Testimonials and case studies can be a large effort on behalf of your client. As such, you should be thoughtful when asking them to help you and bear in mind that this is not something you can ask of every client. Before asking a client to give you their time for either one of these, ask yourself these two questions:
- How long has this person been a customer?
For a strong testimonial or case study, it’s best to use a client who has a long standing relationship with your organization. Your content will be more successful with a client who has a strong understanding of your brand and has great experience with your product.
- Have I received positive feedback from this customer recently?
Don’t assume that because you haven’t heard negative feedback means that your client is satisfied. For all marketing tactics that require effort from your customer, you want to ask a very happy customer to share their input. A good way to find happy customers is to take a look through recent client surveys to find people who are happy with your product.
Once you have your client in mind, it’s time to make the ask. When you ask your client to participate, send them all necessary information upfront. You want to make this process as easy for them as possible. Send them the questions you need them to answer for a case study, a prompt for a testimonial, and any information about how the content will be promoted or shared. Some organizations have strict rules about using their names for endorsements, so you want to ensure you have permissions.
Here is a sample email to a client asking for a testimonial:
Hi [CLIENT NAME],
I hope you are doing well! I noticed you recently gave us some great feedback about [PRODUCT] in our customer survey and I was hoping you could provide us with a testimonial about your experience.
This testimonial would be used on our website and in our sales presentations. We would like to include your company name as well if that is possible.
For the testimonial, we would ask you to answer this question:
“How has using [PRODUCT] allowed your company to find success?”
Please let me know if this is something you would be able to do. If you would like to discuss this further, feel free to give me a call.
Thank you,
[YOUR NAME]
One way to add further humanization and interest to your email is to include a video message. Showing yourself on camera asking for a testimonial shows that you put time and effort into your ask instead of just firing off a mass email. You can also take the time in your video message to thank them for being a customer and share any other information they might be interested in. Seeing how you took the time to record a personalized message can encourage your client to do the same for you. And, providing a video message for them shows how easy it can be to record a video.
Video in email is a tactic that has been proven to be effective. Attaching a video to your email can lead to 200-300% increase in click-through rates. Furthermore, 54% of email subscribers prefer emails with videos. The data is clear; video can help make your emails more enjoyable and more effective.
Once you’re ready to make your ask for a customer testimonial or case study, try including a video message in your email outreach to further humanize yourself and your brand and show your dedication to your customers. This concludes Part 2 of our series, Set Your Organization Apart with Customer Advocacy. Check back next week for Part 3 as we dive into ways to incorporate video into your testimonial and case study strategy.
