The Power of the Testimonial

It has also been called 'influencer marketing' or 'a more formal form of traditional word of mouth marketing'. It is the use of comments from existing satisfied customers to help new buyers make purchase decisions. Credibility builds trust, which increases sales, as pointed out by Maddy Osman in her excellent article, Why Testimonial Advertisements Still Matter.

Today I came across a finding by Gallup which shows that only 6% of Millennials find advertising credible and 95% trust the brand opinions of peer and friends, with 33% relying on blogs and influencers to inform their decisions. So the power of the testimonial has become even more relevant today, especially if it is authentic.

It's an age-old marketing tactic and it still works. Even more so today in an environment of fake news and online scams. Marketers can achieve high impact at low cost by collecting customer testimonials and including in their promotional strategies. Facebook reviews are easy to do and hold weight in markets such as education, tourism and professional services. Customer reviews are understood to be twelve times more trusted than descriptions from service providers because of the reassurance they provide that the product actually does what it claims to do.

Read Kristi Hines' article on Creative Ways to Get Customer Testimonials for some great ideas. I recently launched my own new website for Houseway Consulting with a customer testimonials page. We added a really useful prompt to email clients a customised set of 3 questions which allows them to instantly respond with a testimonial for the business. I am so enjoying this facility!

Have you found testimonials to be useful in your marketing? Can you add any ideas?