Customer Testimonials: A Small Business How-2-Guide in 5 Easy Steps

Posted by Geoff under Success Stories
From http://www.bizcompare.com 4811 days ago
Made Hot by: Small Business Tribe on March 1, 2011 3:05 pm

Customer Testimonials: Make it super easy for your customer to help you. Here’s a simple and effective way to solicit and secure great testimonials.

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Comments

Written by ShawnHessinger
4810 days ago

Geoff,

I think the success of business testimonials depends upon the type of business and perhaps the audience. Of course, negative feedback can also be published elsewhere on the Web. And, at times, I think a positive review (or even one giving pros and cons of your product or service) on someone else's Website may actually be more helpful than gushing praise solicited and posted on your own.

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Written by Geoff
4806 days ago

Shawn, thanks for commenting and while I still think that testimonials can be very helpful for a company, I also agree with you about the objectivity of a 3rd party site and wrote about that very topic a few months ago here: www.bizcompare.com/blog/customer-satisfaction/business-directories-are-they-worthwhile-part-6-0f-7-customer-reviews-and-experiences/. So we're of like mind.

Geoff

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Written by businessavante
4811 days ago

Hi Geoff,

I'd wonder about having my testimonial re-written with "quotes" of what I DID say included, w/editorial additions - even if sent back for approval as advised.

businessavante (Duncan)

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Written by Geoff
4806 days ago

Hi Duncan ...I appreciate your comment. For what its worth, I followed this exact process and and was always careful to point out quoted customer remarks and made sure the customer was comfortable with them. In general, my sense was that customers liked it when i took their "raw" comments and packaged them into something cogent. All the best, Duncan.

Geoff

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Written by yoni67
4812 days ago

Great advice from a business standpoint Geoff.

From the perspective of a customer looking for a business though, there remains a grey cloud: that being that business testimonials are always from satisfied customers; nobody posts those from the disgruntled.

Yoni

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Written by Geoff
4806 days ago

Hi Yoni ...thanks for taking the time to comment and no argument from me about the bias of testimonials. See Shawn's note (and my reply) above about ways to balance the bias a bit. Regards,

Geoff

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