It’s no secret that endorsements from customers have more authority than self-promotion, and this is especially true in technical and scientific markets. Scientists trust other scientists, and if they see someone they know, or a company they’re familiar with using a product, they’re more likely to consider buying it and trust that it can deliver what they need. Promoting your product or service with an authentic customer voice is an invaluable tool for communicating company messages and showcasing your business at its best. A great method of communicating these messages is through a customer testimonial. While it’s typical for testimonials to take a written form, we have had great success conveying satisfied customer voices in videos, by-lined articles in trade media publications, and even Q&As. The format variations for customer testimonials are numerous and often sit beyond conventional expectations.
This blog covers what we consider to be the top ten essential components for successfully producing industry-leading customer testimonials, irrespective of the form.
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Really get to know the customer
Do your homework on the customer, their organisation and area of expertise or research, so that you can ask the right questions and enable them to open up. As an independent, third party, we can ask questions our clients might not feel they are able to and uncover some crucial pieces of info that brings their work to life – and highlights the key role of our client in helping them to achieve their goals.
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Make it as easy as possible to participate
Our clients’ customers are busy, and it’s important to minimise the impact on anyone participating in a customer testimonial. Make the process as quick, easy and enjoyable as possible, ensuring that turnaround times are short and that you are sharing content that requires little editing.
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Draw out their passion
Our interviewers are skilled at getting the right information from the customer, but also at encouraging them to talk passionately about what they do and why it’s important. This positive energy always translates well, especially in video or audio testimonials, and makes the content more engaging for audiences to consume.
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Address pain points
Make sure a testimonial clearly shows how the product or service helped the user overcome a pain point and/or achieve a goal. This is a fundamental strength of a testimonial – real people, real problems and real solutions.
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Buying is as much a ‘heart’ decision as a ‘head’ decision
The assumption that b2b buyers are solely rationale is simply untrue! The audience needs to be able to identify with and relate to the user’s story. Constructing a narrative with excessive technical information and jargon detracts from that, so ensure that testimonials are as clear and jargon-free as possible, without being exaggerated.
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Highlight where your product/service goes ‘above and beyond’
If a product or service has a surprising upside, make sure to cover it. Surpassing a user’s expectations could mean that there’s a good chance of it surpassing the expectations of a wider audience.
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Address any common objections to buying your product or service:
Our team assesses the opportunity to address any common complaints with a product or service within the testimonial. If a product or service faces a barrier in the market, a real and positive experience is a great way to overcome it. -
Collaborate equally:
Never forget that a case study is a collaborative piece – it shows the customer that their opinion matters, and it also results in a piece of marketing collateral for two parties to promote themselves. Doing so correctly ensures that diverse perspectives are shared, relationships are strengthened, credibility increases, and expertise broadens.
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Choose customers that are ’fans’ of your business
You might have a customer doing incredible things with your product, but it’s important to make sure that they’ve also had good customer service experiences, they’ve received good technical support, and they’ve got a good relationship with your business. If you go into an interview with a customer who has had a negative experience at any stage, even if it’s something like delivery delays or hiccups during installation, they might go in with that at the top of their mind, which might impact the overall experience. -
Include quantifiable results
Back up claims with measurable results and data by including specific metrics, such as increased revenue, cost savings, productivity gains, or customer satisfaction ratings. Quantifiable results provide credibility and help potential customers understand the value behind a product or service.
And finally, a bonus tip – make sure to kick things off in the right way. Customers don’t always fully understand what participating in a customer testimonial means, and failing to explain the process may result in a non-starter. This is why we always recommend that the client discusses the idea with the customer beforehand and then introduces them to us. Over the years, we found that up to 80% of customers agree to participate in customer testimonials if the client discusses it with them before we contact them to set it up. However, even then 14% of customers won’t choose to participate if approached via ‘cold calling’. This knowledge helps to remove the argument that ‘our clients do not participate in testimonials’ – our experience tells us if you ask 100 customers, 14 will say yes. It is just a numbers game.
It's also important to note that publishing the final piece isn’t the end of the process. A customer testimonial is a valuable piece of marketing content which can be moulded and repurposed to produce further content. Using the original piece to generate videos, social posts, blogs, and media articles, all offer useful avenues for getting the most mileage out of your case study. Customer testimonials can also be gated on their own website landing page and used in LinkedIn and Google ads to generate leads.
For over 25 years, The Scott Partnership has specialised in creating customer testimonials for a range of scientific and technical b2b clients, producing authentic pieces of marketing content that resonate with audiences by following true-to-life stories.
If you are interested in producing a powerful customer testimonial for your life science company, why not get in touch and see how we can support.
