Discover A Jealously Guarded 'One-Two' Punch That Will Spellbind Your Customers And Have Them Instantly Raving About Your Business!
Do you sell products online? Do you offer a service that you're confident is as good as, if not better than your competition? If so, then I'm sure your website must be riddled with page after page of customer testimonials to prove it.
If not... Then without a doubt, you're doing something drastically wrong! Authentic, detailed customer testimonials can be your greatest selling tool!
Have you ever noticed how the vast majority of successful businesses - whether selling a product or a service - use this one extremely important selling tool in all their sales presentations - both online and off?
It's a proven fact that genuine, verifiable testimonials convert more prospects into buyers! And your web site sales can definitely benefit from this hypnotic and powerful tool. Testimonials are the one selling tool that you can't be without in ecommerce.
Best of all, you can quickly and easily have dozens of testimonials loaded in your sales arsenal, firing your biggest guns, if you understand how the process of soliciting a quality testimonial works....
*******************************************
"... I'm just writing to say that your product is wonderful! I've purchased many other widgets online, but your widget is by far the best widget ever. And it arrived extremely fast. Your customer service staff was also a pleasure to work with. I will be buying many more widgets from you in the future! Thank you for the excellent product and service...."
Susan B. Customer
http://www.susanbcustomer.com
********************************************
As an astute business owner, do you sometimes wonder...
"Just how do these companies pull it off... Why do their customers take such initiative to tell the world about their wonderful experience, while most of my customers seem to purchase my product or service and then fade away into a black hole somewhere in cyberspace?"
Well, there's an altruistic question you need to immediately ask yourself....
"How many times have I followed up with my customers and actually asked them about their shopping experience?"
The fact is, if you sell a product or service online, there's no "sneaky little trick" or "magic formula" for obtaining authentic and powerful testimonials. The problem is... YOU HAVE TO ASK! And that's where most online businesses fall short.
Here's a perfect example...
Take a look at eBay. Here's a marketplace where anyone and everyone is buying and selling goods and services. Ironically, a buyer usually finds that their only reassurance in making a purchase is by reading over a "Seller’s Feedback". And guess what... everyone selling on eBay has feedback.
Why? Because ebay sellers ask for it! And they keep asking for it until they receive it. It's the ebay way of doing business.
If you've ever bought or sold an item on ebay, you know that feedback is by far a seller's most important selling tool. And most good sellers have hundreds, even thousands of testimonials from buyers telling the world about their wonderful experience.
Do you think this would still be the case if EVERY seller didn't immediately ask for feedback after a sale? Absolutely not! They too have to ask for it.... AND SO DO YOU!
So, how do you ask your customers for their testimonials without feeling like you're desperately seeking their praise or approval? Actually, it's quite easy and should be something you do methodically after each and every sale.
I've been known to pound the technique of customer follow up into the ground, and here again is no exception. You have to follow up with your customer to make sales, and you have to follow up with your customers to solicit their testimonials. Once again, it's just another example to demonstrate the importance of customer follow up.
Here's a guaranteed way to obtain the feedback your looking for...
After a sale (and you can incorporate this technique into a product sale or service), immediately send a confirmation email to your customer. In fact, most shopping carts will automatically do this for you. If selling a physical product, once their package ships, immediately send your customer their tracking number. Then, no longer than seven to ten days after their tracking number is sent, send another follow up email asking your customer if they received their package and if they have any questions or concerns that need to be addressed.
Now that's customer service at it's best!
At this point, your customer is now primed and ready for the pitch. Without fail, within one or two days after you've emailed your customer to be sure their package arrived safely (and you've also answered their questions), follow up with another email asking for their feedback about their shopping experience.
Think about it... your customer has placed an order, received an immediate confirmation of the sale, has been sent their tracking number via email, received a courtesy follow up email asking if everything is to their satisfaction, and has had any questions and concerns taken care of.
You tell me...is your customer now receptive and also overjoyed with their shopping experience? You bet your benny's they are! So now's the perfect time to follow up and ask for their feedback.
But you have to do so carefully because there's a right way and a wrong way to do it, and this is very important....
First, you'll want to start your email with a big THANK YOU. After all, you appreciate their business and you want to let your customer know this. Second, ask your customer for feedback about their shopping experience. Be sure to include a detailed survey directly in your email. THIS IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT!
Even if you already have a feedback form setup on your website, in this particular case, you'll want to simply request a return email including the answers to your survey questions directly in your email.
Many studies have been done, and overwhelmingly, having your feedback survey directly in your email produces the best results by a staggering margin. But there's also one additional very important task you'll need to do before actually creating your feedback survey for your email.
Take out a piece of paper and write down your ideal testimonial. One you'd love to receive from a customer. Don't be shy! Let it all hang out.
• Write down how wonderful your product or service is.
• Include how fast you received the shipment.
• Boast about how the product has changed your life.
• Tell about how the gift made your loved one so excited they could barely breathe!
• Again, don't hold back or spare any of the finer details.
Write a testimonial that makes it seem like someone would have to be a fool not to purchase your product.
Now here's the clincher... It's time to dissect your own testimonial and turn it into a survey form that's guaranteed to extract the responses you're looking for. Once you have your perfect testimonial on paper, it's really easy to do.
Simply take your written testimonial and for each "compliment", transcribe it into a question. For example:
*******************************************
An excerpt from your pre-written Testimonial....
"When my product arrived, I was extremely impressed by the great packaging and care that was taken to insure it arrived safely."
Transcribe this into a Survey Question....
How was your item packaged for shipping? Was it boxed well?
Did it have adequate packaging materials inside to insure it would arrive safely? Was it addressed correctly and shipped according to your special instructions? Please be as thorough as possible in your answer:
Another excerpt....
"My wife couldn't believe that I was actually able to find this gift for her. She looked everywhere and couldn't find one."
Your Survey Question....
Had you been searching around the internet for this product? Was it difficult to find? If so, were you surprised to find it on our website?
********************************************
Do you see how important it is to ask the right questions to solicit your desired response? This is the most important aspect of your questionnaire. Be sure to ask detailed questions. If you don't ask, 99% of the time your customer's won't volunteer this information.
You have to ask!!!
By asking detailed questions, you'll be surprised at the responses you'll solicit from your customers. If - using the example above - this customer did have a hard time finding this product and eventually found it and made the purchase from your site, you can be sure their feedback will be PURE GOLD!
It's also extremely important to offer your customer's something in return for taking the time to respond to your survey. Your options here are endless.
• You could offer a free download targeted at your market.
• You could offer a free membership into the "member's only" section of
your site.
• You can offer free shipping on their next order.
• You can include a discount coupon towards their next purchase
The point here is, be sure to offer something of "real" value to your customer in return for them taking the time to respond to your survey questions. The "freebie" you'll be giving away will certainly be a valuable trade off for the feedback you'll receive in return.
Lastly, and most importantly, any testimonial you place on your website must be genuine. Never make up a fictitious testimonial. It's unethical and frankly, it's illegal. By using the techniques I've described above, there won't be any need to use phony claims on your website. You'll soon have more authentic testimonials from customers than you can handle.
After you receive a quality testimonial from a customer that you'd like to add to your website, contact the customer once again and obtain their permission to use their feedback on your website.
You can also include a Yes/No question in your survey asking permission to post their feedback on your site. The overwhelming majority of your customers won't have any problem in allowing you to do so. Also, be sure to offer a link back to their website if one's available. They'll appreciate the free advertising!
So... let me ask you once again....
Do you sell products online? Do you offer a service that you're confident is as good, if not better than your competition? Is your website riddled with page after page of customer testimonials telling the world just how GREAT you are?
If not... get to it... and watch your sales go through the roof!
Would you like to learn more marketing tidbits that can explode your sales through the roof?
Visit http://www.YourInternetBusinessMentor.com/onlineprofits/
for a FREE 12-Part e-Course download.
Until next month,
Here’s To Your Success
Thomas A. Hall
http://www.YourInternetBusinessMentor.com/
Do you Know The 3 Key Ingredients Necessary To Snatch Up Instant, Highly
Responsive Traffic To Any
Website On A ZERO Budget?
Find out EXACTLY What They Are At:
http://www.YourInternetBusinessMentor.com/onlineprofits/
One Ultra-Resourceful, Underutilized, Low-Cost "Stealth" Marketing Tactic That's Guaranteed To Increase Your Traffic & Sales...
In Ten Days Or Less!
http://www.YourInternetBusinessMentor.com/onlineprofits/
If not... Then without a doubt, you're doing something drastically wrong! Authentic, detailed customer testimonials can be your greatest selling tool!
Have you ever noticed how the vast majority of successful businesses - whether selling a product or a service - use this one extremely important selling tool in all their sales presentations - both online and off?
It's a proven fact that genuine, verifiable testimonials convert more prospects into buyers! And your web site sales can definitely benefit from this hypnotic and powerful tool. Testimonials are the one selling tool that you can't be without in ecommerce.
Best of all, you can quickly and easily have dozens of testimonials loaded in your sales arsenal, firing your biggest guns, if you understand how the process of soliciting a quality testimonial works....
*******************************************
"... I'm just writing to say that your product is wonderful! I've purchased many other widgets online, but your widget is by far the best widget ever. And it arrived extremely fast. Your customer service staff was also a pleasure to work with. I will be buying many more widgets from you in the future! Thank you for the excellent product and service...."
Susan B. Customer
http://www.susanbcustomer.com
********************************************
As an astute business owner, do you sometimes wonder...
"Just how do these companies pull it off... Why do their customers take such initiative to tell the world about their wonderful experience, while most of my customers seem to purchase my product or service and then fade away into a black hole somewhere in cyberspace?"
Well, there's an altruistic question you need to immediately ask yourself....
"How many times have I followed up with my customers and actually asked them about their shopping experience?"
The fact is, if you sell a product or service online, there's no "sneaky little trick" or "magic formula" for obtaining authentic and powerful testimonials. The problem is... YOU HAVE TO ASK! And that's where most online businesses fall short.
Here's a perfect example...
Take a look at eBay. Here's a marketplace where anyone and everyone is buying and selling goods and services. Ironically, a buyer usually finds that their only reassurance in making a purchase is by reading over a "Seller’s Feedback". And guess what... everyone selling on eBay has feedback.
Why? Because ebay sellers ask for it! And they keep asking for it until they receive it. It's the ebay way of doing business.
If you've ever bought or sold an item on ebay, you know that feedback is by far a seller's most important selling tool. And most good sellers have hundreds, even thousands of testimonials from buyers telling the world about their wonderful experience.
Do you think this would still be the case if EVERY seller didn't immediately ask for feedback after a sale? Absolutely not! They too have to ask for it.... AND SO DO YOU!
So, how do you ask your customers for their testimonials without feeling like you're desperately seeking their praise or approval? Actually, it's quite easy and should be something you do methodically after each and every sale.
I've been known to pound the technique of customer follow up into the ground, and here again is no exception. You have to follow up with your customer to make sales, and you have to follow up with your customers to solicit their testimonials. Once again, it's just another example to demonstrate the importance of customer follow up.
Here's a guaranteed way to obtain the feedback your looking for...
After a sale (and you can incorporate this technique into a product sale or service), immediately send a confirmation email to your customer. In fact, most shopping carts will automatically do this for you. If selling a physical product, once their package ships, immediately send your customer their tracking number. Then, no longer than seven to ten days after their tracking number is sent, send another follow up email asking your customer if they received their package and if they have any questions or concerns that need to be addressed.
Now that's customer service at it's best!
At this point, your customer is now primed and ready for the pitch. Without fail, within one or two days after you've emailed your customer to be sure their package arrived safely (and you've also answered their questions), follow up with another email asking for their feedback about their shopping experience.
Think about it... your customer has placed an order, received an immediate confirmation of the sale, has been sent their tracking number via email, received a courtesy follow up email asking if everything is to their satisfaction, and has had any questions and concerns taken care of.
You tell me...is your customer now receptive and also overjoyed with their shopping experience? You bet your benny's they are! So now's the perfect time to follow up and ask for their feedback.
But you have to do so carefully because there's a right way and a wrong way to do it, and this is very important....
First, you'll want to start your email with a big THANK YOU. After all, you appreciate their business and you want to let your customer know this. Second, ask your customer for feedback about their shopping experience. Be sure to include a detailed survey directly in your email. THIS IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT!
Even if you already have a feedback form setup on your website, in this particular case, you'll want to simply request a return email including the answers to your survey questions directly in your email.
Many studies have been done, and overwhelmingly, having your feedback survey directly in your email produces the best results by a staggering margin. But there's also one additional very important task you'll need to do before actually creating your feedback survey for your email.
Take out a piece of paper and write down your ideal testimonial. One you'd love to receive from a customer. Don't be shy! Let it all hang out.
• Write down how wonderful your product or service is.
• Include how fast you received the shipment.
• Boast about how the product has changed your life.
• Tell about how the gift made your loved one so excited they could barely breathe!
• Again, don't hold back or spare any of the finer details.
Write a testimonial that makes it seem like someone would have to be a fool not to purchase your product.
Now here's the clincher... It's time to dissect your own testimonial and turn it into a survey form that's guaranteed to extract the responses you're looking for. Once you have your perfect testimonial on paper, it's really easy to do.
Simply take your written testimonial and for each "compliment", transcribe it into a question. For example:
*******************************************
An excerpt from your pre-written Testimonial....
"When my product arrived, I was extremely impressed by the great packaging and care that was taken to insure it arrived safely."
Transcribe this into a Survey Question....
How was your item packaged for shipping? Was it boxed well?
Did it have adequate packaging materials inside to insure it would arrive safely? Was it addressed correctly and shipped according to your special instructions? Please be as thorough as possible in your answer:
Another excerpt....
"My wife couldn't believe that I was actually able to find this gift for her. She looked everywhere and couldn't find one."
Your Survey Question....
Had you been searching around the internet for this product? Was it difficult to find? If so, were you surprised to find it on our website?
********************************************
Do you see how important it is to ask the right questions to solicit your desired response? This is the most important aspect of your questionnaire. Be sure to ask detailed questions. If you don't ask, 99% of the time your customer's won't volunteer this information.
You have to ask!!!
By asking detailed questions, you'll be surprised at the responses you'll solicit from your customers. If - using the example above - this customer did have a hard time finding this product and eventually found it and made the purchase from your site, you can be sure their feedback will be PURE GOLD!
It's also extremely important to offer your customer's something in return for taking the time to respond to your survey. Your options here are endless.
• You could offer a free download targeted at your market.
• You could offer a free membership into the "member's only" section of
your site.
• You can offer free shipping on their next order.
• You can include a discount coupon towards their next purchase
The point here is, be sure to offer something of "real" value to your customer in return for them taking the time to respond to your survey questions. The "freebie" you'll be giving away will certainly be a valuable trade off for the feedback you'll receive in return.
Lastly, and most importantly, any testimonial you place on your website must be genuine. Never make up a fictitious testimonial. It's unethical and frankly, it's illegal. By using the techniques I've described above, there won't be any need to use phony claims on your website. You'll soon have more authentic testimonials from customers than you can handle.
After you receive a quality testimonial from a customer that you'd like to add to your website, contact the customer once again and obtain their permission to use their feedback on your website.
You can also include a Yes/No question in your survey asking permission to post their feedback on your site. The overwhelming majority of your customers won't have any problem in allowing you to do so. Also, be sure to offer a link back to their website if one's available. They'll appreciate the free advertising!
So... let me ask you once again....
Do you sell products online? Do you offer a service that you're confident is as good, if not better than your competition? Is your website riddled with page after page of customer testimonials telling the world just how GREAT you are?
If not... get to it... and watch your sales go through the roof!
Would you like to learn more marketing tidbits that can explode your sales through the roof?
Visit http://www.YourInternetBusinessMentor.com/onlineprofits/
for a FREE 12-Part e-Course download.
Until next month,
Here’s To Your Success
Thomas A. Hall
http://www.YourInternetBusinessMentor.com/
Do you Know The 3 Key Ingredients Necessary To Snatch Up Instant, Highly
Responsive Traffic To Any
Website On A ZERO Budget?
Find out EXACTLY What They Are At:
http://www.YourInternetBusinessMentor.com/onlineprofits/
One Ultra-Resourceful, Underutilized, Low-Cost "Stealth" Marketing Tactic That's Guaranteed To Increase Your Traffic & Sales...
In Ten Days Or Less!
http://www.YourInternetBusinessMentor.com/onlineprofits/
Labels: Affiliate Marketing, Internet Home Business, Internet Marketing
posted by YourInternetBusinessMentor at 11:45 PM
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