Testimonials and the Power of
Social Proof
 Interested
in a F.REE, easy-to-create marketing technique? One that
is highly effective WHENEVER your prospects see it?
This is a technique you see every day when you're
online, when you're watching home shopping channels
on TV, and when you're reading print ads. Every major
marketer uses this to the maximum extent possible.
What is this amazingly effective, f.ree tool that
all the big marketers use?
It's TESTIMONIALS.
At this point, you may be thinking: Yeah, yeah, testimonials
are nice to have, but they're not really THAT important.
WRONG!
Here's why testimonials are CRITICAL for your
business. When your prospects are trying to figure
out what to do, they look at what other people are doing.
Testimonials show them what other people (meaning, your
past clients/team members) have done and how satisfied those
other people are.
Testimonials get their power from social proof. Robert
Cialdini is a major academic researcher on social proof,
describing it as "...one important means that people
use to decide what to believe or how to act in a situation
is to look at what other people are believing or doing there....[This]
can be used to stimulate a person's compliance with a request
by informing the person that many other individuals (the
more, the better) are or have been complying with it."
p. 139 Influence: Science and Practice, Robert B.
Cialdini, 2009, Pearson Education.
Here are three important points about social proof:
- It's strongest under uncertainty: when
we're uncertain about what to do or the situation is ambiguous.
Prospects are often uncertain – they want to use
your product or service but they may simultaneously hesitate.
- It's also strongest under similarity.
We are more strongly influenced by people like us than
by dissimilar strangers. So testimonials need to come
from people “like us”.
- We're really clueless about how strongly this
affects our behavior. In fact, we genuinely believe
we're unaffected by it!
When you shop for a book at Amazon.com, they show you
a lot of information about other customers' buying choices.
You'll see "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought",
customer reviews and ratings of the book you're considering,
book lists that include the book you're considering, and
more.
I'm easily swayed by the section titled: "What Do
Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?"
If more than 20% have bought some other book, I will ALWAYS
check out that other book. Those other buyers must know
something I don't!
On Amazon.com, we are relying on the behavior of
complete strangers to guide what we do.
Your customers and prospects are just the same.
They are happy to rely on the behavior of others
to determine whether they want to hire/work with/buy from
you.
And you should be happy to give them that information,
in the form of testimonials.
You can describe the wonders of what you do until you're
blue in the face and some prospects will remain unconvinced.
Or worse, they'll think that you are saying those things
with a self-serving intention.
When those same cynics read the glowing testimonials from
people like them, they're much more easily converted to
believing it.
The closer the match between the prospect and the
testimonial-giver, the more persuasive the effect.
Let's say a prospect is considering your product or service.
First, they want information from other people who have
in fact used your product or service. Second, they prefer
information from someone who is like them. If your prospect
is retired and doesn't use a computer very well, they'd
rather see a testimonial from a retiree or technophobe than
from a 20-something with a Blackberry.
When YOU are buying a car, whose opinion do you value more:
the car salesperson or your neighbor who already owns the
same model?
Remember, prospects want information and experiences
from people who have been in their shoes.
And let me emphasize just how unconscious this is - often,
people are not consciously thinking to themselves: "I'd
really like to see a testimonial right here, from someone
like me." Nor are they thinking "I'm easily swayed
by testimonials." Just the opposite! We believe we're
making an independent decision that just right for us. Nonetheless,
research (and your Amazon.com experience) shows the opposite.
In another Cialdini book, he shares results from a study
of towel reuse programs at hotels. In this study, researchers
tried different messages to promote towel re-use. One message
asked guests to help the hotel help the environment by re-using
their towels. The other message told guests that most hotel
guests had re-used their towels at least once during their
stay.
Given one of these two messages, the guests who learned
about what other guests did were 26% more likely than the
first group to reuse their towels. And that reuse rate goes
up to 33% when guests were told that people who stayed in
their exact hotel room recycled towels!
I'm sure that, if asked, all of these guests would say
that they are making up their own mind about whether to
recycle. But the data seem pretty clear that knowing what
other guests had done, especially those who stayed in the
same room, influences their behavior.
What this means in your business
- ALWAYS provide prospects with information about what
previous prospects-turned-clients have done.
- Include testimonials in just about everything your write
or speak that is publicly available. Wherever prospects
are exposed to your business, you need to have testimonials
there.
CALL TO ACTION
To fully leverage the power of testimonials, the first
step is to consistently collect them. Part of your system
for working with each client should include asking them
for a testimonial, at a specific point during your work
together.
Next, you want to create the habit of including testimonials
in ALL your marketing material. They should appear on your
web pages and in anything you write. They can also show
up on your business cards, on phone calls, and more.
Does your marketing need a bigger boost than just testimonials
can provide? If you hate marketing or sales, and you're
tired of not getting new customers, then contact
me for a complimentary Success Session. My expert mentoring,
faith in you, support and accountabilitymake a huge difference
in my clients' lives.
Here's what a recent client has to say about their experience
working with me.
"I have had my own business for almost 20 years
and totally love it. In that whole time, I have always hated
"marketing". To me, marketing was the word to
describe all the things I didn't like about being in business.
I tried to avoid thinking about it, but if I had to define
it in my mind, it was "not very fun things I had to
do to get people to do what I wanted them to do"
That was a formula for disaster. Whatever I said or wrote
was filtered through "what would they want to hear".
Or "what can I say that would make someone do ... whatever"
Marcy helped me see that marketing is really just being
willing to be more me. I write and say whatever lights me
up. The people who are touched by my authenticity are exactly
the ones I want to be working with!"
Dr. Sue Ann Lewine
Z Life Center for Stress Reduction and Personal Growth
www.zlifecenter.com
Burke VA
© 2011 Marcy Stahl
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Marcy Stahl motivates women entrepreneurs to move from
having only a trickle of clients to an abundant full flow
of more clients, more money, and more decision-making power.
If you're ready to empower yourself AND boost your business,
if you want to share YOUR passion with more people, schedule
your free 45-minute Marcy Stahl Success Solutions Session
by clicking here http://www.marcystahl.com/contact-marcy.html |
Hi
there,
Debra
A. Woog, President of 
