How to write a great testimonial

By Anup S • July 9, 2008 • Filed in: Testimonials

Use the T.E.A.S.E formula to write a great testimonial. T.E.A.S.E ing will make sure that the people who read the testimonial have a higher probabibility of buying or recommending a service, person or product.

Tactful - Show a sense of what is fitting and considerate when you give a testimonial. Give a testimonial knowing the fact that the person who used the testimonial would like to show it to others.

Emphasize - Always highlight the strengths or the good experience you had using a service or product

Authentic - While giving a testimonial make sure you give many indications that you are authentic. This can be done by providing some way for people to contact you to verify if you are really the one who provided the testimonial.

Short - It should be short and sweet. Even if you like everything about a service or a product, just write about the most important aspects of the service or a product. Come straight to the point when you write testimonials.

Engaging - Whatever you write about should be engaging. Providing real life examples really helps here. Write about how the service, product or person helped you.

It is not only important to understand how to to write a great testimonial but also ‘why’ you need a testimonial. A testimonial has a huge impact on your end prospect’s behaviour. A good testimonial will help the prospect in overcoming his/her skepticism by helping them understand that the product is not just a ’sales pitch’ but has an existing customer base who has benefitted from the use of your product.

Lets look at a sample testimonial now which uses the T.E.A.S.E formula :

“I have used John Doe’s Accounting service for the last 3 years. I have 3 incomes - one from my rental property, one from my full time job and the other from my investments. John Doe pointed out ways I can reduce taxes and boost my income in legitimately creative ways. He is always there to answer my questions when I make new investments or how to do effective tax planning for my small business. “

- Jane Caphyl , Toronto, Bank Manager, Scotia Bank, 416.109.0123

Jane above has made an appropriate (tactful) testimonial, emphasizing her experience, being authentic by providing her place of work and her phone number. It’s short and engaging because she talks about her situation and how John has provided services valuable to her.

The approach I talked about till now was focused on how you write a testimonial. It is important to make sure you have couple of them which highlights a wide sprectrum of strengths of your service or product offerings.

The other thing to note is testimonials are usually written for services or products after they are delivered. You could use testimonials for launching your practice or a product by focusing on the idea or concept or what you are promising your future clients. The message should make them curious and wanting to know when you would launch. We have done this quite successfully for creating buzz for a simple aggregator site of top content, which is still in pre beta.

How about you giving it a try now. Feel free to point to testimonials which has helped you in making a buying decision or has improved your lead generation.