How to get killer testimonials that gain new clients

If I was to give you one piece of advice that I know to be true, it’s that testimonials work to convert potential clients. Having a handful of testimonials on your website effectively highlights your ability to solve your potential customers problems and, in turn, convinces them that you are the right person to hire. In fact, studies show that good testimonials increase buying intent by more than 92%.

I’m sure your next question for me is ‘how do we go about getting those good (read: killer) testimonials that all these studies are talking about?’ Here’s my favourite (and foolproof) way to get your clients to write a killer testimonial for you.

There’s lots of great content online about testimonials and social proof, but in all honesty there’s only one thing to it – make it incredibly easy for your clients to sing your praises.

I know that a lot of people will just ask for a testimonial and wait to hear back, but there’s no ease or incentive for them to do this for you.

Enter Google Forms, our new best friend for collecting amazing testimonials.

Google Forms is a free service powered by Google that allows you to easily gather great testimonials by asking really specific questions to gain an insight into their experience as your customer.

Asking clients to drop in their thoughts in response to a few specific questions makes it way easy for them. They don’t need to think too long and hard about what to say – and you can guide them to include the key pieces of information that will make it a *great* testimonial.

If you just ask for a testimonial, sure, many people will send you a lovely review, but testimonials aren’t just about how nice you are – a good testimonial will make the reader think about their own situation and problem, and the ways in which you can solve their problem for them.

Here are my favourite questions to put into your form to get the best answers from your clients:

1. Before we began why did you want or need (insert your service or product here)?
2. Did you have any fears or concerns about using/buying (insert your service or product here)?
3. What did you like about this service/product?
4. What results did you experience from (insert service or product here)?
5. Would you recommend (the service/product) to a friend? Why or why not?
6. Are you happy for me to condense your answers into a testimonial for me to use on my website?

*TIP* – if you don’t have any previous clients to send your questions to, or aren’t allowed to use them, you can use industry statistics or your business statistics or results. The important thing is, you’re showcasing your expertise and proving what’s possible for them.

So, your task right now is to jump off this blog page, open Google Forms and create a form that includes the above questions. Then copy the link into an email (with a lovely written request) and send it to all your past clients!

Congratulations, you now have some *killer* testimonials on your website that will gain new clients.
(You’re welcome!)