With all the new strategies and techniques for increasing advertising response rates that marketers have at their command, it's often easy to overlook one of the tried-and-true power tools of persuasion: customer testimonials.
Real people saying real nice things about your product or service can have a potent influence on others who wouldn't necessarily be receptive to a polished, calculated message crafted by a professional copywriter.
If you haven't taken the time lately to collect and incorporate customer testimonials in your marketing copy, consider the value-added benefits to be gained.
The ring of truth. Testimonials draw their "juice" from the true-to-life flavor of real people sharing their opinions and firsthand experiences. Even if the wording is more casual or less precise than what you would write, using as much of the real words of your customer as possible can make a strong connection with other potential customers.
Birds of a feather. Just as people more easily put themselves in the shoes of someone they find sincere and believable, it's human nature to put more stock in the opinions of people we can relate to. Always go for as direct a match as possible in your testimonials and the audience you want to reach. Motorcycle owners trust other motorcycle owners. Musicians trust other musicians. Seniors trust seniors.
Fresh takes on features and benefits. You've no doubt spent some serious time fine-tuning how you talk about your product's or service's features and benefits. Nothing wrong with that. But things take on a fresh new feel when a customer speaks openly about what it means to them. Because of the less formal more personal nature of real testimonials, you have a great chance of getting a message to relay to customers that makes the most popular aspects of what you have to offer come alive in a way that jumps off the page.
So how do you begin the process of adding the power of testimonials to your copy? It all starts by simply taking time to call or email your customers to ask them what they think about your product, service or company. Start building your collection of good testimonials and watch how frequently they add just the right dash of humanity and credibility to copy that strikes a more responsive cord.
For more ideas to drive sales check out archives or visit Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.
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