Given recent indications that the United States Federal Trade Commission intends to clamp down on Internet marketers and others using ‘atypical’ testimonials in their marketing, it may be reassuring to know that testimonials are not always required in your marketing materials. In fact, other forms of ‘proof’ can sometimes be more effective.

Testimonials are really just a form of social proof that the claims you make in your sales copy are true. Don’t get me wrong, well written and effectively deployed testimonials can often clinch the sale, since prospects are typically more swayed by what others say about your products and services than what you say about them.

But if you don’t have any testimonials for your product or service, don’t despair. There are other – sometimes more convincing – ways to impress prospects with ‘proof’.

To see these alternatives forms of proof in action, consider what many of the leading software vendors do. Rather than display reams of customer testimonials, such companies typically offer the best form of proof possible: allowing prospects to download a trial version of their products.

Many software vendors and, in particular, Internet retailers, also encourage customers to post product reviews on their sites. In this case, such companies allow customers to vote and comment on their products and services. The classic example of an Internet retailer doing this is Amazon.com which, if it did not pioneer having customer reviews on its site, certainly popularized them.

Because customer reviews are, theoretically, the independent views of customers, and because they can be both positive and negative, they can be much more persuasive than even the most glowing testimonials.

Case studies can also be more compelling than testimonials because they contain much more detail about how someone used a given product or service. They set out, step by step, how someone used your product or service and the results they achieved. Also, as with testimonials, you can often be even more convincing by providing audio or video case studies where you might, for example, interview the customer.

Finally, you can also quote facts and figures from respected research studies to indicate the truth of the claims you make in your sales copy. Whilst you must be careful to properly quote such studies, merely by including them in your marketing communications can give your offer greater credibility.

Sometimes, testimonials are the ideal way to highlight the benefits of your offering and demonstrate how it has helped your customers. In this case, a well written testimonial that gives specifics about how your product helped someone is invaluable. But, in light of the new approach being adopted by the FTC, you better make sure your testimonials reflect the experience of a typical, rather than super-successful, customer.

And, whether or not you intend to use testimonials, consider your other options. You might: offer free samples or trial versions of your product, invite customer reviews, provide customer case studies, or quote independent research. You might even do the lot!

Related Articles:

• What Are The 3 Biggest Trends in Internet Marketing?
• Affiliate Marketers Caught In FTC Crossfire?
• How To Get Customers To Contribute Reviews
• Website Critique: TrustFm Ebooks
• Social Media Sharing Beats Emailing To a Friend

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pm and is filed under Conversion, Copywriting, Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.