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    If I’m allowed to pop in here ;-) ?…

    In my experience you only really find the answer on timing that will work best for you by trying.

    Significant milestones and successful project completion are good ones, yet maybe not the only ones.

    It may be that an unexpected problem, acknowledged without prevarication and then solved swiftly and efficiently could be an ideal time to get a testimonial from a client who now feels you’re really working in partnership, even though the project is only part way along.

    Maybe your guys/ gals (because of your unique/ specialist experience and doing that extra bit of digging) spotted something early in the planning stages that saved the client grief down the line – would that count for a “thank you” in the form of a testimonial? :-) .

    Perhaps you helped out, just because you could, in an area where others would have said “not my problem”.

    Very surface I know, but hopefully may serve to give you better and more relevant ideas ;-)

    [Reply]

    Suzan St Maur Reply:
    February 24th, 2010 at 6:58 pm

    That’s an interesting point, Su, and I’ve been mulling it over for the last couple of hours while shopping and “doing” all the animals!

    Although as Sarah and Linda suggest asking clients for testimonials at more than one stage of the process is a good idea, I suspect it also could be helpful for you to step back and work this out from a more general marketing point of view.

    In other words, identify what are the key reasons why clients will choose architects’ practice #1 over architects’ practice #2? What is it clients really are looking for?

    Is it end product only – i.e. practical buildings that do the job efficiently and play their part visually and socially in their communities?

    Is it a service issue – i.e. architects who listen to what clients need and develop those needs sensitively and practically?

    Is it about track record, connections, who you know?

    Is it a combination of those points and if so, which is – on average – the most important one?

    And so-on. Once you have identified those issues and prioritised them that should give you a better indication of a) when to ask for testimonials and b) in what way you should phrase the interview questions.

    If you want to let us know the ballpark answers to those questions here I will happily suggest some more targetted ideas on obtaining testimonials for you.

    [Reply]

  • LindaMattacks

    I’ve devised, piloted, staffed, trained and carried out research projects for all kinds of clients and then delivered the findings :-) : Naughty me – I work on practicalities and commonsense :-( and I utterly agree with Suze’s guidelines – I think they’re bang on.

    And it IS easier to get honest feedback if you can get somebody else to ask the questions on your behalf – provided you know they’re good at this.

    Let’s take ONE of Suze’s questions:

    “On a 1 to 10 scale, how would you rate your experience of working with/using XXX, and why?”

    This type of question is a beauty because it forces at the very least a slightly good or bad assessment:

    Using 1 – 10 as opposed to 1 to 5

    You get a rating where the customer can’t ‘sit on the fence’ – Suze hasn’t mentioned it but she automatically sets up the context of this by saying “where 1 is appalling and 10 is fantastic (or the other way round)

    THAT gives you data that you can quote:

    Interview just 10 people and 7 of them rate you 6 or higher:

    70% of our customers say…

    AND (essentially) it gives you two bites at the cherry: The “and why?” gives you the personal customer experience that potential customers are more likely to relate to than anything YOU say.

    Great post, Suze and totally down to earth whilst giving ideas that many of us can benefit from by just having a go ;-) …

    PS: The infuriating part on a blog as opposed to a ‘real time conversation’ is that whilst you’re writing your own response you have no idea what’s going on elsewhere that might make your contribution look weird/ superfluous/ whatever by the time it’s published: Get over it, Linda! :-)

    [Reply]

    Suzan St Maur Reply:
    February 25th, 2010 at 8:19 am

    LOL @ Linda! Glad you found the post helpful.

    I learned most of that through the experience of doing literally hundreds of interviews for corporate video productions. The way you need to structure your questions, as the interviewer, is quite different from the way you would do it for news reporting or feature broadcast TV.

    While you can’t sit your interviewee down and say “OK, pal, now we’re going to say some really nice things about XXX…” you want to pave the way for them to be as positive as possible about the company or issue concerned.

    You also need to get them to relax and forget about that funny round glass eye that keeps staring at them. But corporate interview technique is a separate topic which I can go into another time if anyone is interested.

    [Reply]

  • LindaMattacks

    I’ve devised, piloted, staffed, trained and carried out research projects for all kinds of clients and then delivered the findings :-) : Naughty me – I work on practicalities and commonsense :-( and I utterly agree with Suze’s guidelines – I think they’re bang on.

    And it IS easier to get honest feedback if you can get somebody else to ask the questions on your behalf – provided you know they’re good at this.

    Let’s take ONE of Suze’s questions:

    “On a 1 to 10 scale, how would you rate your experience of working with/using XXX, and why?”

    This type of question is a beauty because it forces at the very least a slightly good or bad assessment:

    Using 1 – 10 as opposed to 1 to 5

    You get a rating where the customer can’t ‘sit on the fence’ – Suze hasn’t mentioned it but she automatically sets up the context of this by saying “where 1 is appalling and 10 is fantastic (or the other way round)

    THAT gives you data that you can quote:

    Interview just 10 people and 7 of them rate you 6 or higher:

    70% of our customers say…

    AND (essentially) it gives you two bites at the cherry: The “and why?” gives you the personal customer experience that potential customers are more likely to relate to than anything YOU say.

    Great post, Suze and totally down to earth whilst giving ideas that many of us can benefit from by just having a go ;-) …

    PS: The infuriating part on a blog as opposed to a ‘real time conversation’ is that whilst you’re writing your own response you have no idea what’s going on elsewhere that might make your contribution look weird/ superfluous/ whatever by the time it’s published: Get over it, Linda! :-)

    [Reply]

    Suzan St Maur Reply:
    February 25th, 2010 at 8:19 am

    LOL @ Linda! Glad you found the post helpful.

    I learned most of that through the experience of doing literally hundreds of interviews for corporate video productions. The way you need to structure your questions, as the interviewer, is quite different from the way you would do it for news reporting or feature broadcast TV.

    While you can’t sit your interviewee down and say “OK, pal, now we’re going to say some really nice things about XXX…” you want to pave the way for them to be as positive as possible about the company or issue concerned.

    You also need to get them to relax and forget about that funny round glass eye that keeps staring at them. But corporate interview technique is a separate topic which I can go into another time if anyone is interested.

    [Reply]

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