How to ask for client testimonials on your website

It can be difficult to ask for client testimonials for your website. Every business owner I know, including me, puts this off and forgets to request a testimonial, even when our clients voluntarily say lovely things about us.

Over the years, I’ve made myself ask for client testimonials, and you’ll see that they’re all over the website. I’m sure I could get better at asking clients, but I’ve developed a few tricks and (most importantly) a system for getting clients to send me testimonials.

Why it’s important to ask for client testimonials 

Other people are much more likely to want to buy from you and buy at the right price if someone else says it’s great. After all, I could tell you that I’m the best business adviser in the world, but you’re much more likely to believe one of my clients if they say it. 

We call this third-party social proof, and it can be powerful fuel for your business. Let’s compare third-party social proof in the form of testimonials with simply asserting that you’re brilliant.  

Here’s what I could say about myself 

“I’m a really good business adviser, and you’ll definitely make more money if you work with me.”  

Well, I would say that, and there’s no evidence for this being any truer than this statement.  

“My special blend of muesli cures cancer” (unlikely to be true)  

“I stood on my head for hours while dictating my book” (definitely not true; the headset would fall off)  

“I wrote my book in a week” (it took 2 years)  

Footballing social proof?

 

If I put a blog up saying that I was a fantastic footballer, scoring hundreds of goals and holding the world record for “keepie-uppie”, you might believe me, or you might not. It would be a terrible lie, as I can only just about kick a football without falling over.

If it were true… if there were people on my client testimonials web page saying what a great footballer Julia Chanteray is, you’d be more inclined to believe me. 

Rules for client testimonials on a website

Here are a few rules on getting client testimonials and using them on your website testimonials page.

• Don’t be tempted to make it up – you’ll get caught
   

• Don’t have the same client testimonial on every page of your website
   

• If you quote someone, for example, something they said in an email, get their permission to use it
   

• Make your testimonials short and easy to ready 
   

• Do not get testimonials from anyone related or married to you – you will quickly be found out.
   

• Put the best client testimonials at the top
   

• Add a photo of the person wherever possible because this “proves” it’s from a real person. 

Video testimonials for your website

If you can do a 45-second video testimonial of a client talking about what they liked about working with you – do this. Video is much more powerful, especially for testimonials. If a client says something effusive in a meeting, ask them if they could say it again on camera and take a quick video on your phone. 

Here’s a video testimonial from one of my clients

Top tip for getting video testimonials from clients

For years, I knew that video testimonials would be much more convincing and powerful than written testimonials. But I struggled to find an easy way to request these testimonials.

Then I took advice from Miranda Birch. She specialises in helping small business owners like us get comfortable asking for and making video testimonials. She has a short course where she shares her techniques – I highly recommend this. In fact, you’ll see a testimonial from me on the home page!

Check out the video testimonial course

 

If you listen to other people 

“Working with Julia is like having a second superior brain which is bigger, better, smarter and more experienced than mine and which can think logically and accurately when mine is ready to hit the G and T. She has helped me turn business ideas into real opportunities and has given me the confidence to make decisions which I would have found difficult to make on my own.   

I recommend Julia wholeheartedly, though, if you are going to have a meeting with her at her place, take some milk just in case.” 

The real client testimonials, including what Tim and Sarah said when I suggested they do sensible versions, are here, by the way.”  

Sarah Carter from WorldWide Performers and Tim Simpson from Plunge Creations offered.  

Why are these testimonials different? 

These statements are very different, aren’t they?  They all talk about some particular aspect of working with me that someone has appreciated, and they are from real people. In fact, you can even see photos of these lovely people over on my website testimonials page.

How I request client testimonials for my website 

Start collecting clients’ testimonials. We’re often very poor at getting our clients to say nice things about us and getting their permission. So, start collecting those right now from people you’ve worked with in whatever way to say something about how you’ve helped them make an impact. Just a little snippet of the client testimonials on my website testimonial page; you’ll notice that these client testimonials are photos or video testimonials of real people that I’ve worked with and can be something else which takes a little bit of time to get together. 

When you ask clients for testimonials, ask them for their headshot; it can take a bit of time to get the proper resolution or get something that works. I had one testimonial from a client, and it was a man and a woman. And I didn’t realise because I’d only ever spoken to them on Zoom, but the man was really tall, and the woman was really little, so their headshots didn’t fit in a landscape format like this, so I had to ask them for two separate headshots to balance them out. 

You can offer people the choice with testimonials that they write something, or that you write something for them, or, even better, ask them if they would be happy to do a little two-minute video testimonial talking about how you have helped them. I do this a lot. Video is very, very effective at conversion. 

I’ve also made a video version if you want more tips on getting and using client testimonials on your website testimonials page.

Ridiculous Testimonials  

Before you start adding client testimonials to your website, know that every client will describe their experience in their own way. There’s no need to edit too much or polish their words to make them fit a specific style. In fact, leaving client testimonials in their natural form, complete with quirks, enthusiasm, and even little imperfections, makes them feel more real and trustworthy. 

I’ve been catching up with asking clients for testimonials for my testimonials page. These are two that made me laugh out loud.  

Mark Walsh from Embodied Facilitator Course has said:  

“Julia is a sarcastic, loathsome creature, but that doesn’t matter, as she’s helped me make bags of money in ethical ways. I’ve known her for years (and trust her deeply) but was too tight to work with her properly until this year despite consistently good advice. Now I work with her regularly, I want to kick my past self in the nuts for not doing it sooner.”  

What Sarah Carter said…

“Working with Julia is like having a second superior brain which is bigger, better, smarter and more experienced than mine and which can think logically and accurately when mine is ready to hit the G and T. She has helped me turn business ideas into real opportunities and has given me the confidence to make decisions which I would have found difficult to make on my own.   

“I recommend Julia wholeheartedly. If you are going to have a meeting with her at her place, take some milk just in case.” 

The real client testimonials, including what Tim and Sarah said when I suggested they do sensible versions, are here, by the way.”  

Sarah Carter from WorldWide Performers 

Why are these testimonials different? 

These statements are very different, aren’t they?  They all talk about some particular aspect of working with me that someone has appreciated, and they are from real people. In fact, you can even see photos of these lovely people over on my website testimonials page.

Tim took it to (several) extremes

Tim Simpson from Plunge Creations in Hove offered multiple versions of his testimonial. 

Short and punchy…

She looked at our business, understood it, then made it grow.  

Contemplative…

If we’d never been introduced to the Joy Of Business, goodness only knows what kind of pickle we’d be in by now.  

Forceful…

Call Julia, Meet Julia, Thank Julia.  

Effusive…  

We at Plunge have been searching for years to find a business mentor and consultant who truly understood our needs as a business. Finally, we met with Julia and Ohmigod; she opened our eyes to how our business works and what we could do the develop its true potential. She’s simply amazing. Wow!  

Capitalist…

She’s a bargain. A few consultations, and now we’re rich. RICH, I TELL YOU. RICH!!!!   

Sarcastic…

Yeah, running a business is such a joy! Thanks to Tim for such a range of testimonials  

What to do next

Now, have a look at your website testimonial page and all the places where you have client testimonials. Ask yourself if you would believe what’s written there and if it gives the right impression to someone who might want to buy something from you.  Do you have social proof so people will believe that you’re one of the good guys?  

 

Let me know how you get on

I’m hoping that this will spur you into action to get client testimonials for your testimonial web page.  Maybe you could send the last three people you worked with an email asking them for a quote right now? Why not?