How Three Testimonials Lead to a $1500 Purchase and Solved My Back Problems
Jan 5, 2021
4 min read
Sourcing and integrating convincing testimonials is an indispensable step in Detraform's process.
Written by Joel Blair
Illustration by Jorge Peña
The last time I had a back spasm I realized that obsessing over good design and delivering the hottest websites in Squarespace land came at the cost of my spinal health. I didn’t have time to slow down, but I could barely move, let alone work at my desk. I was laid flat out on my pine wood floor, when I spoke into the cold, silent universe, “F#*% it, I’m going full Aeron”.
It was time to upgrade from my stylish but completely inappropriate mid-century fibreglass school chair. If I was going to solve my back problem and stop paying for $150 osteopath treatments, I needed the gold standard in ergonomic seat design. I needed Herman Miller’s Aeron chair. Designed by Bill Stumpt and Don Chadwich, the Aeron was a pioneering step in ergonomics when it was first released in 1994. Compared to the chair I had been using for years, I knew the Aeron would feel like floating on a cloud.
I eventually crawled back to my desk and remembered why I didn’t already own this magical piece of furniture. In Canada they sell for $1500.
After considering the price I started to wonder if there wasn’t a less expensive chair that would still ensure the best ergonomics. How will I know if I’m making the right decision. Plus those controls look complicated. Am I going to spend all this money and not even set it up properly? Is this for people with better posture than me?
I headed to Herman Miller’s website and read these three testimonials.
“The moment I sat in the chair, I knew I had made the right decision.”
“I love how this chair is comfortable without having a dozen knobs to adjust. It just works.”
“Somehow it’s always comfortable whether I’m leaning forward, back, or to the side.”
In three short, punchy testimonials Hermann Miller answered my three main hesitations. This did not happen by accident. Hermann Miller did the work to understand their customer’s primary concerns, then used their testimonials to resolve those hesitations. What’s the result? I immediately made a purchase.
Follow these nine tips for effective testimonials that actually sell your project or service.
1. Use a questionnaire
We use this questionnaire written by Donald Miller. It helps to lead your customer through a journey and tell stories of transformation. Providing a questionnaire also reduces friction by helping them get started.
2. Start emailing the questionnaire right now
Send it out to a large group of happy customers. It’s out of your control how many people will respond, and how long they’ll take, so get started asap.
3. Don’t leave the sentence structure to chance
This is not journalism. It’s okay to edit for grammar and clarity. At Detraform, editing and polishing testimonials is part of our project scope.
4. Keep it to about 25 words or less
Nobody likes to edit down all the nice things people say about them and their business, but testimonials work better when people actually read them. Keep your testimonials short and punchy. You can split a customer’s response into multiple testimonials if you like.
5. The best testimonials express only one message per quote
Don’t muddy the message with several ideas. Note how each testimonial from Hermann Miller speaks to a single customer pain point. These sort of concise messages are more memorable, easier to digest, and impactful.
6. Use your testimonials to reinforce the core brand messages
At Detraform each client project begins by producing a brand script which, in addition to your customer journey, headline and company one-liner, includes your four primary and four secondary messages. We then select and edit quotes that reinforce these core company messages.
7. Use your testimonials to answer customer hesitations
First find out what the top three hesitations people have to making a purchase. Use your testimonials to resolve these hesitations in the customer’s mind.
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8. Make them big
The bad news is no one is reading the long, small print testimonials you have on your current website. Because you’re going to edit your new quotes down to that one punchy line that expresses one core message, now you can present them in a large font, 65 pixels is good. Treat your testimonials like a title because they are an element of your pitch just as important as your main titles.
9. Only use quality portraits
Yes, pairing your testimonials with portraits adds even more credibility. But you know how there’s always one low resolution photo that looks like it was rendered on an Atari 2600? Don’t do that.
Testimonials are a key component to establishing authority on any lead generating website. Follow these guidelines to guarantee you get the best results. Speaking of testimonials:
“Detraform crafted my brand story better than I ever could have on my own, and the results were incredible.”
– Lloyd Cotler, Banter Messaging, inventor of SMS marketing