Tag: testimonials

5 Elements of Social Proof to Explode Your Business

June 30, 2010 • 16 Comments

There are many things that I do on a daily basis that almost are not worth my time – things like maintaining a free blog or submitting free articles or posting on forums or even updating my Twitter status.

None of those things directly make me as much money as landing a new joint venture, as writing a sales letter, sending out emails or running a webinar course.

Why do I do them? Because they demonstrate social proof. If someone is thinking about buying from me and they look me up, they'll find hundreds of articles, hundreds of blog posts, and thousands of forum posts.

What will I find when I look you up? Will I find lots of social proof or will I find negative social proof? I'll find a lot of good things about you if you follow these 5 steps.

Element #1: Blog Comment Scarcity Or Blog Responses

You probably do have a blog, right? If I go to it, will I find it's being constantly updated or it has not been updated in the last several years? Are there lots of posts or only 1 or 2? And out of those posts, are lots of people commenting? I decided very early on that when I created my blog, I wanted to have lots and lots of comments.

Otherwise, it would look like I was talking and no one was listening.

When I make blog posts and I get dozens, if not hundreds, of comments for every post, everyone can see how much of an authority I am. When you have the same thing, people can see how much of an authority you are. I got a lot of comments on my blog at first by limiting posts to only 10 comments.

I told people that if I got 10 comments on my blog, then I look at either the post content, otherwise I would stop.

Eventually, I escalated this to saying after I had 10 comments, I would close comments completely and now I have this at 100 comments per post and that's how and why you should have blog comment scarcity and blog responses.

Send traffic to your list, to your latest blog post, but have some kind of deal either that you will turn off comments or stop writing unless you get a certain number of responses because people read but they don't like to respond.

Element #2: Price Scarcity

How do you show that what you're offering has lots and lots of value but still get people to buy when you are first launching it and don't have a huge list? If you're entering a new niche or at first building a list, offer your product at a low price but set a deadline for when you will increase that price and then actually increase it.

This way, if people are buying your product for $20 but you are about to increase it to $50, people realize that the regular prize is $50. Don't run a discount because that will anger your early adopters, but this way, you will reward your fast action-takers and early adaptors by letting them buy low, and then once you have a proven selling record and you have testimonials, now you can increase the price at the time and date you said you would.

Element #3: Webinar Replay Scarcity

Are you starting to see a pattern where I'm talking about social proof?

People can be trained to give you a certain reaction. When you make a blog post, you train them to leave comments. When you are increasing the price, you train them to buy. The same should be true for your live instructions. When I run a webinar, I want the maximum number of people to show up live. When somebody shows up live, they're kind of a captive audience.

They can't fast-forward, they're usually not multicasting and they're sure as heck can't pause your presentation either. It's as close to real life as possible.

That's why you shouldn't always offer a replay of your webinar. Maybe you're not going to offer any kind of replay of your webinar or you're going to offer a replay only available for the next 48 hours or even you're only going to offer a replay inside of your paid membership site.

Either of these 3 strategies will motivate people to attend your webinars live and even if they don't believe you now, they will believe you after you stick to your guns and do what you said you will time and time again.

Element #4: Testimonial Follow-Up

The number one problem I see with sales letters is a lack of proof – why should I buy from you, why should I trust you if you can't show me anyone else who has benefitted from your training? That's why the easiest form of social proof is the testimonial.

Ask your buyers what they thought of the product they just bought from you. What I like to do is add this message as an autoresponder follow-up in my autoresponder sequence. This means that when someone buys from me and joins my list after 7 days, which is enough time to look at whatever product they just bought, I will ask them what they thought of it and have them directly reply to me and then I will use their testimonial on my sales letter.

It's important though to ask not for a testimonial but for an honest review, good or bad.

Element #5: Feedback Survey

I told you a little bit about getting testimonials and training people not just to read your emails but reply to them as well. I use this in many of my pre-launches when I ask people things like "do you want to see this product, do you want to see me explain programming?"

And then the next day, I will tell people how many responses I got. This does many things. First of all, it shows everyone that there is a high demand for what I am about to offer and it makes people part of the process. It makes them know that they have an interactive role in my marketing. When they respond to me, their "yes" answer goes into the total number of yesses I receive over email.

If you take any of those 5 elements of social proof, blog responses, price scarcity, replay scarcity, testimonial follow-ups, or feedback surveys, you should notice a slight increase in sales, a slight increase in response, and a slight increase in popularity.

Are you using any of these 5 elements yet? And which one?

If you're not using any of the 5, which one do you plan on using within the next week? Please leave me a blog comment below with your speedy response.

Ten Testimonial Rule

August 18, 2008 • 13 Comments

If you've been following my blog at all then you've probably heard of the ten comment rule... any time I make a post, I ask for 10 comments from my readers... or I'll stop posting forever.

I just applied that to my marketing to gather testimonials for a product.

Nope, I didn't offer a bribe for testimonials, I didn't give away free copies in exchange for a testimonial.  (Good way to make sure you never hear from those people again.)

I simply said: I need ten testimonials from SOMEONE... any of my current customers... for version 1.0, and I'll release version 2.0 to EVERYONE.

I Had My Ten Testimonials Within 48 Hours!

It's tougher to get ten people to do work, even if it's 30 seconds of work (writing a testimonial), than it is to get them to pay you money.

I brought in ten sales of Action PopUp no sweat, just by mentioning it in a blog post.  I wanted reviews, not sales.

The only thing I needed to do was: end my blog post with a clear call-to-action (what action I wanted you to take), and my goal (what had to happen for the challenge to end).

It's Not Difficult, But So Many People Miss That Point

You have a blog with zero comments on every entry, end the blog post with a reason you want people to leave a comment.  End with a question.  Give people benefits about why they should leave a comment... what's in it for them?

Use your blog to build a list and send those people to new posts when you write them.

I'll see marketers add a FeedBurner chicklet to their blog, so they've built up their RSS subscribers... but they can't e-mail them... gross!  The only contact they have with these people is when they add to the blog.

Now you can't tell your readers... check out this post one last time if you haven't left a comment yet.

You can't follow-up and market to RSS subscribers the way you would to an e-mail list.

To be honest, if I didn't get my 10 testimonials by today, I would have asked my list again... I would have hit the weekday crowd instead of the weekend crowd.  I would have put up a talking head video begging someone... anyone... to leave me a review.

With every blog post you should be "selling" some action that benefits you at the end.  Leave a comment under the blog entry, or visit the URL I'm talking about.  One of those two.

If You Don't Think You Can Get Ten Testimonials...

Try a "five testimonial" rule.  You only need five testimonials to release the next chapter, update the next version, launch the next product... whatever the goal is.

Have a clear call-to-action... don't say, "Testimonial please."  Say, "What was the one thing you liked the most about it?  On what URL did you set it up?  What was the one stumbling block that ALMOST didn't get you to buy and how did you overcome it?"

Interview your customers one on one via e-mail and use their responses to piece together a testimonial. After I got my 10 testimonials I went back through all my e-mails, blog comments, and forum posts and pieced together an additional 7 testimonials for a total of 17 testimonials on that page.

Oh yeah, I released Action PopUp 2.0 to all version 1.0 buyers so you can add popups to WordPress blogs with just a few clicks... thanks for the testimonials I needed.  Even Michel Fortin posted that blog entry to Twitter.

Was that ten testimonial rule a waste of time?  No one needs a call-to-action at the end of every blog post, right?  I bet your blog is chock full of zero-comment entries with no call-to-action in sight... am I totally right or am I just a jerk?

Please, answer me below because if I don't get ten comments under this entry... I'm moving this whole site into a paid blog.  😉

Testimonials

May 21, 2008 • 20 Comments

Like I mention in Fast Food Copywriting, testimonials on a sales letter aren't important. It's the proof that's important (testimonials are a form of social proof.)

When I launch a brand new product, testimonials are the last thing on my mind. Usually my strategy is: I set up a simple dimesale so the price goes up with each sale, the price increases quickly and that's my social proof.

I post my special offer on forums and link to my product via the forum post instead of the actual URL to the sales letter to get people posting on the thread... more social proof.

Once the initial launch has died down I can usually cannibalize these forum posts and use them as testimonials. I look up the person's picture and URL and contact them asking if it's ok to add their comment as a testimonial -- with a link to the sales letter so they can see how it looks. I've almost never been turned down... who doesn't want their URL mentioned on yet another page?

I have mentioned before that 2008 is the year I am doing everything right. I have a blog I update every week or so. Every one of my products has an affiliate program and a plug and play solo ad so affiliates can easily promote it. ALMOST every product also has an upsell to another product -- many have more than one.

May 2008 was the month where I made sure just about every sales letter had a testimonial... with a picture if possible. Check out the sales letter for Head First PHP. I have 10 testimonials on the right sidebar of that page and 5 more at the end of the sales letter.

How did I do it?

Simple: They are all on a mailing list, so I added a timed follow-up to offer a bribe... in exchange for a testimonial.

Notice how I worded that. I sold them on the bribe first, the "what's in it for me" ... and then said, here's what you need to do to get it.

It's no different than a sales letter. You need to SELL them on the benefits of that bribe. You need to have a headline (in an e-mail that's more like a simple sentence), tell a story, and lead in to a call to action.

This time, the call to action is not to buy, but to write up a review for you... much more difficult.

Have you ever thought of how many steps you put your customers through even for the most simplest transactions?

Opting into a newsletter

  1. Type in first name.
  2. Type in e-mail address.
  3. Click submit button and wait.
  4. Read thank you message.
  5. Login to e-mail account.
  6. Find the confirmation message.
  7. Click the confirm link.
  8. Finally get to that download page!

Ordering from you

  1. Click the order button.
  2. Type in their e-mail address.
  3. Type their first and last name.
  4. Reach in wallet and find credit card.
  5. Choose mastercard, visa, etc.
  6. Type in 16-digit credit card number.
  7. Type in expiration date.
  8. Type shipping information (sometimes).
  9. Click Confirm link.
  10. Get to that download page.

Writing a testimonial means: (1) Hitting the reply button. (2) Finding where they saved your product on their hard drive. (3) Reading through the product to refresh their memory. (4) Explain their favorite part and what they did with it. (5) Add a URL and their name at the bottom. (6) Hit the submit button.

No call to action ever takes one single step... they're ALL complicated.

You are asking for a BIG favor from your customers by asking for a testimonial. Think about it... most of those 10 steps in the order process required very little thinking, or work. The only cost really was in money. This time, you are asking for their TIME... something much more valuable than money.

The call to action on a testimonial is a tougher sell than selling a product. No big deal, you'll get lower conversion rates... but you MUST sell them.

Here are my five tips to getting testimonials:

Testimonial Power Tip #1:
Always ask in a timed followup (7 to 30 days after purchase).

Just write your blurb and stick it in a follow-up and forget about it. This way when you get new customers, your autoresponder will automatically ask them for that review. You won't have to keep asking, figuring out who you've asked and who you haven't... it's easy.

Testimonial Power Tip #2:
Offer a bribe.

Head First PHP contained an e-book but also a daily video. My autoresponder sent a link to a new five minute video... every day for about 30 days.

At the end of those 30 days I said, if you want a link to download all the videos in one zip file, send me an honest review and I'll give you that link. That's how I ended up with 15 testimonials in the span of a couple days.

Testimonial Power Tip #3:
Ask multiple times.

Sometimes people won't get your e-mail, they'll get busy or they won't understand the bribe well enough from just one e-mail to do all those steps required to giving a testimonial.

Add multiple followups either a week or a month apart saying: If you've already given me a testimonial... thank you... now take action and actually use it. Also say if you haven't given me a testimonial, now's your chance to get that bribe.

For another product (Black Hat PHP) I bought resale rights to a product and used that as a bribe. I cut up the sales letter into follow-ups.

  • In one follow-up I explained the problem.
  • In another, I said here's the solution and here's what you can do to get it.
  • A week later the follow-up said here's a video demonstrating the bribe, if you still want it, send your review.
  • A week later, a list of benefits... and by the way, here's how you can get the bonus for free.
  • A week later, here's the final summary and call to action... review my product so you can get the bribe.

Testimonial Power Tip #4:
Follow-up if the testimonial isn't good enough.

People will try to do the bare minimum to get that bribe and when that happens, ask more questions. When someone says, "It was good. I liked it." Ask what did you like? Did you use it on any web sites? What did it do for you?

  • Teach you how to build a bird house with half the materials and 1/3rd the cost... if it's a how-to build bird houses product.
  • How to finish your homework faster and get better grades so you have more time to relax and play video games if it's a "how to do homework faster" product.
  • Decreased your blood pressure, gave you more awake time, and enough energy to run a marathon if it's a "raw super foods" infoproduct.

Ask questions and try to get some real answers about what they liked the best, what was the most useful and most importantly how it affected them.

It might take a few back and forth replies but eventually you can get enough from that e-mail interview to put it together into a decent testimonial.

Testimonial Power Tip #5:
Be specific.

It all goes back to what's in it for me. Social proof comes in three steps: First, proof that you (the originator) did it... second, proof that someone ELSE did it (these customers) and third, proof that THEY (the prospect) can do it. Without step #2 you just can't have step #3.

By getting your customers to tell you which chapter they liked the most, you can continue selling within your testimonial by mentioning all these cool benefits.

That's how I get customers to hurl testimonials right at my head, the easy way. If you want to know how to write that sales letter so you have a place to stick those testimonials, my latest project is: Five Minute Copywriting.

Please, comment below and share your tips for getting testimonials and social proof to spice up your existing sales pages and therefore increase your conversion rates and get more sales.

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