I often remind shop owners that “facts tell; testimonials sell.”
Unfortunately, when asked, a lot of shop owners tell me that they have a few. That's promptly followed by the question, “How many should I have?”
If there is any marketing strategy where some is good and more is better, testimonials would be it! What's best is that they are effective, cost little if anything to acquire and some studies indicate that good customer testimonials (especially on your website) can have a serious positive effect on visitors.
Testimonials are really your social proof. You can tell everyone in the world how good you are and most won't believe you. That's because you're making a bunch of self-serving statements.
On the other hand, when a testimonial details a customer's problem and tells the world how you fixed it, how quickly it was done, how happy they are with your service or what a pleasant staff you have that looked after all of their needs, that's what I would call marketing gold!
But can you have too many? Absolutely not! The important part about using a lot of testimonials is making sure that you display them properly.
I see so many websites with great testimonials and they just post them (usually in really small print too) one after the other after the other. The page becomes one long, dragged out and boring page of text that nobody will read. I call it “the grey wall of text.”
On the other hand, each testimonial should be posted as if it were a short story. That's really what they are. But the most important part of posting (or printing) any testimonial is creating the headline.
Remember, most people scan websites, marketing pieces and brochures. They don't necessarily read every word. In the case of those long, boring web pages with one testimonial after the other, visitors just click away.
How do you fix that? Simply take a powerful comment or statement from each testimonial and make it the headline. Make that headline a different color; make it a larger type; make it bold. Make it so the headlines stand out. That lets visitor quickly scan the page and get a great ‘snap-shot' of what people are really saying about you.
The only other thing you can do to improve on that is to get lots and lots of testimonials. Let your customers sell your auto repair service for you!
Matthew Lee, is an automotive service marketing specialist and author of the book, “The Official Guide to Auto Service Marketing,” which offers “no-cost” and “low-cost” marketing strategies for auto service businesses. For a free copy of the book, visit www.JustTheBestMarketing.com.