Copywriting – How To Write An Effective Testimonial

I am a big believer in continued education, so I tend to purchase quite a few information products throughout the year in different areas where I want to build on in my business. As the years go by, it takes a lot more to “wow” me. That’s why when I find a product that I absolutely love, I tend to want to write an effective testimonial about it. I use the word effective because I want to truly thank the creator and to be honest here – effective for me too – because I’ve learned that effective testimonials drive traffic back to my sites.
Now let’s consider that for a moment. Testimonial traffic. These are often people who have just purchased a product that you recommended and value your opinion. These are people who may be highly motivated to buy again. Worst case scenario, these are people who are just curious about who you are. Best case scenario, they opt-in to your list and you can begin to build a relationship with them.
Are you kidding me? These are the types of prospects that people pay BIG money to attract, and all you have to do is to pay it forward and write something nice. Okay well maybe not just – nice. There is a method to the madness, and I think I can help you crack the code. It’s simple and it works.
Submitting Your Testimonial
First, if there is a product or service that you have recently purchased and the creator specifically asks you for a testimonial, and you liked the product, you need to send one. You have a better chance of your testimonial being used. Otherwise, you can always send an unsolicited testimonial. Business owners are always looking for great testimonials to use on their sites. Aren’t you?
Writing Your Testimonial
Write a RESULTS oriented testimonial. The more you highlight specific benefits, and the more measurable results you include, the more credible your testimonial becomes, and the more likely the product owner will want to highlight your testimonial.
Folks love numbers. So it’s a good idea to add “results based” numbers saying that you made X more or X% more. Depending on the product you bought, your numbers (X) can be in:
Dollars
Hours
Sales
Clients
Opt-Ins
It’s also a good idea to keep your testimonial brief based on the nice little boxes most entrepreneurs like to place them in. So a 100 words or less is a good guide.
Signing Your Testimonial
How you sign your testimonial is important too, because of course we want this to be an opportunity not only to praise the product but to send traffic back to our sites. So make sure you include identifying information. While it is up to the site owner’s discretion on what they will include, the more you include the better.
Include your name
Your title
Your business name
Your city and state
Your website URL
Your Photo
Additional Tips
– Most site owners will NOT include a live link to your url, but that’s okay, I can’t tell you how many times I have simply highlighted and copied a url from a testimonial to visit a site. The more curious prospects will do it, and those are the folks you rather come visit you anyway.
– A great idea is to create a special url for testimonials. This will help you track how much traffic you are receiving from them. This is how I first realized how much traffic I was receiving.
– You do not have to include a professional photo. In fact, business owners prefer “real life” or lifestyle photos.